INCIDENTS HIGHLIGHT NEED FOR TRAINING BEFORE PUTTING TO SEA

Press Notice No:  91-11                                                                 08 April 2011


At 07.10pm yesterday evening Swansea Coastguard received a telephone call from a concerned off duty lifeboatman after he had witnessed a vessel launching with a young family of 4 onboard, two adults and a young child, and a baby; he also stated that the owner was very inexperienced and was unsure of how to put the engine in gear.

Swansea Coastguard made contact with the Pilot Vessel “Beaufort” who was returning towards Swansea, to investigate the vessel to ensure all was well onboard, upon arrival the “Beaufort” informed the coastguard that the engine had stalled and they required assistance back to the Knab Slipway at Mumbles.

Mumbles RNLI Inshore lifeboat was requested to launch, upon arriving they attached a tow and brought the vessel and its crew back to safety.

Mumbles Coastguard Rescue Team was also in attendance and gave suitable safety advice to the owner.

Bev Haigh Watch Manager Swansea Coastguard Said:

“The owner of this vessel had purchased it yesterday and this was the first time that he had owned or operated a vessel. He had difficulty in initially launching it and had to ask for assistance. The vessel did carry lifejackets but they did not have one for the baby. They also had a VHF radio on board but Swansea Coastguard made a call on Channel 16 for the vessel, however they did not respond. We do not know it the radio was actually turned on. Given the inexperience of the owner and the fact that the vessel had just been purchased, it was quite fool hardy to put to sea with two young children an hour before dark.

We would strongly advise that people gain the knowledge required before buying a vessel; and ensure the vessel is in good working order prior to putting to sea.

We would strongly advise you obtain appropriate training for the craft that you are operating and ensure that you have full lifesaving apparatus for you and your passengers, and ensure the vessel is in good working order prior to putting to sea.

At 0809 this morning Swansea Coastguard received a 999 telephone call from a vessel named “Moody 11” with two people onboard, reporting that they had run aground on a sand bank at Crow Point, North Devon and that they were in dense fog.

Swansea Coastguard requested the launch of Appledore RNLI Inshore Lifeboat.  The Lifeboat managed to locate the vessel and report that they required a tow back to Instow Quay.  The ILB towed the vessel back where they were met by Instow Coastguard Rescue Team and suitable safety advice was given.

Bev Haigh Swansea Coastguard Watch Manager Said:

The occupants of this vessel had a VHF radio on board but they did not use it, relying instead on a mobile telephone.

From a search and rescue point of view, VHF radio communications are preferable to a mobile phone as in a lot of coastal areas can be unreliable due to poor reception.

This vessel was in dense fog, and had they used their VHF then in the event of us not being able to locate them, a Search and Rescue unit equipped with direction finding equipment would have been able to locate them from their radio transmission.

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