Coast Guard SOP?

mintregila

mintregila

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Out for a ride with friends on Sunday from East Rockaway inlet to Sandy Hook and back. On the return trip, my friend (at the helm) spots what he initially thinks is a whale. When we get closer, it turns out to be about a 20' boat that is upside down and partially submerged about 5 miles west of ER inlet and about 2 miles off the beach.

We call coast guard station Jones Beach and explain what we have found, answer questions about anyone in the water, position etc. and they ask if we can stay on station to which we reply affirmatively.

At that point Coast Guard station Sandy Hook intervenes and explains that they have already checked on this vessel and determined that it is a derilect and there is no need to remain on station.

Now here we have an overturned boat with no marker on it left floating in a fairly busy waterway. One would think it is a hazard to navigation. Especially since it is late afternoon and will not be seen in the dark.

So I guess my question is this: shouldn't they be towing it in or are they waiting for it to wash ashore and become the town's problem?
 
I think someone should tow it in, but it is up to the USCG to decide who.
If it is a derilect, who's insurance will pay for collision damage?
Don't sound right to leave it out there for someone to possibly hit.
 
I had the same problem years ago with a 55 gal. drum floating between Peanut Island and the mainland, smack in the middle of a very busy channel. I called the CG and they wanted nothing to do with it. There are so many hazmat requirements and pollution procedures that its a real pain for the CD to handle - expensive too. However, they are supposed to deal with hazards to navigation.
 
In that situation, the CG should be issuing Sécurité alerts on VHF channel 16 to warn mariners of the danger.
 
I was working out on the Great South Bay on Sunday and heard about a half a dozen boaters call the CG about that capsized boat. You probably being one of them, everyone got the same response. And there were no security calls issued for that vessel.
 
I was working out on the Great South Bay on Sunday and heard about a half a dozen boaters call the CG about that capsized boat. You probably being one of them, everyone got the same response. And there were no security calls issued for that vessel.
 
I believe that is their SOP. I hear many calls about logs, lilings, etc. adrift in the water and all the USCG seems to do is issue a warning on the radio every few minutes.

I know of two incidents where there was a problem within view of the local USCG base and they did nothing despite calls from concerned boaters. These involed a vessel adrift and another vessel sinking. No action on their part.
 
Like everyone else these days the Coast Guard is on a budget. Chasing down every oil drum, piling, derelict, and crank call takes time, equipment, fuel, manpower, and money... all of which is in short supply.
 
quote:
Originally posted by stmbtwle

Like everyone else these days the Coast Guard is on a budget. Chasing down every oil drum, piling, derelict, and crank call takes time, equipment, fuel, manpower, and money... all of which is in short supply.
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All the above except the crank call could turn into a distress call.

"Manpower" (staff, some are female) is already there. So is equipment. Fuel and maintenance would be the only direct expense and they wopuld be doing what the public believes they should be doing with public funding.
 
I would think that Sea Tow or Tow Boat US would rush out to claim the Salvage Rights for this abandon vessel unless is was a real POS.
BigGrin
 
Ron,
You are correct in your accessments as far as the people and equipment are concerned. THose are paid for out of a different account from the fuel and the maintenance. These come out of the stations budget. This budget is based on required training costs and the average number of operations cases among other things. This budget is not very big. So eating into that budget for a drifting barrel may be significant.

Many people think we are supposed to respond to everything "water related" when in fact many of the items are actually the responsibility of the local police/Sheriff/DNR. Just like many people think the USCG is supposed to tow their broken down boat, nope, federally mandated to go to private enterprise, unless loss of life is possible.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Shadowcruzr

Ron,
You are correct in your accessments as far as the people and equipment are concerned. THose are paid for out of a different account from the fuel and the maintenance. These come out of the stations budget. This budget is based on required training costs and the average number of operations cases among other things. This budget is not very big. So eating into that budget for a drifting barrel may be significant.

Many people think we are supposed to respond to everything "water related" when in fact many of the items are actually the responsibility of the local police/Sheriff/DNR. Just like many people think the USCG is supposed to tow their broken down boat, nope, federally mandated to go to private enterprise, unless loss of life is possible.
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But the barrel could cause a boat to sink with loss of life.

If they are not going to respond, they could just say so when they get the call (that would look bad wouldn't it) or send the call on to the proper authorities.

Right or wrong, the US taxpayers percieve the USCG as "public servants" much like the police or fire department. After all, they are funded with taxpayer dollars. When "public servants" are percieved as declining to serve the public, this leads to a resentment, especially when they are seen riding around in high powered boats at high speed, seemingly going nowhere.
 
If it were me I would have left a line on the boat with a orange cheap PFD at least someone might have a chance of spotting it before thier vessel was in peril. Am I wrong?
Bill
 
quote:
Originally posted by Billylll

If it were me I would have left a line on the boat with a orange cheap PFD at least someone might have a chance of spotting it before thier vessel was in peril. Am I wrong?
Bill

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YES, you are! Please never, ever, use a life jacket as a marker or leave one behind on the water for any other than it's intended use. A life jacket found adrift can trigger an exhaustive search. If it's found close enough to an active search (close enough as in even remotely plausible that it's connected) it can also recenter search efforts in the wrong directions which will take any probability of a happy outcome and shoot it down in flames. Dramatic action movie kind of crashing, burning flames. Hindenburg stuff.

If you need a field expedient floating marker for anything but relocating a person in the water, PLEASE don't use a life jacket!

Drifting out datum relies on having some basis - a last known position, piece of debris, et cetera. If I'm running a search for a person (or persons) in the water, and I find a floating life jacket in the area, the precision pattern gets put on hold and the life jacket is used as datum for a drifting pattern, while back on land the search is most likely to be refigured around the position that life jacket was found in. If it's in the opposite direction than the major axis of the original pattern was oriented, a possible revised pattern based on drifting out that life jacket from the original LKP could be reoriented in the entirely wrong direction!
 
I went out Fire Island inlet today and near the first set of buoys there were 4 coast guard and police boats with their lights flashing. I slowed down to idle not knowing what was going on and then noticed a barely visible overturned boat just outside the channel. Wonder if it was the same boat? It was too calm today to flip anyone. It was probably right in the middle of the channel at some point so they must have gone out to make sure no one hit it.
 
NC, Thanks for the discussion about the implications of using a life jacket for a marker!!! Most of us weren't aware of them.

Ron the manpower and equipment is not unlimited; if they're out chasing oil drums they may not be available when a real emergency turns up. I've had occasion to call the Coasties more than once to report this or that, and they usually gave me the third degree before they took me seriously. It's a PITA but I realize it's necessary to screen the false alarms.
 
Ron, I understand your point of view. That is a problem when you have a public servant that has had the means adnd direction to do something and then those are removed. If you want the Coast Guard to be all that it was in this regard, write your congressmen and senators and demand that money be taken from the social programs and put back into the USCG budget and congress reinstate those responsibilities and authority to perform them. It's kind of like my neice complaining because the fire-department wouldnt come to her neighborhood to get a cat out of the tree. THey just dont have the funding to make that trip.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Shadowcruzr

Ron, I understand your point of view. That is a problem when you have a public servant that has had the means adnd direction to do something and then those are removed. If you want the Coast Guard to be all that it was in this regard, write your congressmen and senators and demand that money be taken from the social programs and put back into the USCG budget and congress reinstate those responsibilities and authority to perform them. It's kind of like my neice complaining because the fire-department wouldnt come to her neighborhood to get a cat out of the tree. THey just dont have the funding to make that trip.

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The USCG has a pretty bad reputation right now among boaters. Not the ones they might have saved, but among the ones whose boats have been stopped and boarded for no apparent reason, the ones who see them speeding around on overpowered boats for no apparent reason, and the ones who have read about the accidents (fome fatal) caused by CG boats operating at high speed in congested waters.

I'm sure there are a lot of fine men and women serving in the CG, but we all tend to notice and remember the bad things about any group and forget the good things.

Me, next time I find a boat adrift or sinking (if nobody is aboard or in the water), I'll probably just go on about my business. Or I'll dial 911 from my cell phone and let them handle it.
 
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