so being in the national guard makes you an authority on lifesaving at sea and boat/shiphandling?
I hate having my picture taken too, but in these modern day times where people are sue happy, I’m sure it was only for documentation purposes.
did the thought ever occur to you that maybe they were approaching you from downwind because they didn’t want to crush you by accident?
Doug, as a professional rescuer I will not entertain the masses in discussing your particular scenario. However, as you have a charter business and you are constantly posting about this scenario on here, I would stop posting in an effort to get these posts off of the first page of Google searches regarding your business.
I know if I chartered a sailboat for anything offshore I would search the vessel and the captain immediately. Granted it’s what I do (auditing vessels and aircraft) and making rescue plans, but clearly you have struck a nerve.
Good luck with your sailing, good luck with your business, and I’m glad you made it back to shore to write about it. Unfortunately I think it’s the approach you have taken, and the assumptions you made during the event and afterward that have lead to this current scenario (forum disdain).
JTG
Ever seen one of these? Where would this lifeboat operation you’ve dreamed up plot?
Dumbass, listen to Griffbm3 and stop posting.
thank you.
so your experience is exclusively boats in a recreational capacity and you have a six pack license, and you feel that experience allows you to critique lifesaving techniques at sea?
everyone is open to suggesting better lifesaving techniques at sea… but the fact that unanimously everyone is telling you that you have your head up your ass and the decisions that were made are outside of the scope of your knowledge…yet you continue to argue…
I’m not the only person who doesn’t think your idea is a good one. As far as I can tell you are the only one who thinks your idea is a good one. I can understand how being in the cold water for a few hours would make a fella emotional. Unfortunately, I don’t have the training to administer emotional first aid.
Anyone?
Just take deep breaths or drink some tea or something. I’m sure someone will come by who knows how to help.
the next time you are underway and pour yourself an appletini be sure to toast the crew of that tanker.
You realize for most people here, if we ditched the risk matrix in a rescue and somebody got hurt we would probably get fired.
Why?
Those risk matrices and other tools are very uncomfortable and inconvenient, but the rules professional mariners go to sea with today with written in blood.
That’s not being over-dramatic, that’s facts. I’m very glad we’re not in the bad old days that had oil companies actually “budget in” a certain number of fatalities each year.
It’s not the means, it’s the end. The end results were there was no loss of life.
I’d like to see proof that the captain in retrospect would consider your unconventional suggestions.
What was the captain’s nationality? Maybe during the hot wash your suggestions got lost in translation?
You still are missing the point and it looks like you’ve refused to even try and learn about the perspective of a professional mariner and how unreasonable it is to expect others to place themselves in a position of unnecessary risk to rescue you.
It was an unnecessary risk. Why do I say that? Because whatever they did eventually worked. You did not survive in spite of them as you suggested, but because they were there and it worked without injury or loss of life.
Doug,
A few years back I spent a several month long deployment on a USN hospital ship doing what you propose. That is recovering SOLAS lifeboats to ship in seas - not at a dock or harbor. I’ve done it hundreds of times transporting patients, medical staff, media and crew between the ship and shore. (Yes, hundreds of times.) Seas on the beam, boat to windward, boat to leeward, small wind blown swells, deep Pacific swells, confused seas, day time, night time.
I’d like to think that I’m somewhat knowledgeable at this as I was the officer in charge of all boat evolutions. I was present for almost every launch and recovery. I oversaw, participated, recovered and was recovered.
Now most folks here recover SOLAS boats a few times a year at best and almost always in a harbor, tied to a pier when the weather is calm.
Now we practiced for this before deployment. We sometimes did this dozens of times a day for days on end while on deployment. We had the same group of twelve guys doing this for most of the deployment.
So here’s the deal from someone with considerable real world experience doing what almost no one ever does:
For any random bunch of deep-sea mariners it’s a bad idea except in the right conditions or most dire of situations. It shouldn’t be the go-to evolution. Maybe in flat seas it might be ok. Maybe if the SOLAS boat is recovered midship away from the tumblehome. Maybe if the victims are in fridged waters where they have just minutes to live. This would be at the master’s discretion and no one else’s.
And it sure isn’t as easy as you think!
His crew that would be at risk are not “equipment.”
They are people who he has a duty to in addition to his duty to render assistance to those in distress if he can do so without introducing unreasonable risk to his vessel or crew (that’s a loose paraphrase).
We are not a piece of equipment.
Translation, “No sane and competent mariner would have considered it for more than a brief moment.”
Just a guess.
Had he done so, the main question in any after action review would have been,
“What were you thinking Cap?”
“Did you consider other, safer, methods of rescue?”
“Let me see your risk assessment on your plan?”
Just a few potential areas the after action review could have gone…
And no, those questions are not made up…
This is not a good idea. The farthest back I’d want you on my hull is just before the counter where I can fully see you and allow me to attempt to lower a basket on my bunker davit to scoop you out of the water. This is telling of your lack of knowledge on how large ships operate. Ships need to be pushing water over their rudders to maintain any maneuverability.
Putting anyone near the counter, rudder, or screw of a ship bobbing around in open ocean is a recipe for disaster and without the use of the main engine, I as the Captain would be twiddling my thumbs and praying everyone wouldn’t be crushed by the stern of my ship. Please stick to the coastal waters and hope this never happens to you again.
