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David Sheriff
Board Administrator
Username: admin
Post Number: 105
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Friday, April 13, 2007 - 11:34 am: | 
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I moved to the Colorado Mountains in 1978. The first winter I took a winter survival course. It was based on the idea that most people who get lost in the mountains get rescued the next day. Unfortunately, many of them do not make it through the first night. So this course gave you the skills to make it through that first cold night and to be able to attract attention the next day.
It seems to me that similar principles should be developed to increase the chances of survival for anyone undertaking a trip in a small boat where they might get stranded. We did enough to get rescued, but could have been a little better prepared.
So I will proceed to suggest how to improve upon our preparations beyond what I have already done. Much of this is standard operating procedure for larger boats, but it doesn't seem to be employed much in very small boats because of space constraints and because people don't appreciate how fast they can run into serious trouble in a dinghy.
The sea, IMHO, is a much more hazardous environment than high mountains in winter. |
David Sheriff
Board Administrator
Username: admin
Post Number: 101
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, March 24, 2007 - 01:02 am: |
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I'll be relatively brief, although the story is much more detailed. You might imagine that the details are pretty well etched into my memory. I think you will also come to believe we were in even worse trouble than you feared at the time.
We got into trouble because the boat got swamped by surf going between some rocks. The motor swallowed water. Steve kept us off the immediate rocks with the oars and we drifted into really heavy kelp. I finally got the motor started again. We decided the best way to return was back through the same rocks. I don't remember exactly why. I think we had an almost impossible time trying to motor and row through the kelp. Maybe it wasn't kelp all the time. Sometimes it was the long stuff with short thin leaves. The stuff that is like being in a sea of fuzzy rope. Or the thin long stuff that grows impossibly thick. Perhaps the tide was out, which would have made the vegitation much thicker. Anyway, the motor would foul sometimes every few feet.
And so. Back through the same passage we got absolutely buried in water a second time. Water crashing down over our heads both times it seems now. Maybe it wasn't that bad the first time, but it took some fast rowing on Steve's part to keep us off the rocks. I couldn't get the motor started a second time. I think we probably tried to reach the other boats by VHF after the first swamping, but couldn't. We spent a fair amount of time in the weeds after the first swamping and tried to stay pretty well out after that.
If I were a surfer I would probably be much more aware of wave patterns. But I can not time waves very well. At least not when surf breaks into a slot between the rocks parallel to the shore from both ends. Not always, and not always in the same way, but often enough that it got us caught twice. It seemed like there were times when it was possible to follow a wave all the way through, but I didn't do it that day.
By the way, have you ever noticed how sharp the rocks are where the surf is really active? it seems like the rocks are all covered with little knives. You do NOT want to get on the rocks. I didn't find out how sharp they really are until I cut myself in "Blood Cave" on Santa Cruz.
After the motor looked like it really was not going to start a second time we decided to call the Coast Guard. I didn't do a Mayday because we weren't in immediate danger. We were soaked, and stranded off a lee shore with a pretty good surf on it but we didn't think we technically qualified for a Mayday. I now think we should have gone for the full deal given what I hear people use as an excuse to call Mayday, but we didn't think things were quite that dire. Maybe that would have brought a helicopter out while there was light. Sometimes I think staying calm is not in your best interest. A little more hysteria would have probably gotten the CG to react more vigorously. Who knows?
We knew we would be in huge trouble after dark and had decided to try to make the shore before it came to that. The shore was a narrow strip of very large cobbles, not very inviting. We figured we would try to drag the dinghy up out of the water and huddle under it for shelter.
That was our plan if we had not reached the Coast Guard. We still had at least an hour of light and were weren't as far into hypothermia as when you finally picked us up. We could have been at the shore in maybe 15 minutes as we had to row constantly to keep from being blown onto it.
I think Steve did all the rowing. I kept at the motor for a very long time. Once you run out of dry spark plugs, though, it's very slow going. I did get it restarted once after all the spark plugs were wet, though, so I kept at it thinking I might get lucky a second time. We did get the motor started after a day or so, so it wasn't dead, just hopelessly wet.
But it would have been very iffy. The "beach" was pretty steep. The cobbles looked rounded, but they looked big too. Big enough yet small enough to make walking on them difficult. We would have been battered pretty well by the surf trying to get the dinghy out of the water. Plus the plants were very thick close-in, so thick it was very hard to use the oars as they would catch in the vegetation.
Back to the Coast Guard. After I did the first Pan Pan call, the Coast Guard came in like they were right around the corner. Loud and clear. That was actually quite a surprise. The big problem is that I couldn't tell them where we were. I could see Sutil island, but I couldn't remember it's name. I wasn't even clear exactly what direction Sutil was off SBI, so that added to the confusion as I must have given a muddled description. So much for not having a chart or a GPS.
I thought Sutil was the largest rock off SBI, but somehow that didn't click with the CG dispatcher. Anyway, he told us to check back every 10 or 20 minutes and he went about trying to find the main party. We checked back several times, so it seems like it took the better part of an hour to find you. Or maybe to find you and get underway.
Then it was a race with the darkness. I remember Toni wanted to go around Sutil Island and I wanted her to go between Sutil and SBI. I figured that it would be completely dark by the time she could get around the island and we would still have a little light if she came between. Besides, it looked like there was a pretty good section clear of kelp. I did not realize at the time how variable the kelp can be from year to year. It's apparently been completely "kelped over" at times. So I now understand her hesitation to come through much more clearly.
Maybe we didn't have a flashlight. I only remember it seemed terribly important to me that you not take the time to go completely around Sutil. What would that have taken? Another 15 minutes? Another 30? I don't know. |
Marc Hughston
Moderator
Username: hughston
Post Number: 564
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 - 11:31 pm: |
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David, the cause of your being disabled might help too, and what you were trying to do about it. I remember hearing of boarding waves, spark plugs, and attempting to row through kelp. Also, what had you guys thought or discussed about the possibilty of not being picked up? |
Marc Hughston
Moderator
Username: hughston
Post Number: 563
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 - 10:54 pm: |
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From David's list and from my position in this story, I'd say that the most important thing he did right was to have a VHF radio with him. Without that radio, he could not have called a Pan Pan to the Coast Guard, and they in turn could not have alerted me to his situation. Radio contact alone made it possible for us to know where to go, period.
Given that we could not see the gray boat in the gray waves as the sun was going down even when they saw us from maybe a half mile away when we turned toward them, I judge that we'd not have found them without their ability to guide us over the radio.
Additionally, it's very likely in retrospect that I'd have chosen the North side of the island to look for him and Steve first, given the obvious attraction of Elephant Seal Cove, and we might have been up there until dark doing so. And if we had ventured to the West side of the island where they actually were, they would not have been able to effectivley signal us without the radio as we drove by in the darkness.
And as to radio contact, you may have noticed that we could talk to the CG and not David, and David could talk to the CG and not us while we were on the other side of the island. Just remember, VHF is line-of-sight communication. We had an island between us, and the CG has a tower on a mountain.
David, can you relate any details about your decision to contact the Coast Guard and the paces they put you through? |
David Sheriff
Board Administrator
Username: admin
Post Number: 100
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 - 11:22 am: |
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Clearly, almost the first thing Steve and I did wrong at the outset was not leaving any information (a float plan) about where we were going. We were going to head counterclockwise around the island, although I don't think we really thought about circumnavigating. We were just taking the dinghy out to ride the surge and do some sea caves.
I had done this ride about a dozen times before including two or three circumnavigations of the island. I was confident of the dinghy and my ability to handle it. I also had a lot of confidence in the "ancient Seagull" motor. It was designed with the philosophy of being as simple and uncomplicated as possible which also made it pretty reliable.
Riding the surge and exploring the sea caves at SBI is pretty exciting. The experience is also quite variable depending on the tide and swell. The anchorage at the Southeast corner of the island is the most protected spot, so to judge by conditions there is an error. I had no idea where we were in the tide cycle and what the weather was like on the West side of the island. That didn't seem like a big thing at the start, but it became pretty important as the afternoon went on. So error two: not being sufficiently aware of conditions or the weather forecast.
Most of this would not have mattered if we had just gone up the North side of the island and then turned back. We would have been gone perhaps an hour, maybe two. Steve may be able to refresh my recollection of whether we thought about circumnavigating at the outset. We had prepared as though that's what we were going to do. We both had windproof shells and were wearing inflatable PFDs. We took drinking water and lots of gas. (I had run out of gasoline on a previous circumnavigation about 3/4 the way around.)
I had several dry spare spark plugs and a wrench. (The instructions in the Seagull manual: If it doesn't start on the second pull, and it always does if you have the fuel turned on, change to a fresh, dry spark plug. That fixes things. Always. Really.)
Finally I had a waterproof VHF radio and a flashlight clipped to my PFD. We also had oars and the air pump for the dinghy. All of that was pretty standard practice for me at the time.
If we were planning a circumnavigation we left too late in the day. I think we left mid-afternoon. We had enough time to make it around with at least three hours of daylight to spare. That is not enough if something goes wrong, as I now realize. I also did not take into account that temperatures drop and the wind tends to pick up as the Sun starts to go down.
Our backup, our potential rescue boat Pilgrimage, was having engine trouble. We did not consider who might come looking for us if something went wrong.
I really didn't think sufficiently about what might be involved if we got stuck somewhere. I had a radio. I did not have a chart or a GPS, which lead to two additional problems. I didn't really know, once we got to the West side of the island, which was the fastest way back. The Island is about a mile in diameter. That makes the coastline perhaps five or six miles long. Making a couple of knots, it's not an unreasonably long trip under good conditions. Second, I could not accurately describe where I was to someone who didn't have or was to green to look at a chart. Much later in the story, after we contacted the Coast Guard, we spent a lot of time trying to convey where we were. Time is battery life on a radio. We nearly squandered that resource.
Final error in this installment: not turning back when conditions worsened. Upon getting to the back side of the island, the wind picked up and the swells were much higher. If nothing further had gone wrong, that might have been OK, but it really cut our margin of error. And the most difficult part of the trip lay ahead.
Things don't necessarily turn from good to bad instantly. We live as long as we do because most of the mistakes we make are recoverable. When the errors start accumulating, the probability of serious trouble goes way up. So, before we even got into trouble we had given up quite a bit of margin of error:
1. No float plan.
2. No check of weather conditions beyond the immediate vicinity, no forecast, no tide table.
3. No ability to describe exactly where we were.
4. Backup boat essentially out of commission.
5. No spare radio batteries.
6. Not enough daylight cushion.
7. Overconfidence. Insufficient appreciation for the merciless sea. "Let's go for it."
8. No clothing reserve. No sweater, no lower body protection. Once you are wet through, the windbreaker is much less effective without more insulation.
What we did right, and what ultimately saved us:
1. Good vessel and motor. You might debate this later in the story, but that's still my opinion.
2. Wearing PFDs, windbreakers.
3. More than enough fuel & drinking water, although no food.
4. Oars (alternative propulsion)
5. VHF radio.
6. Two reasonably healthy, fit adults. No children (horrors to even contemplate).
7. Experienced people in the main party, capable of organization and command.
8. Bailing bucket.
It's interesting to me that nearly every one of the "things we did right" were necessary for the story to turn out the way it did. We tolerated the errors. We could have made some of them and still the trip could have been unremarkable. Its the sum of the errors that made the difference, not any one in particular. |
Marc Hughston
Moderator
Username: hughston
Post Number: 562
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 11:54 pm: |
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Santa Barbara Island Rescue 2002 - continued
While David and Steve were somewhere out there, Toni was weighing anchor and came over to pick me up. I had dark thoughts as we motored south from the anchorage wondering if we would find the guys before dark. CG had switched me to channel 22 and asked for my position. Harley was below manning the radio and told them we were rounding the south end of the island. This was incorrect but CG relayed this information to David on his handheld VHF and as I recall this prompted further questions from the CG because David reported he could not see us and felt he should have seen us given what the CG had told him about our position. No doubt this stressed him and Steve.
The deck was abuzz with talk about where the guys were as we made our way around past the Sea Lion rookery and the blow holes. Somewhere right about this time I heard from CG that the guys were not ˝ mile SW of SBI, but were in fact in between Sutil (a tall rocky islet just about a half mile SW of SBI) and the island itself. In that moment I knew we had a chance for recovering David and Steve.
As the sun lowered further Toni called up to me and asked why the CG was not here right now. I considered that for a second and then got on the radio, requesting assistance. What a moment this was. I was passed to another CG officer who told me that he had a cutter stationed (somewhere) that could make it to my location in 4 hours, and that he had a chopper that could be there within the hour, and he qualified all of this with the question, “…but what assistance do you REQUIRE?”
That was the sixty four thousand dollar question. What did I require; what did I absolutely have to have, such that trained rescue personnel and Coast Guard assets were mobilized to help me? I just wanted backup dammit! I wanted to know that if we didn’t find the guys by dark that the pros would be there to help! It was still light and we were approaching the pass between SBI and Sutil. “Stand by Coast Guard,” I said.
We still did not know just exactly where the guys were, and Toni and I had an argument about whether we would go around the outside of Sutil and approach the pass from the north, or whether we would enter the pass from the south end where it shoaled to 20 feet and there were rocks, kelp and much larger swells. To her credit, Toni was rightly concerned about putting our boat at considerable risk. When Toni relented asking me if I would take responsibility for the vessel, I headed us up the pass from the south end.
After a few minutes I got a weak radio call from David saying he could see us, and he asked if we could see him. We could not. He said his radio was near dead but told me to aim 10 degrees to my right and asked again if I could see him. I could not. “Just keep coming,” he told me. I have sailed through this pass many times on calmer days, and the key in my mind, having seen the large dark rocks and kelp from the cliffs on the island above was always to keep to the deep on the outside toward Sutil. I knew we were getting in toward the rocks and with the water and sky all gray it was difficult to see where the hidden dangers lay. I watched the depth sounder range from 18 to 8 feet as the swells passed under us. Finally we saw the little gray dinghy.
David and Steve looked cold and grim as they came aboard. We got them below with additional clothes to warm them up and turned right back around with the dinghy in tow. And rather than a celebratory evening at anchor, we had a calm and quiet night full of reflection on the day’s events. This is perhaps a more complete discussion than we have ever had about this situation. I have never before nor since had the time or the circumstances to imagine that some of my crewmates might perish while under sail with me - I did on this day, and it has informed me ever since.
Our intention is to follow with some analysis of what went right, and what we would do differently. I’m dying though to hear from David, Steve and Toni - it’s your turn. |
Marc Hughston
Moderator
Username: hughston
Post Number: 561
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 12:33 am: |
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Santa Barbara Island Rescue 2002
I think David and I are going to take turns telling you this story, and arriving at the conclusions about what we did well, and what we’d do differently. We’re hoping you, the reader, will take something useful away from this. I’ll go first.
The first hint of trouble was when Pilgrimage’s engine died. We had just arrived at Santa Barbara Island, the first stop on a nine-day Channel Islands Cruise. We got the main back up immediately and anchored under sail, electing to swing on a single hook. Toni Rawlins commanded the other boat, a Beneteau 36 named Besame Mucho, and she anchored bow and stern, closer to the landing platform.
David and I talked about the possible causes of the problem and possible fixes for Pilgrimage, but I elected to make getting onto the island the first priority. Steve and David elected to stay behind, and Susie Campbell paddled me and Donna in by kayak for a good hike around the island.
We returned to Pilgrimage around 4 PM, and found that Steve, David, and the dinghy were gone. As 5 PM came and went I figured I’d hear that ancient little Seagull outboard pushing the gray inflatable with Steve and Dave back to Pilgrimage any minute. At 5:30, I started to get concerned. I yelled over to Besame asking if anyone had seen which way David and Steve went, and I got conflicting answers. I was thinking that if I could get Pilgrimage started, we’d go looking for them. Toni suggested I should try the SBI Ranger on VHF. I also kept trying David on the radio, and I got no response from either on channel 16.
As 6:00 PM approached I figured I had to take action and tried starting Pilgrimage - no luck. I asked Besame if they could spare Bob and their dinghy and outboard to take me around the island to look for the guys. Bob agreed and as he got the dinghy ready, I suited up in all my foul weather gear because it was turning out to be a cold and windy afternoon. Big gray swells marched by the island, visible from the anchorage, and the sun was getting lower. Bob approached Pilgrimage and when he was 20 feet away, the outboard engine died. As he began pulling the starter cord the wind began sweeping Bob out of the anchorage pretty rapidly. He gave me a helpless kind of look and kept pulling. Right then Bob needed a rescue to keep from being swept out to sea, and an alert old salt in a rough old trawler at anchor nearby, got in his hard-bottom dinghy and rowed out and threw Bob a line.
Coast Guard Los Angeles Group hailed me on 16. He asked me if I had overdue crew. I said I did, and he said he believed they had located the crew on the disabled Blue Dolphin (the name David gave for the Dinghy). CG said that Blue Dolphin had given her position as ˝ mile SW of Santa Barbara Island. I tell you, right then my heart sank. David and Steve’s reported position was open ocean. The sun was setting on a gray day and gray eight-footers were rolling by and spray would be blowing off into the gray dinghy drifting rapidly away. My boat was disabled, and by dark they might be 5 miles or more out to sea. I yelled over to Toni and asked her if she’d weigh anchor and come and get me. It was going to take her some time. CG radioed back and asked for an ETA he could relay to Blue Dolphin. I told him approximately 45 minutes. I knew it was a lie. Right then I was not sure we’d find them before dark, and I wondered frankly how good our chances were of finding them at all. I wondered what Steve, my old college roommate, was thinking about his own chances.
--to be continued-- |
David Sheriff
Board Administrator
Username: admin
Post Number: 98
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 - 10:13 am: |
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Marc Hughston and I think its appropriate to review this incident with an emphasis on "lessons learned" and "what were we thinking." This is the closest anyone I know has come to participating in a genuine rescue from a potentially life-threatening incident.
David Sheriff |
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