RACING SCHEDULE & RESULTS

In this section...

Racing Home 

PHRF Ratings 

Calendar 2008 

Results/Reports/Stories 

NWMA Standings

Racing Tips

ISAF rules

Swiftsure-04

Joint Coast Guard and Race Committee Rescue Effort of "3D"

Submitted by
  Janine Bell,
  VanIsle 360 Race Committee

The following document was written in conjunction with Tofino Coast Guard Radio (MCTS Tofino). All facts and times have been confirmed with the Coast Guard and they have given permission for this document to be published.

The Cadillac Van Isle 360 race organizers worked with MCTS Tofino (Tofino Coast Guard Radio) and RCC (Rescue Coordination Centre) to develop the following radio check-in procedure that would be used on the remote west coast of the island between Winter Harbour and Ucluelet:

At the skippers meeting in Winter Harbour, all skippers were advised to call in their position every four hours to the HMCS Oriole, a Canadian Navy Sailing Ship, who would in turn relay the positions to the Coast Guard in Tofino for plotting. If unable to raise the Oriole boats were instructed to contact the Coast Guard in Tofino directly or to relay via any other boat. Skippers were further advised that this was mainly for tracking purposes and was not a Search and Rescue Organization, if in need of immediate assistance they should use their mandatory waterproof handheld VHF to contact channel 16.

The position reports were plotted and printed by Tofino Coast Guard and then hand delivered to the race committee who were located on the grounds of the Tofino Coast Guard Radio Station (Amphitrite Point). Tofino Coast Guard Radio also sent the plotted positions to the race's website.

Sailing conditions that Sunday were optimal. Skippers and crew were experienced and well rested after a lay-day in Winter Harbour. The fleet ended up spread out over a large area making communications difficult. Some called the Oriole directly, some called the Coast Guard, some relayed their position via another vessel and some missed one or more consecutive call ins. L. Comm. Scott Crawshaw of the HMCS Oriole reported that the '3D's" 1200 hr check-in to the HMCS Oriole was extremely broken up and that it took at least five attempts to raise her.

At the 2000h check-in only one boat , Dragonfly, a formula 40 catamaran (the fastest sailing vessel in the Pacific Northwest) had crossed the finish line. The rest of the multihull fleet came in between 2100h and 2330h and all reported excellent conditions on the course. 3D’s lack of radio check-ins at 1600h and 2000h became a concern when she failed to arrive in a reasonable time with the rest of the yachts in her division. Just before 2400h, Race Manager Gordon Shoquist contacted Stacy Newcombe, the Acting Supervisor at MCTS Tofino (Tofino Coast Guard) to discuss his concerns. It was decided that if no word came over the midnight radio check on the whereabouts of 3D, the Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) would be contacted. During the 2400h radio check further attempts were made to make contact with the missing vessel. A power spike caused the Coast Guard computers to go down for a short period of time, but did not have any effect on MCTS Tofino communications capability.

At 0100h Newcombe and Shoquist agreed that further action was necessary. MCTS Tofino called RCC to inform them of the Race Committee’s concern for 3D. The Coast Guard then initiated “Pan Pan” calls over the VHF airways in a final attempt to contact 3D. When RCC informed the Race Committee at 0150h that no word was heard back from 3D, Shoquist asked that a search be initiated.

The radio check-in protocol plus information from vessels known to have sighted 3D during the day gave solid information on 3D’s last known position. At 0245h the Coast Guard ship Gordon Reid was tasked to join the search. By 0300h RCC had a 442 Squadron Labrador helicopter in the air searching the coastline. By dawn the Labrador was running low on fuel and RCC felt that they needed more help. At 0525 the Race Committee was informed that the Aurora long-range search plane was in the air for an increased search. At approximately 0900h, the plane’s radar picked up a hit 40 miles out to sea. They flew directly to it to find 3D overturned with the crew sitting on the main hull.

The decision to report a vessel as overdue takes several factors into consideration: weather, vessel condition, skipper and crew experience, expected vessel course and speed and estimated arrival time at the destination port. The Cadillac Van Isle 360 radio check in was one piece of information that was considered with several other factors prior to reporting a vessel overdue. In many situations, standard Coast Guard protocol in identifying vessels as overdue occurs 24 hours past the boat’s expected arrival time.

Race Committee comment: The crew of 3D required no medical attention and were having lunch in Comox well before the last boats finished that leg of the race in Ucluelet.

_________________________________________