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Ships battle extreme weather in rescues

Stoker

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I got this from the Maple Leaf.

Ships battle extreme weather in rescues

By Sarah Gilmour
Within one week, Navy ships on each coast were called toperform high seas rescues in extreme weather conditions.HMCS Yellowknife rescued a four-man crew and theirfishing vessel, Forum Star 43, November 5 after thetrawler’s engine died 43 nautical miles off the northerntip of Vancouver Island. HMCS Athabaskan rescued three crewmembers and sailing vessel La Pierva November 9 when the small craft’s navigation system failed about 196 nautical miles southeast of Yarmouth, N.S. Both rescues were performed in tempestuous waters that tested the crews of both the Navy and rescued ships.“The storm caught up to us and at one point we were in two- to three- metre seas and 40 knot winds,” said Lieutenant-Commander James Vasey, Yellowknife’s commanding officer. “We were being continuously pounded by the sea.” The Maritime Coastal DefenceVessel (MCDV) had been sailing about 100 nautical miles away when she was called to help the vessel.“About 30 minutes later we received word that HMCS Yellowknife was on her way to provide assistance,”said Forum Star’s captain, Durin Chappe.“It was wonderful to have the instant knowledge that someone was coming to help.”
On the other coast, HMCS Athabaskan had beenoperating on the eastern seaboard as part of the Standing Contingency Force’s Integrated Tactical Effects
Experiment (ITEE) when she was called for the rescue.Initially, a commercial vessel had tried to rescue the distressed crewmembers, but was unable to do so safely in the 50 knot winds and three- to five-metre swells. Safe on land on the west coast, Mr. Chappe said Yellowknife was the light at the end of the tunnel. “Our hearts sank when all this happened,” said Mr. Chappe.“Just to hear that they were on their way really helped buoyed our spirits.”Both sets of rescued crewmembers are reported safe.

I think its cool that the Yellowknife rescued those people,and it was rough however calling two to three meter seas as "extreme" is a little foolish. Is that what you west coast guys call bad weather?
 
More on that story here: http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/53328.0.html

And maybe not so much the seas being extreme, but you add the wind on top of that....
 
And honestly  you cannot expect an MCDV to weather a storm like that compared to a 280....The Yellowknife did very well indeed.
 
Ex-Dragoon said:
And honestly you cannot expect an MCDV to weather a storm like that compared to a 280....The Yellowknife did very well indeed.

Guys I was only joking, I know to some people 3 to 4 meter seas are rough. On the east coast, we are out in rough weather more often than enough that we are use to weather like that. I would call anything over 6 meters rough and the worst I been in was 14 meters and I would call that extreme, and the ship handled it pretty well.

 
Stoker said:
Guys I was only joking, I know to some people 3 to 4 meter seas are rough. On the east coast, we are out in rough weather more often than enough that we are use to weather like that. I would call anything over 6 meters rough and the worst I been in was 14 meters and I would call that extreme, and the ship handled it pretty well.

Coming from someone who was in YELLOWKNIFE when we rescued the Forum Star, the conditions were challenging due primarily to the winds and the constant heaving on the towing bridle. Jamming the ship into seas for 10 hours and expecting the crew to then tow the damned thing for as long as we did was the difficult part. You have to understand, taking seas at 10 knots is one thing... try it with a fully laden fishing vessel pulling on a thin line behind you making 2 knots SMG with STERN winds gusting at 40 (in the middle of nowhere) - different bag of tricks. It was NOT the most challenging tow we've done (Salmon King takes that one), but it was a good cap-off to an otherwise uneventful SAR Zone tasking (and subsequently a good way to put her down for a period in Extended Readiness).

As for the whole "East coast - West coast" - well, suffice to say conditions are different but no less challenging.

 
We will not turn this into a west coast vs east coast if it continues Warnings will be issued....nuff said!
 
Cronicbny said:
Coming from someone who was in YELLOWKNIFE when we rescued the Forum Star, the conditions were challenging due primarily to the winds and the constant heaving on the towing bridle. Jamming the ship into seas for 10 hours and expecting the crew to then tow the damned thing for as long as we did was the difficult part. You have to understand, taking seas at 10 knots is one thing... try it with a fully laden fishing vessel pulling on a thin line behind you making 2 knots SMG with STERN winds gusting at 40 (in the middle of nowhere) - different bag of tricks. It was NOT the most challenging tow we've done (Salmon King takes that one), but it was a good cap-off to an otherwise uneventful SAR Zone tasking (and subsequently a good way to put her down for a period in Extended Readiness).

As for the whole "East coast - West coast" - well, suffice to say conditions are different but no less challenging.

My hats off to you and your crew for preforming a most difficult job in most inclement weather, thank goodness no one was hurt.
 
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