BLUEMOMENT

On Tuesday I crossed the Clyde on Western Ferries' Sound of Seil. Coming down the estuary (and stand-on vessel) was a missile submarine surrounded by 8 other craft consisting of a SD support craft, an Archer class patrol boat, a Royal Marine patrol boat, 3 Mod-Plod patrol boats and 2 ribs.
Today I read the report into the near sinking of the FV Karen https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... 0_2016.pdf, possibly by the same submarine.
Memories of Antares and Drum came back, together with the MoD denials. I now realise that all these guard vessels are there to protect innocent seafarers like us from the Navy's incompetence, not as I previously thought, to protect the submarine from us.

We have a friend who is a serving officer on HMS Ambush. He seems to be doing a shorebased course until the end of next summer.
I asked if it was the RYA Yachtmaster and got a very tart response.

Me and Ash had to make a minor course adjustment on Monday morning as we exited Kip heading for Toward. I had a feeling they could be about as I saw a couple of boats heading down river through the murk as I came back from dropping the kids off at the pool.

The encounter with a surfaced sub I had first week in November was a tad uncomfortable.
I was heading south to the winter berth... overnight at Port Bannatyne and was off Kilchattan Bay on the big Cumbrae side on a Starboard reach.
I had spotted four vessels heading North just off Wee Cumbrae... one of them turned out to be a rib which altered course on a beeline for me. Ok, at that point we were red-to-red but there would have been good few hundred yards between us on passing.
The rib did a smart 180 to come alongside.
"You will alter course to Port immediately and continue at best speed."
Various responses came to mind but I am generally disposed to obey people with guns, so I turned to Port... and immediately lost way with the flappy things doing that flappy business.
By the time I got the engine going we were in the Cumbrae channel.
The sub passed by showing her dirty stern and the stars n' stripes flying off the fin.
Still not sure why the escorts couldn't have raised us on VHF a lot earlier.

claymore wrote:We have a friend who is a serving officer on HMS Ambush. He seems to be doing a shorebased course until the end of next summer.
I asked if it was the RYA Yachtmaster and got a very tart response.

He's probably on the Joined Up Writing course.

Again.

Gordonmc wrote: .... Still not sure why the escorts couldn't have raised us on VHF a lot earlier.

VHF is indirect and remote, fast patrol boat is direct and personal. Also, that's what it's there for. However, you are supposed to keep away if less than 20m LOA

These machines have special status not to be impeded and are considered to be restricted by draught anywhere in the Harbour vicinity. Rule 9 of the IRPCS is stated as applying, which means that vessels less than 20m must keep out the way. This is clearly stated on Peel Port's Clyde Harbour guidance for leisure users, under the Submarine / Warship bit.

I'm Ok with keeping clear of big stuff, and particularly big black submersible warships.

However, over zealous Men in Black on fast RIBS with no sense or manners do not impress me much. We met a sub coming south off Mount Stuart several years ago, and pulled out the way to Port, and the shore of Bute. No harm done. The MIB Ribs were rather OTT considering they were intimidating fully paid up regular British citizens. On balance, the kind of people attracted by MODPLOD are probably not far off the same who aspire to traffic warden duty. I can't honestly see any ISIS types making much use of our waters /climate for mischief, so how about some more pragmatic/realistic behaviour from MODPLOD?

A fair few years ago now, Mike B. and I were transiting south down the middle of the Irish Sea in his new-ish Dragonfly 10m. after a Scottish Islands Peaks Race, when the stick fell down in the night. Forestay fitting, AIR. Unsure of the insurance situation, we spent hours battling the blurry thing back on board, stripped, and lashed down. Knackered, I went below to sort out a brew, leaving old Mike in the cockpit. I was awakened by a scream of fear from Mike....

I scrabbled up into the cockpit to see, in the halflight of the pre-dawn, a giant black shape slide past our stern. Jeez, but it gave me the eebyjeebies, too. Then some sort of dim recognition....

It was a nuclear submarine, which circled around us. They must have seen our unusual shape and thought to investigate. They'd have made out, with their image-intensifying binos, that there was a mast strapped along the side-deck, and that we were just bobbing up and down. They circled a couple more times, clearly wondering what to do about us. We couldn't communicate - masthead VHF antenna, disconnected - but certainly didn't want them to launch a RIB with matelots, to discover we were OK, uninjured, and soon capable of motoring. I knew all the signs and signals for 'Distress', including the burning barrel of tar, but for the life of me couldn't think of a signal saying 'We're OK!'

Then the wee lightbulb came on. I clambered onto the sugar-scoop and, as the black nuke threshed past our stern for the fifth or sixth time, little white hats now visible up top, I lifted our little wooden flagstaff out of its holder and conspicuously 'dipped our ensign' to the warship.... a blue one, as it happened.

They got the message. In a flurry of threshing props and spray, the giant black and very sinister machine charged away southwards - and disappeared.

We managed to drop a note of thanks to 'The Commander' via Flag Officer ( Submarines ) at Plymouth, a week later, who passed it on. Some time after that, we had a very courteous acknowledgement from 'HMS Torbay' ( http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organis ... hms-torbay ) together with some PR photos of the boat.