July 6, 2002
(return to July calendar)

A Visit From the Coast Guard

On the 5th of July, we were almost 1000 nautical miles out from Hawaii, and we started running into higher winds and bigger waves. By the end of the day, we knew we were in a full-fledged gale, with 40 to 50 knot winds and 15 foot breaking seas.  We altered course to put the seas on our stern quarter, sailing with a double-reefed main.  It was necessary to stand by Otto, our autopilot, to take control when it couldn't bring us back on course in the big swells.  Some of the waves would come aboard astern so there was about 3 to 4 inches of water in the cockpit.

On the morning of the 6th, we heard a broadcast on our VHF radio, which we always  keep tuned to Channel 16 in case some other ship sees us and wants to make contact. We figured out that it was a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules rescue plane talking to a Coast Guard ship about a vessel in distress. The clouds were so dense and low that they couldn't see anything, and of course, we couldn't see them. We wondered how close the troubled ship was, and whether there was anything we could do to help.  Dan decided to try to contact the Coast Guard plane to see if they could give us any weather information. As soon as we identified our vessel, there was an obvious pause in their communications, and they they asked us to please go inspect our EPIRB device. (EPIRB is the emergency broadcast beacon that is used by rescue personnel to located and identify ships in distress. It transmits a unique code that identifies the beacon as belonging to the Rosalie Clare. Prior to our departure, we registered the EPIRB with information about our vessel, and contact information of people to notify if necessary. Some EPIRBs, like ours, are connected to GPS, and will also transmit our exact location. Also some EPIRBs, like ours, will be set off automatically if it is submerged. ) Our EPIRB was not broadcasting, although the self-test showed it was working fine. The Coast Guard informed us that it had been set off earlier that morning, and it was us that the Coast Guard was searching for. We confirmed that we were fine, but they said that the Coast Guard Cutter "Rush" was being diverted 200 miles to come inspect us, and that they would be there in the early evening.

One of our worries, while waiting for Rush to arrive, was that our contact people had been notified of the beacon's signal, but didn't know yet that we were fine. We had listed Dan's brother, Jay, and our neighbors the Bryans as contacts, and we prayed the contacts didn't include Kalen's mother, who was already a little too worried about the whole idea of us taking her grandchildren out on this 'dangerous' crossing.

Around 6 pm we received word from Rush that they were approaching our expected location. We looked for them on radar and saw them about 7 miles straight behind us. About 10 minutes later the ship itself appeared out of the mists, all 337 feet of her!

The US Coast Guard Ship "Rush" appears out of the mist, over 1000 miles from land.

They launched a dinghy with several crewmembers which headed in our direction.

The dinghy from the Rush approaches Rosalie Clare.

The seas were quite large, and climbing onto RC from the dinghy was quite an adventure, but the Coast Guard is a professional organization, and soon several of the crew were aboard, and the rest of the crew in the dinghy circled RC making a visual inspection of her seaworthiness.

Boarding RC in the high seas was an adventure in itself.

Two members of the boarding party asked Dan and Kalen dozens of questions, and inspected all vital areas of our boat. Everything was in order. We determined that a large wave must have washed into our cockpit where we were storing our 'ditch-bag', a pocket of which contained the EPIRB. The wave must have been sufficient to activate the device, but then later it shut down with no indication that it had ever transmitted. We feel this is a design flaw; if the device actually starts transmitting, and then stops, there should be some indication of that and even a way to cancel a prior transmission.  In point of fact, it was the Coast Guard in Port Angeles, Washington, on an earlier inspection prior to our departure, that had suggested that we keep our ditch-bag and EPIRB in the cockpit of the boat so it would be easily accessible if we  ever had to abandon ship. We were extremely impressed with the young men who boarded RC for the inspection, and were very grateful to know that if we ever did have an emergency, we would be in good hands.

After satisfying themselves that RC and her crew were in good shape, the Coast Guard boarding party and
support people returned to the Rush, to continue their journey from Honolulu to Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
 

Once we got close enough to the North American continent for our cell phones to be working, we made some phone calls and determined that Dan's older brother Jay was the only person that the Coast Guard had called. (Kalen's mother wasn't even listed.) And Jay wasn't worried at all; in fact, he had told the callers that there must be some mistake because Rosalie Clare is a fine, strong ship and there could be no reason for distress. The CG did call him back later to inform him that they had made contract with us and all was well.