Boating Safety Tips, Tricks & Thoughts from Captnmike

Falling By Brion Toss

Falling by Brion Toss is a delightful and entertaining must read for anyone that works aloft, while the adventures are mostly from the marine field, anyone that has ever worked aloft will find something interesting and maybe even amusing as they grasp the direction of the adventure, such as a pointy tool taken aloft without a lanyard on it to keep it from falling to the deck right next to a trusting soul standing a bit too close to the fall zone.

Falling is a nice book on the adventures of Rigging and lifting loads. The examples are all short and told in a very easy to read format. The book is an easy read well written in a conversational tone like sitting around the table at the end of the day and someone starts out “do you remember the time Rich was working on” and the adventure/lesson is off to the races.

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Coast Guard RBM going quickly, photo courtesy USCG

A rather sobering bit of information from the U.S. Coast Guard 5th District Mid-Atlantic on the impact of false MAYDAY calls.

This is the fishing vessel SOL E MAR. This is a MAYDAY, were sinking, we need help now! were the some of the last words of 19-year-old Billy Hokanson, as the fishing boat that he and his father, William was on sank to the bottom of the ocean on March 25, 1990.

Coast Guard Stations Menemsha and Brad Point, both off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, received the distress call on marine radio channel 16 distorted by heavy amounts of static. Both stations attempted to call the boat back, but did not get an answer. About a minute after Hakansons transmission, a separate call came through channel 16.

SOS, I’m sinking, the caller said in playful tone with laughter.

Both distress calls were presumed to be related and deemed as hoaxes.

The bodies of the Hoakansons never found.

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