# Brilliant or Bad Seamanship ?



## cleansweeploch (Nov 13, 2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y21ghrXDwEU&feature=related

As I know nothing about ship handling, I wonder what your opinions are on this scenario? I am assuming the vessel is Japanese Coastguard and may well be reacting to some sort of emergency call.
Having left safe haven, he becomes fully committed and there's no way back. Should he have left port at all?
Difficult one, as we don't know all the details.
I think the skippers handling was pretty damn good, though there could be an element of luck involved. If one of the engines failed maybe?


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## duquesa (Aug 31, 2006)

*Brilliant or bad seamanship*

He did what he had to do and the only thing he could do. I would say he probably had executed that same exit procedure many times. He knew what was coming. No engine failure there. Worked well (apart from a broken coffee mug or two). Coastguard cutters go out in dire conditions all over the world as do our RNLI. No question of them not going.
However, I would have loved to see the film of him getting back in!


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## John Cassels (Sep 29, 2005)

Nothing here wrong with his seamanship in rather trying cir***stances.


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## Jardine (Oct 29, 2011)

An excellent display of ship handling I would say. Cracked it at 2:10.
My regard for Japanese seamanship ability never diminishes. They are good, really good.


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## Andrew Craig-Bennett (Mar 13, 2007)

Jardine said:


> An excellent display of ship handling I would say. Cracked it at 2:10.
> My regard for Japanese seamanship ability never diminishes. They are good, really good.


Agree entirely.


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## lakercapt (Jul 19, 2005)

Good seamanship but poor judgement going out in these condition unless there was a very good reason to do so.
When beam on to the seas he could easily have been swept on to the breakwall before getting the boats head on to the seas.


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## Tony Collins (Aug 29, 2010)

It would appear the reason for sailing outweighed the reasons for staying in port.


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## Alex Salmond (Mar 7, 2011)

Hmm no bad I ll grant you but obviously you guys havent been on a supply boat in the North Sea in winter or trying to get into Peterheid when its a bit frisky there ,all in a days work for the Skippers up there


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## Gollywobbler (Dec 4, 2010)

Jardine said:


> An excellent display of ship handling I would say. Cracked it at 2:10.
> My regard for Japanese seamanship ability never diminishes. They are good, really good.


Hi Jardine

I am no expert on seamanship but I got the same impression about Japanese seamen after the Fukushima earthquake but before the tsunami wave reached the shore. Apparently there was quite a large vessel - a patrol boat or similar. The skipper of the boat realised that she would be smashed to pieces if she stayed in the harbour so he insisted on taking her to sea immediately. 

From the reports and the TV footage, it sounded like one of those knife-edge decisions where the skipper's plan would work as long as he could get offshore far enough in time. If he didn't then leaving the ship to her own devices and getting all the crew up to high ground instead would have been wiser and the only judge was going to be hindsight. 

It was one of those situations when there is no time to spend 3 hours considering the options. Apparently they put to sea immediately and no damage was done to the ship or her crew. I felt that it took enormous courage to head out to sea in that situation. 

Cheers

Gill


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## Klaatu83 (Jan 22, 2009)

That is a Japanese Coast Guard Cutter, which means that they were probably going out to rescue somebody in distress. I'd call it excellent seamanship. For a while it looked as though the ship might either broach-to or be driven ashore, but the captain got her under control and made his turn pretty handily. 

I couldn't help thinking of the men on the bow! Normally, at least in my experience, a ship doesn't begin to secure the anchors for sea until after she clears the breakwater. That means there were probably still men out on that bow, securing the devils claws to the anchor chains, and passing additional chains through the links of the anchor chains, which they then secure to the deck with turn buckles (been there, done that).

As Alex Salmond remarked above, for some people, this sort of thing is all in a day's work. It just goes to show what men are actually capable of doing when they have to!


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## reefrat (Nov 4, 2007)

Heaps of power and heaps of skill, he waited until a big set went through and then gunned it, nice to watch,,getting back in, would be a bit iffy. If you look carefully he waited and when a swell tried to knock the head off he crept forward and the next wave knocked his stern around and then he gunned it and was away. And yes, he had done it a few times before, methinks


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