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I have to start this post with a brief explanation; I have in the past owned my own boat and indeed fished from the Tyne, I used take friends out with me but never for business purposes, as a boat owner wether pleasure or business it is my belief you operate with safety been the prime aim for the day, as the person in charge you have ultimate responsibility.
Sunday 1st July fishing from Sunderland aboard the Sapphire, headed out with brisk breeze and a skipper (Peter) that said, we will give it a try. Nine anglers aboard keen for some good fishing.
The first wreck was a couple of mile out and it looked like a good start some Cod of 4 to 5 lb were brought in, the breeze was fresh and the sea was 'choppy' white caps arrearing here and there, keeping on a wreck was difficult as the drift was fast and furious.
Peter chose to head out a further 10 mile to a second wreck weather conditions were dry and breezy fishing was better with cod coming in touching double figures, Ling were also putting in an appearance as the day went on we had completed three wrecks in the day, with Cod coming in to 15lb.
Fishing was far from comfortable; several anglers (4) were hit with the dreaded sea sickness due to conditions.
I find Peter an excitable bloke, is really keen to impress people but sometimes this can be frustrating, if your out there as skipper and wanting to impress then the way to do it is get the anglers on the fish and keep it safe. When on a wreck some may need assistance to land fish and that's fine, but when drifted away from the wrecks dont spend time, helping someone untangle a line, let the lads get on with helping each other and get the boat back round, valuable time is lost unnecessarly. I was a liitle confused when he also made claims that we had around 50 fish on board for the day; after questioning this and doing a head count we actually had 23 fish caught, not including mackerel and whiting another three coming in after this giving a total of 26
My big complaint about the day was putting failing to put safety first; Peter decided to call it a day and head back in around 4pm as we had a good distance to cover to get to Sunderland. My experience is that as the boat heads in anglers use this time to sort their fish and equiptment out.
Peter headed home and instantly applied full throttle, on choppy waters this soon became apparent that it was time to hold on, it was virtually impossible to do anything else, people were struggling to gut and fillet their catch, not the easiest thing to do at the best of times but when the boat is going so fast that it is leaving the water and crashing down it is positively dangerous, this is the time where a simple slip and a major medical emergency occurs. It was clear to me when a friend turned and said "I don't feel safe"
Oblivious to how uncompfortable his 'customers' were the skipper ploughed on, right up to the point where his throttle jammed wide open.
At this point he had no choice but to cut the engine and assess the damage, a task that finally resulted in a call to Humber Coastguard for assistance.
We were dead in the water; unsafe to continue we had no choice but to wait for the RNLI boats from Sunderland and Tynemouth to be launched. Upon arriving they quickly attached lines and towed us to safely.
In all I found yesterday totally frustrating, Safety has to be priority in all cases; the skipper is ultimately responsible for the lives of all aboard. In my opinion if Peter wanted to be back in by a set time then he should of accounted for weather and sea conditions and set off allowing a safe trip back at a safe speed.
Upon landing at Sunderland I was even more confused that Peter never said a thing to anyone was was leaving, don't know if this was just embarrassment, after taking £315 from these people courtesy would not have gone a miss.
All in all this was my 2nd trip out on the Sapphire, it is £5 cheaper than boats I normally fish from, but in the future I will pay the extra £5. I prefer to know I have an experienced skipper that looks after the people in his charge.
Maybe a good gesture would be to make a large donation to the RNLI at least 50% of the takings for the day; a little less haste would have undoubtabley saved all the drama and the added cost of forthcoming repairs.
Looking forward to my next trip out (Different Boat) and put behind me what I consider to be my worst fishing experience to date.
Sunday 1st July fishing from Sunderland aboard the Sapphire, headed out with brisk breeze and a skipper (Peter) that said, we will give it a try. Nine anglers aboard keen for some good fishing.
The first wreck was a couple of mile out and it looked like a good start some Cod of 4 to 5 lb were brought in, the breeze was fresh and the sea was 'choppy' white caps arrearing here and there, keeping on a wreck was difficult as the drift was fast and furious.
Peter chose to head out a further 10 mile to a second wreck weather conditions were dry and breezy fishing was better with cod coming in touching double figures, Ling were also putting in an appearance as the day went on we had completed three wrecks in the day, with Cod coming in to 15lb.
Fishing was far from comfortable; several anglers (4) were hit with the dreaded sea sickness due to conditions.
I find Peter an excitable bloke, is really keen to impress people but sometimes this can be frustrating, if your out there as skipper and wanting to impress then the way to do it is get the anglers on the fish and keep it safe. When on a wreck some may need assistance to land fish and that's fine, but when drifted away from the wrecks dont spend time, helping someone untangle a line, let the lads get on with helping each other and get the boat back round, valuable time is lost unnecessarly. I was a liitle confused when he also made claims that we had around 50 fish on board for the day; after questioning this and doing a head count we actually had 23 fish caught, not including mackerel and whiting another three coming in after this giving a total of 26
My big complaint about the day was putting failing to put safety first; Peter decided to call it a day and head back in around 4pm as we had a good distance to cover to get to Sunderland. My experience is that as the boat heads in anglers use this time to sort their fish and equiptment out.
Peter headed home and instantly applied full throttle, on choppy waters this soon became apparent that it was time to hold on, it was virtually impossible to do anything else, people were struggling to gut and fillet their catch, not the easiest thing to do at the best of times but when the boat is going so fast that it is leaving the water and crashing down it is positively dangerous, this is the time where a simple slip and a major medical emergency occurs. It was clear to me when a friend turned and said "I don't feel safe"
Oblivious to how uncompfortable his 'customers' were the skipper ploughed on, right up to the point where his throttle jammed wide open.
At this point he had no choice but to cut the engine and assess the damage, a task that finally resulted in a call to Humber Coastguard for assistance.
We were dead in the water; unsafe to continue we had no choice but to wait for the RNLI boats from Sunderland and Tynemouth to be launched. Upon arriving they quickly attached lines and towed us to safely.
In all I found yesterday totally frustrating, Safety has to be priority in all cases; the skipper is ultimately responsible for the lives of all aboard. In my opinion if Peter wanted to be back in by a set time then he should of accounted for weather and sea conditions and set off allowing a safe trip back at a safe speed.
Upon landing at Sunderland I was even more confused that Peter never said a thing to anyone was was leaving, don't know if this was just embarrassment, after taking £315 from these people courtesy would not have gone a miss.
All in all this was my 2nd trip out on the Sapphire, it is £5 cheaper than boats I normally fish from, but in the future I will pay the extra £5. I prefer to know I have an experienced skipper that looks after the people in his charge.
Maybe a good gesture would be to make a large donation to the RNLI at least 50% of the takings for the day; a little less haste would have undoubtabley saved all the drama and the added cost of forthcoming repairs.
Looking forward to my next trip out (Different Boat) and put behind me what I consider to be my worst fishing experience to date.
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