14 ms·

Reading the facts of this incident, it seems like much to do about nothing. The crew are saying that the request came in on a frequency they weren't monitoring

Reading the facts of this incident, it seems like much to do about nothing. The crew are saying that the request came in on a frequency they weren't monitoring (and apparently were not required to monitor.) The Coast Guard determined it was not an emergency. The criticism lies with those who failed to properly fuel their boat, not the crew who didn't respond to a request that came over a frequency they were not on. They can't monitor every frequency. I am open to new facts being discovered that changes this assessment.

detourdog 2mo ago
Where did you find these facts you read. In the USA a good Captain monitors VHF channel 16. This channel is used for establishing communication. To not monitor this channel is a dereliction of duty. I really doubt the USCG labeled a disabled vessel as a non-emergency. An immediate threat to life may not have existed but that is the difference between a pan pan and a mayday call. A disabled vessel close to land can easily wind up on the rocks and sinking.
- limagnolia 2mo ago
  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/10/zuckerberg-yacht-boat-alaska https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/10/zuckerberg-y... https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article316824631.html https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article316824631.h... I haven't found any source that states what channel the request for assistance came in on. But multiple sources are reporting that the coast guard determined they were not in distress.
  - limagnolia 2mo ago
    Based on the wording of the response, and a review of the ship tracking data, it appears that Zuckerburgs yacht may have been actively communicating on a different channel, and once they switched back, the assistance from the cruise ship was already underway. Again, more facts may be revealed, but as of right now, I don;'t see any reason to believe the crew did anything wrong.
    - detourdog 2mo ago
      A yacht with their budget has multiple VHF radios to monitor multiple channels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_16_VHF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_16_VHF The Launchpad didn’t break any laws they just revealed themselves to be a failure in good seamanship.
    - detourdog 2mo ago
      I can tell you think they did not do anything wrong. My guess is you have no training in the rules of the sea. There is a reason why the cruise ship captain made a stink. There is code of conduct we try to live up and the Launchpad didn’t live up to expectations that other Captains hold sacred. It’s offensive.
      - limagnolia 2mo ago
        [flagged]
        detourdog 2mo ago
        That is a good code. I personally have all the facts I need to form an opinion. I don't even think we disagree on the facts. I think we just disagree on the obligations of a captain at sea.
  - detourdog 2mo ago
    On the sea there are 2 levels of distress. Things are going wrong and may end up in a mayday call (pan pan) and things have gone wrong human life is in imminent danger. I have no doubt that a boat without propulsion is a pan pan call. When traveling the seas a watch must be maintained at all times using all available means. This involes looking, listening, and the use of any electronics available. The most common electronic device on a boat is probably a VHF radio. Channel 16 is the channel to monitor on watch. Well equipped boats will have multiple VHF radios to monitor more then one channel. I have no doubt the boat was well equipped with a professional captain. The other professional Captain in this story made a stink because launchpad was the closest vessel and they ignored a very old fundamental rule of the sea. This story has a happy ending because another vessel stepped up. We don’t know the alternative. The Captain of the Launchpad is choosing the inability to keep a vhf radio set to channel 16 rather than admit they ignored the call.
  - CalChris 2mo ago
    https://youtu.be/qEo5Rw6AMMU?is=Hq_h6s5heJFrRLpP https://youtu.be/qEo5Rw6AMMU?is=Hq_h6s5heJFrRLpP
- hadlock 2mo ago
  The vessel was at least 100 miles from shore, the USCG did in fact label it a non-emergency. This is "radio shore for your buddy to zoom out with 50 gallons of diesel in a zodiac" territory. CHP doesn't send out an ambulance or medevac helicopter if your car runs out of gas on the side of the road. You get an uber to the gas station, or call your buddy to deliver some gas to you. The ocean currents in the gulf of alaska aren't particularly strong, you are looking at 1-3 days before getting within sight of land. Similarly, boats are not airplanes, as the philosopher Mitch Hedburg once pointed out, escalators aren't out of order, they are simply stairs. Boats continue to float with or without fuel.
  - detourdog 2mo ago
    All the Launchpad had to do was respond on the radio to the skiff, the cruise ship, or the USCG. They weren’t obligated to do more. A pan pan is a non emergency in a deteriorating situation. I don't know the area or the details at what happend. There is this quote from the USCG. “At approximately 9:56 p.m., the Coast Guard determined they [the skiff] were not in distress and issued a marine assistance request broadcast on their behalf,” Exactly what a pan pan call is. The biggest issue is the lack of communication and the excuse that a superyacht wasn't monitoring channel 16.
xXSLAYERXx 2mo ago
Click through rate is what drives the headline.
gorgoiler 2mo ago
When I finally buy myself a $300m yacht you can bet it will have a full spectrum software radio that captures and transcribes all calls on all frequencies, not just the one I happen to be tuned to right now.
sailingparrot 2mo ago
> The crew are saying that the request came in on a frequency they weren't monitoring There is only one channel you are supposed to monitor, it’s 16. That’s also where the coast guards make all their announcement/requests for help and whatnot. The reason there is a single channel to monitor is precisely to avoid the situation of different vessels being on standby on different frequencies and thus being unable to hear each others. So that means they weren’t monitoring 16. Which is unacceptable. I know I need to have 16 on at all times, and i am not a professional super yacht captain.
- darkwizard42 2mo ago
  It doesn't seem like it is confirmed it was on 16 [1]. The Coast Guard said the ship was not in immediate danger. Does that change your opinion? [1]https://alaskabeacon.com/briefs/cruise-ship-helps-stranded-skiff-and-crew-in-southeast-alaska-as-zuckerberg-yacht-stands-by/ https://alaskabeacon.com/briefs/cruise-ship-helps-stranded-s...
  - sailingparrot 2mo ago
    No, all coast guards announcements are on 16 regardless of severity, because no one is monitoring other channels so any announcements on other channels would be like screaming in the void. The initial call from help from the stranded boat was on 16 for sure, there is no other channel anyone would use for that. The severity is instead communicated in the first part of the message with either « sécurité » for navigational hazards, « pan pan » for non life threatening events like this one, or « mayday » for life threatening events like man overboard, sinking etc. The system is based on a single channel design specifically to avoid this situation. You only use other channels briefly, e.g. to talk to the dockmaster when coming into port, or to talk to another boat after having hailed it on 16. So it’s possible to miss a coast guard announcement, but they get repeated and in this case because they were the closest boat the coast guard must have tried to hail them multiple times. My guess is that zuck yacht has a smaller boat attached to it, and they basically stayed on a different channel to communicate between the two for hours, never bothering to check 16. Which you aren’t supposed to do. Even then I would be surprised a $500M yacht can’t monitor two frequencies. I can on my little sailboat.
sharts 2mo ago
Same as car accidents I guess. Not your problem if you're not involved

detourdog 2mo ago

Where did you find these facts you read. In the USA a good Captain monitors VHF channel 16. This channel is used for establishing communication. To not monitor this channel is a dereliction of duty. I really doubt the USCG labeled a disabled vessel as a non-emergency. An immediate threat to life may not have existed but that is the difference between a pan pan and a mayday call. A disabled vessel close to land can easily wind up on the rocks and sinking.

limagnolia 2mo ago
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/10/zuckerberg-yacht-boat-alaska https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/10/zuckerberg-y... https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article316824631.html https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article316824631.h... I haven't found any source that states what channel the request for assistance came in on. But multiple sources are reporting that the coast guard determined they were not in distress.
- limagnolia 2mo ago
  Based on the wording of the response, and a review of the ship tracking data, it appears that Zuckerburgs yacht may have been actively communicating on a different channel, and once they switched back, the assistance from the cruise ship was already underway. Again, more facts may be revealed, but as of right now, I don;'t see any reason to believe the crew did anything wrong.
  - detourdog 2mo ago
    A yacht with their budget has multiple VHF radios to monitor multiple channels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_16_VHF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_16_VHF The Launchpad didn’t break any laws they just revealed themselves to be a failure in good seamanship.
  - detourdog 2mo ago
    I can tell you think they did not do anything wrong. My guess is you have no training in the rules of the sea. There is a reason why the cruise ship captain made a stink. There is code of conduct we try to live up and the Launchpad didn’t live up to expectations that other Captains hold sacred. It’s offensive.
    - limagnolia 2mo ago
      [flagged]
      - detourdog 2mo ago
        That is a good code. I personally have all the facts I need to form an opinion. I don't even think we disagree on the facts. I think we just disagree on the obligations of a captain at sea.
- detourdog 2mo ago
  On the sea there are 2 levels of distress. Things are going wrong and may end up in a mayday call (pan pan) and things have gone wrong human life is in imminent danger. I have no doubt that a boat without propulsion is a pan pan call. When traveling the seas a watch must be maintained at all times using all available means. This involes looking, listening, and the use of any electronics available. The most common electronic device on a boat is probably a VHF radio. Channel 16 is the channel to monitor on watch. Well equipped boats will have multiple VHF radios to monitor more then one channel. I have no doubt the boat was well equipped with a professional captain. The other professional Captain in this story made a stink because launchpad was the closest vessel and they ignored a very old fundamental rule of the sea. This story has a happy ending because another vessel stepped up. We don’t know the alternative. The Captain of the Launchpad is choosing the inability to keep a vhf radio set to channel 16 rather than admit they ignored the call.
- CalChris 2mo ago
  https://youtu.be/qEo5Rw6AMMU?is=Hq_h6s5heJFrRLpP https://youtu.be/qEo5Rw6AMMU?is=Hq_h6s5heJFrRLpP
hadlock 2mo ago
The vessel was at least 100 miles from shore, the USCG did in fact label it a non-emergency. This is "radio shore for your buddy to zoom out with 50 gallons of diesel in a zodiac" territory. CHP doesn't send out an ambulance or medevac helicopter if your car runs out of gas on the side of the road. You get an uber to the gas station, or call your buddy to deliver some gas to you. The ocean currents in the gulf of alaska aren't particularly strong, you are looking at 1-3 days before getting within sight of land. Similarly, boats are not airplanes, as the philosopher Mitch Hedburg once pointed out, escalators aren't out of order, they are simply stairs. Boats continue to float with or without fuel.
- detourdog 2mo ago
  All the Launchpad had to do was respond on the radio to the skiff, the cruise ship, or the USCG. They weren’t obligated to do more. A pan pan is a non emergency in a deteriorating situation. I don't know the area or the details at what happend. There is this quote from the USCG. “At approximately 9:56 p.m., the Coast Guard determined they [the skiff] were not in distress and issued a marine assistance request broadcast on their behalf,” Exactly what a pan pan call is. The biggest issue is the lack of communication and the excuse that a superyacht wasn't monitoring channel 16.

xXSLAYERXx 2mo ago

Click through rate is what drives the headline.

gorgoiler 2mo ago

When I finally buy myself a $300m yacht you can bet it will have a full spectrum software radio that captures and transcribes all calls on all frequencies, not just the one I happen to be tuned to right now.

sailingparrot 2mo ago

> The crew are saying that the request came in on a frequency they weren't monitoring There is only one channel you are supposed to monitor, it’s 16. That’s also where the coast guards make all their announcement/requests for help and whatnot. The reason there is a single channel to monitor is precisely to avoid the situation of different vessels being on standby on different frequencies and thus being unable to hear each others. So that means they weren’t monitoring 16. Which is unacceptable. I know I need to have 16 on at all times, and i am not a professional super yacht captain.

darkwizard42 2mo ago
It doesn't seem like it is confirmed it was on 16 [1]. The Coast Guard said the ship was not in immediate danger. Does that change your opinion? [1]https://alaskabeacon.com/briefs/cruise-ship-helps-stranded-skiff-and-crew-in-southeast-alaska-as-zuckerberg-yacht-stands-by/ https://alaskabeacon.com/briefs/cruise-ship-helps-stranded-s...
- sailingparrot 2mo ago
  No, all coast guards announcements are on 16 regardless of severity, because no one is monitoring other channels so any announcements on other channels would be like screaming in the void. The initial call from help from the stranded boat was on 16 for sure, there is no other channel anyone would use for that. The severity is instead communicated in the first part of the message with either « sécurité » for navigational hazards, « pan pan » for non life threatening events like this one, or « mayday » for life threatening events like man overboard, sinking etc. The system is based on a single channel design specifically to avoid this situation. You only use other channels briefly, e.g. to talk to the dockmaster when coming into port, or to talk to another boat after having hailed it on 16. So it’s possible to miss a coast guard announcement, but they get repeated and in this case because they were the closest boat the coast guard must have tried to hail them multiple times. My guess is that zuck yacht has a smaller boat attached to it, and they basically stayed on a different channel to communicate between the two for hours, never bothering to check 16. Which you aren’t supposed to do. Even then I would be surprised a $500M yacht can’t monitor two frequencies. I can on my little sailboat.

sharts 2mo ago

Same as car accidents I guess. Not your problem if you're not involved