Securite and UMIB calls on 16 and 22a VHF

[adambolonsky]

UMIB's (urgent marine information broadcasts) get sent over ch. 16 all the time as securite ("say-cure-ee-tay") calls. Both warn of safety hazards.

Often they have to do with weather. We hear them locally all the time here in summer, usually as warnings of fast-moving thunderstorms spilling into Massachusetts and Ipswich Bays and Salem Sound when dry northwesterlies hit the humid shorelines to the west and southwest. We hear the warnings on the radio before we see the ugly sky.

Here's an impressive UMIB securite call. Listen all the way to the end and you'll hear a boater call the CG plane on 16 to ask for permission to use a waterway to duck in out of the weather:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/audio/24333/us_east_coast_hurricanes_coast_guard.html?cat=16

Keeping the VHF tuned to 16 during the summer in Massachusetts, especially the North and South Shores, is a good idea. You'll hear thunderstorm warnings all the time.

Edited April 12, 2011 by adambolonsky

[adambolonsky]

Dee Hall at Cape Cod's Brewster Flats on a hot August afternoon just before a huge thunderstorm broke loose.

photo © 2011 Adam Bolonsky. Write for permissions.

[adambolonsky]

The same area, this time at the Brewster Harbor channel. The channel shifts monthly -- the local harbormaster sticks trees into the flats to mark it.

A dull paddling area but very productive if you're kayak fishing for stripers or bluefish in the fall.

Photo © 2011. Write for permissions.

[jason]

Very nice pictures, thanks for sharing them.

[risingsn]

UMIB's (urgent marine information broadcasts) get sent over ch. 16 all the time as securite ("say-cure-ee-tay") calls. Both warn of safety hazards.

Often they have to do with weather. We hear them locally all the time here in summer, usually as warnings of fast-moving thunderstorms spilling into Massachusetts and Ipswich Bays and Salem Sound when dry northwesterlies hit the humid shorelines to the west and southwest. We hear the warnings on the radio before we see the ugly sky.

Here's an impressive UMIB securite call. Listen all the way to the end and you'll hear a boater call the CG plane on 16 to ask for permission to use a waterway to duck in out of the weather:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/audio/24333/us_east_coast_hurricanes_coast_guard.html?cat=16

Keeping the VHF tuned to 16 during the summer in Massachusetts, especially the North and South Shores, is a good idea. You'll hear thunderstorm warnings all the time.

Hey, Adam, I can't seem to find your blog w/ all of the great info. As I remember you had a article on how to attach a vhf to a pfd shoulder strap, still available? Thanks,

Chuck