Fleet
Week 2005
Story
by Rick Pisio
All Photography by:
Rick W. Pisio/RWP
Photography
Except Where Otherwise
Indicated...
Fleet
Week Patrol with the Coast Guard Auxilary
By Rick Pisio
As
the call comes out over the radio from the Division
Captain the throttle is pushed forward and the boat is
put on an intercept course towards the approaching
vessel. With the pair of Honda 225 horsepower outboard
motors pushing the 33 foot Silver Charm through the
waters of the San Francisco Bay, spray coming over the
bow, the offending boater slows and comes to idle speed.
We're not chasing down a potential terrorist threat, gun
runners, or drug smugglers but instead assisting the
United States Coast Guard in Fleet Week patrols.
Every year since 1981, on the second weekend in October,
the City of San Francisco invites the Navy to town and
hosts a party on the waterfront called "Fleet
Week." One of the many highlights of the week's
activities is the Air Show that is held over the San
Francisco Bay between the San Francisco waterfront and
Alcatraz Island.
In addition to the traditional Fleet Week stars, the Blue
Angels, the 2005 Air Show also featured a U.S Air Force
F-16 Flight Demonstration, Air Force Legacy Flight,
aerobatics by Sean Tucker, and the Red Bull Air Race
Championships. For all of the air activities to happen
safely, an area has to be set aside in the San Francisco
Bay called the "Air Show box."
Protecting the Air Show box, a roughly 2 mile by 1/2 mile
stretch of water marked by large inflatable yellow buoys,
falls upon the shoulders of the United States Coast
Guard. One logistical challenge for the Coast Guard is
placing over 40 boats around the perimeter of the box to
assure that a stray boat does not enter and jeopardize
either the public or Air Show performer's safety.
Securing the one square mile Air Show box requires the
Coast Guard to call upon assistance, in the form of boats
and crews, from many local law enforcement agencies as
well as the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Of the 40 boats used
this year 12 would be Coast Guard, 12 would be law
enforcement, and 16 would be members of the Auxiliary.
Over the 3 days of Fleet Week 21 Auxiliary boats would
participate along with 3 landmobile radios to assist with
communications between the boats and the FAA.
My ride with the Auxiliary came with the crew of the
Silver Charm, captained by Linda Vetter, who is assisted
by her two crew members, husband Terry Blanchard and crew
member Victor Linderholm. The boat and crew, like all the
other Coast Guard Auxiliary boats, are civilian
volunteers who donate their time and equipment to assist
the United States Coast Guard in patrols, training
exercises, safety training courses, certification
inspections of local maritime facilities, as well as
Fleet Week patrols.
Based South of San Francisco at Coyote Point, the 33 foot
Silver Charm looks very much like a small Coast Guard
patrol boat. The aluminum hulled boat was custom built by
Daigle Welding in Campbell River, BC, Canada, explicitly
for patrolling San Francisco Bay as an Auxiliary boat,
which it has been doing for the last seven years.
Although one might think that the name is a reference to
the boats aluminum color it is really named after the
horse that won the 1997 Kentucky Derby and a statement of
Linda's fondness for horses.
On any given weekend the crew of the Silver Charm might
be called upon to work with a Coast Guard helicopter team
training to perform rescues off of a small vessel,
practice boardings of a boat smuggling guns or drugs, or
simply patrolling San Francisco Bay. During Fleet Week
their job was to assist in patrolling Division Bravo on
the west end of the Air Show box. This would be the
twelfth year that Linda and Terry would be participating
in Fleet Week patrols and the seventh in the Silver
Charm.
I boarded the Silver Charm at the Yerba Buena Island
Coast Guard Station, after clearing the security
checkpoint, presenting the crew with the dozen donuts
that were requested, and signing a waiver clearing the
boat owner of any liability should I fall overboard. At
precisely 10:30, following the Captain's briefing, which
included discussions of patrol areas, radio frequencies,
and procedures to be followed should a spectator boat
enter the Air Show box, we headed with rest of the patrol
craft around the south end of Yerba Buena Island, past
the Goat Island Light Station, and under the western span
of the Oakland Bay Bridge. With the expectation that all
boats be on station by 11:00 to establish the box, the
Silver Charm would be a little late getting to their
position as they had another important mission that would
need to be completed first: delivery of the box lunches
to the other Auxiliary boats that were already at their
respective stations.
As we made our way around delivering lunches, working our
way past Alcatraz and towards the west end of the Air
Show box, the fog began to thicken. The blanket of
grey-white fog that stretched through the Golden Gate and
over the top of Alcatraz, was completely obscuring the
famous prison from our view. The Red Bull Air Racers
could be heard circling overhead as the fog would envelop
the course one minute and expose it the next. Eventually
the racers postponed their time trials until the fog was
pushed further west and away from the barge mounted
pylons.
By the time we made our way into our patrol area the sky
was completely gray, but not low enough to prevent us
from seeing the other boats near our position. Flanking
the Silver Charm on the south side was a 41 foot Coast
Guard Utility Boat and the 87 foot Coastal Patrol Boat
"Hawksbill." Based out of Monterey, California,
115 miles to the South, the Hawksbill was also the Patrol
Commander for the day's event. On the north side was two
privately owned Auxiliary boats, the Regalo
and the Carol Lynn J,
as well as a 47 foot USCG Motor Life Boat out of Station
Golden Gate that was also the Division Commander for our
line.
Sitting in the fog in the middle of San Francisco Bay,
eating donuts, rolling with the two foot swells, and
trying to maintain position in the 3 knot current, comes
the question that seems to be asked at every Fleet Week
kept coming up: will the fog clear in time for the Air
Show? The rule of thumb is that if you can see the Golden
Gate Bridge, then it's clear enough for the Blues (US
Navy Blue Angels Jet Demonstration Team) to fly. By
12:15, the fog had pushed back enough for the Red Bull
Air Racers to fly their pylon course, however the top of
the Golden Gate Bridge was still obscured by fog.
The presence of the Red Bull Air Races also presented a
challenge to the boats tasked with protecting the box.
Unlike previous years when boats were allowed to transit
along the waterfront between the shore and Air Show box,
the presence of the Red Bull pylon course required the
closure of the transit area along the San Francisco
waterfront until the racing was completed.
Even though Friday was a practice day for the Air Show
performers, it was the real show for the boats on patrol.
Each time civilian boats would unknowingly approach the
protected area, the Division Commander aboard the Station
Golden Gate Motor Life Boat would dispatch the Silver
Charm, or one of the other auxiliary boats, out into the
area to intercept and inform the vessel's Captain of the
closures. The activity on Friday was just a prelude to
the coming weekend, when there were ultimately thousands
of boats hovering near "the box" on San
Francisco Bay.
By 1:30 the fog had been pushed back out the Golden Gate
and the Air Show started. The crew kept one eye on the
water while trying to watch the show with the other. Even
though they were not there to watch the Air Show, the
issue of keeping an eye out for low flying jets is part
of their job. The position that we were patrolling would
be the equivalent of standing on the end of the runway on
dry land, with the potential of an aircraft flying over
occurring at any given moment. Not paying attention could
result in a sudden and sometimes unpleasant surprise.
Linda had just such an experience with a low flying F-18
Hornet during the 1998 Fleet Week Patrol. Piloting a boat
that was not her own she and her crew were patrolling in
a 22 foot C-Dory on the southern edge of the box just off
the Municipal Pier. As she looked forward, the blue nose
of the Boeing F-18 surrounded by vapor grew large in the
windshield.
Instead of running down the center of the Air Show area,
Solo 5 ran up the patrol line fast and low. As the plane
passed over Linda and her crew's position, the shockwave
pushed the boat down into the water hard. Almost
simultaneously, all the antennae and radio gear was
ripped off the roof, the windows of the cabin were blown
out, and one of the crew members suffered a broken ear
drum. Returning to port and examining the boat they
discovered that the force of the shockwave had lifted the
cabin off the deck by pulling the bolts that held the
cabin down onto the deck, up through the shell's
fiberglass layers.
The C-Dory became the perfect example of why the Coast
Guard is on patrol keeping boats away from the extreme
dangers of the Air Show box.
By 3:30 p.m., the Blue Angels started their aerobatic
routine. Watching for the solo aircraft became an
official crew function, which I was more than happy to
assist with. As crew member Victor and I stood on the aft
deck of the boat, we would call out the position of the
solos while also watching what the four planes of the
diamond formation were doing. Meanwhile Linda and Terry
would watch the boat traffic on the water, constantly
scanning and observing for the boats' position in
relationship to the box, all the while, trying to keep
track of airplane positions.
Watching a Blue Angel's performance from our vantage
point at the west end of the Air Show box gave a much
different perspective than a person at show center. The
formations look different when viewed from the side. We
were in a good position the see the solos as they entered
and exited the box during their head-on passes. We were
also in a good position to witness the effect of a high
speed pass just above the water. During the high speed
pass, as the lead solo made his way between our position
and the south edge of the box, you could clearly see the
wake being left by the air turbulence of the speeding
aircraft.
After the performance was over and the Blue Angels had
departed the area, all rules affecting the box remained
in effect. We had to continue our patrol until the Blues
had landed safely at San Francisco International Airport,
their base of operations for Fleet Week. As they waited
patiently for the Air Boss to officially announce the end
of the show, and the area to be opened to boating
traffic, the crew of the Silver Charm observed a boat
fender floating just inside the Air Show box.
Finding a "fender" ~ the bumper put between
boats and the dock ~ is always considered a bonus to any
successful patrol. As soon as the Air Boss had announced
that the box was open to boat traffic, the crew happily
practiced a "man overboard" drill and retrieved
their fender prize. Once the fender was stowed away, they
made their way back to the Yerba Buena Coast Guard
Station and eventually back home to Coyote Point. For the
next two days, they would repeat their mission as part of
a team keeping the Bay waters safe for boaters as well as
the Air Show performers.
Special thanks to the crew of the Silver Charm, Linda
Vetter, Terry Blanchard, and Victor Linderholm for making
me feel like part of the crew.
For more information about the United States Coast Guard
Auxiliary;
http://www.cgaux.org
For more information about United States Coast Guard
vessels, their data sheets can be found at:
United
States Coast Guard
Vessel
Data Sheets
Pages -- 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
|
