Point Reyes Light - July 22, 1999
Coast Guard eyes bigger role on the coast
At the Coast Guard receiving station out on Point Reyes, Telecommunications Specialist TC2 Jeff Schmitt monitors one of the 55 daily broadcasts that originate at the station.
As he does, a message comes across the screen of the AMVER Automated Merchant Vessel System. The message relays the position, course, and speed of the merchant ship Mimosa Dream, somewhere out in the Pacific.
The information is transferred to a computer system in Martinsburg, West Virginia, where it is logged in case the vessel must be called upon to assist in an open-ocean rescue.
Across the room from Schmitt, TC3 Wendy Perdue oversees communications between the Pacific command posts and the Coast Guard air fleet, as flight navigators constantly update their status and position.
Moments later, a shrill alarm sounds from the DSC distress station. An officer scans a report of the source vessel's essential information. The captain of the ship indicates his preference among several methods of communication, and a response unit immediately profiles all vessels in the area, be they military, commercial, or private.
In this case, the distress call has originated off the Marin coast. The information is sent to the Command Center in Alameda, and the Coast Guard Search and Rescue Station in Bodega Bay is immediately dispatched. The eight on-duty officers in two of the station's three quick-response lifeboats speed away from shore.
The US Coast Guard's Communications Area Master Station Pacific, or CAMSPAC, annually processes over 250,000 voice and data messages like those on the AMVER and the DSC.
Communications positions at the Point Reyes facility are filled with personnel trained at the Coast Guard's Two Rock Training Center, which until recently looked doomed for certain closure.
On July 7, the Coast Guard recommended keeping the center open, and according to Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, the recommendation should soon become policy.
The decision to save Two Rock is good news for the center's roughly 400 enlisted and civilian employees. And it ensures a continued - and likely expanding - Coast Guard presence in the region.
All told, the five Coast Guard facilities in West Marin and western Sonoma employ between 500 and 600 people. The facilities include the:
CAMSPAC Point Reyes Operations and Receiver Site
CAMSPAC Bolinas Transmitter Site
CAMSPAC Point Reyes Housing Site
Two Rock Training Center
Bodega Bay Search & Rescue Station
The Point Reyes Receiver Site and the Bolinas Transmitter Site together employ 105 people under Commander Jeffrey Kayser. As explained by Commander Kayser, the operations must be separated by at least 20 miles to avoid interference, but still work together "to assist in any type of emergency."
The Point Reyes facility has doubled in size since 1997. It controls 53 medium- and high-frequency receivers and 12 antennas.
"The highest volume of communications is within the Coast Guard," Kayser explained. "And our second main function is to provide a link to the community and the boating public... Through the years we've been known to get receptions from as far out as the Indian Ocean."
Broadcasting is another main task of CAMSPAC. Twenty high-frequency transmitters in Bolinas, along with others in Honolulu and Guam, form a network that relays more than 20,000 annual broadcasts throughout the Pacific. Weather data, hydrographic information, and "Notices to Mariners" are aired. Broadcasts originate at the Point Reyes facility and are sent to Bolinas via a microwave relay station above the Point Reyes lighthouse.
Over the course of 1999, CAMSPAC Point Reyes will become one of two Local Control Centers (LCC) for a new Defense Message System. Commander Kayser anticipates the program will add both equipment and personnel to the site, and will likely boost its roughly $550,000 operating budget.
The 37-acre Point Reyes Housing Site consists mainly of 36 family housing units plus offices for engineering and supply staffs. The site has been the focus of a recent Environmental Assessment to determine the best way to dispose of its untreated sewage.
Currently, one or two tank trucks daily haul sewage 24 miles from Point Reyes Station to Two Rock for treatment. Commander Kayser told The Light that any change in the process could take up to 5 years. "Currently the Coast Guard has no plans [for a change], and we have not allocated any money," he added.
What is planned for the Point Reyes Housing Site is the addition of storage sheds, rain gutters, new playground equipment, and a lawn irrigation system.
The Two Rock Training Center trains its 4000 students in a variety of fields, and according to Commander Kayser, many of the students end up as technicians on Point Reyes.
"I'm one of their biggest customers," he said. "But they're also sent to cutters and stations all across the country."
Lt. Timothy Cotchay of Two Rock explained that the curriculum ranges from entry-level technical fields, such as telecommunications, to health and food services. "We also teach advanced studies," he explained, "such as EMT [emergency medical technician], Law Enforcement, and Professional Development."
The Bodega Bay Search & Rescue Station is essential to saving lives along the Marin and Sonoma coastlines. Two 44-foot motor lifeboats and a single 21-foot rigid-hull inflatable boat are used in shore-based search and rescue operations. More distant missions are carried out by the 82-foot cutter Chico, which is also sent out on regular patrols.
"When the call comes in, we gather information and then decide which boat to send out," explained Executive Petty Officer Tom Albert. "There seem to be more incidents around Tomales Bay and Bodega Bay in the summer. The cases can run from a sinking boat to a medical emergency." he added.
Albert also noted that Coast Guard helicopters are flown out of San Francisco. Most frequently seen in the region are the all-orange, shorter-range HH65 Dolphin, while the longer-range orange and white HH60 Jayhawk is used more frequently in Alaska and on the East Coast.
With the current number of regional Coast Guard employees and students nearing 5000, Commander Kayser sees a solid future for CAMSPAC and the other facilities along this stretch of coast.
"I would say that there are no plans in the near or mid-term future to close the site. With the new Message Defense System going in, it would be more accurate to say we're expanding operations," he said. "Overall, I see a bright future for the Coast Guard in the area."