Well, he'll remember to set the waypoint as the middle of the harbour entrance next time, not the lighthouse.
Make sure you set your Autopilot to your home port or mooring! It could save your life!
He's quite a catch! Lone fisherman is dragged FIVE MILES to safety by boat on autopilot after he fell overboard but managed to grab onto net
:encouragement::encouragement::encouragement:
Might have hit one of the boats inside, and upset someone!
Actually you can't see the gaps on that course in, his waypoint would be his store pots, just round the corner and off the beaten track to the gaps. Lifejacket in this case might have been more of a hindrance, until he let go. I'm confused about the net hauler falling over, it's still on the boat as far as I can see. Truth will out, no doubt.
Most certainly if he was wearing an auto lj he would not have been able to cling onto a net or anything else attached to a boat moving at speed, there would simply be too much resistance. And the report saying the boat was going at 7kts cannot be correct, again even without a life jacket he would have been able to hang on without being swamped. I’ve been towed many times behind our dive boat. Any speed more than about 3kts makes it impossible to both hang on and to avoid a permanent wave over your head. And any more than about 100 meters is knackering!
Trouble is you cant set it for home until you are heading there. He was obviously still working when the accident happened and is incredibly lucky his boat was heading inshore and not for the rocks, France or even America!
This accident is the stuff nightmares are made of for us single handers. I always shudder at the thought of being in the water watching my boat head off on her own without me.
Don't think it was a net, it was a wee inshore creel boat not a trawler.