Beached trimaran: can you believe what happened?

longjohnsilver said:
Point 5 still does not ring true, I have never heard of police taking a member of the public against his will to a hotel. Usually they are taken to the cells. But a hotel? If so what was to stop him immediately leaving said hotel? Or did they lock his room door and take away the key? And place bars on the windows? And allow them to eat only via room service?
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Perhaps he was coerced rather than forced. In Germany a few years ago I was 'done' for not having the correct nav lights (even though I did), but the fear of getting tangled up in their legal system (with a bit of heavy handedness of the side of the officer concerned), giving in to the 'demands' seemed the easiest and quickest way out of the situation. Perhaps the boat owner in this case felt the same. It would have been interesting to have been a 'fly on the wall' for this part of the conversation.

Perhaps 'the authorities' then wrongly considered it an abandoned wreck. If they wanted to take gear off for safe keeping then they knew who and where the owner was, and they could have discussed it first, so it doesn't sound as though this wasn't the case.

It will be interesting to hear what all concerned have to say about the matter, but it certainly looks badly managed and decidedly heavy handed from what we have seen so far.
 
Amongst a whole raft of things that don't quite add up about this story usthe question of why, if the float started taking on water off Harwich, did he sail all the way across the Thames Estuary, dodging sandbanks and big ships along the way, to then beach the boat near the North Foreland?

why turn back across the Thames Estuary when there are numerous safe havens close to hand in the Harwich area?

It just doesn't strike me as the action of a competent skipper who is thinking straight
 
On the contrary, with a strong (F7) westerly wind, the skipper turned south under sail to keep weight off the flooded starboard float, intending to go into Ramsgate harbour. The 10hp outboard tends to cavitate in rough seas, so heading upwind into the Orwell/Stour was not a good option. The skipper was well used to navigating shallow waters off the north part of Holland.

I can assure you that the events took place exactly as I have described, as two others who were involved have testified in the above responses.
 
Brigantia said:
Amongst a whole raft of things that don't quite add up about this story usthe question of why, if the float started taking on water off Harwich, did he sail all the way across the Thames Estuary, dodging sandbanks and big ships along the way, to then beach the boat near the North Foreland?

why turn back across the Thames Estuary when there are numerous safe havens close to hand in the Harwich area?

It just doesn't strike me as the action of a competent skipper who is thinking straight
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Just to clarify, the boat was near the Galloper which is some 23 miles east of Harwich when the skipper decided to head south, so the choice was either a 23 mile journey back to Harwich with a F7 on the nose or a 30 mile journey south on a reach that could lift the damaged starboard float from the water.

Also I would like to point out that there were several weeks between the new owner purchasing the boat and setting off. Much of which was spent preparing the boat.
 
Ah, OK. That clarifies matters considerably and makes the decision to head South rather than west entirely reasonable.

(I know just how much we struggle motoring to windward in an F6 in relatively sheltered waters)
 
I met the guy a couple of times, once whilst sailing and once at a dinner in the club and his English (like most Dutchmen) was very good.
 
longjohnsilver said:
Point 5 still does not ring true, I have never heard of police taking a member of the public against his will to a hotel. Usually they are taken to the cells. But a hotel? If so what was to stop him immediately leaving said hotel? Or did they lock his room door and take away the key? And place bars on the windows? And allow them to eat only via room service?
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It has happened to me...........they didn't not take the key away or bar the windows...They can detain you for you own safety but I think that precludes hotels.

Still trying to find out what law they used to force me into a hotel.
 
It seems from the legislation that the MCA have no powers to issue prohibition notice on vessel that is not a ship, is a pleasure yacht a ship.... I think not!!

What right do the coast guard have to strip articles from a boat, If I park my car in the wrong part of town should the police break in to it and take away the stereo for safe keeping.

Whole thing sounds like over zealousness, everyone involved should be questioned and if they operated outside the law they should be taken to task.

This guy deserves some compensation and those that helped him deserve praise and recognition, just imagine the bill he would have received had the council broken up the boat.

Still suppose he was lucky no clampers came along,,,,,
 
Dammed if they do, dammed if they don't.......

So on a different day the MCA, Police, CG et al have a similar situation but on this occasion they decide that the skipper knows best and leave him to it. Weather comes up, boat is smashed to pieces, killing the skip and his crew.....

There would be a different discussion going on here about the jobsworth Police, MCA, CG et al who left a man, who thought he knew best, and his boat to the elements resulting in loss of life.

We as boaters are taught to err on the side of caution, can we not afford the same grace to the authorities.

BTW, I am not affiliated to the Police, MCA or CG. Just hope that if I was ever in a similar situation there would be people out there who took my interests and safety to heart.
 
WayneS said:
Dammed if they do, dammed if they don't.......

So on a different day the MCA, Police, CG et al have a similar situation but on this occasion they decide that the skipper knows best and leave him to it. Weather comes up, boat is smashed to pieces, killing the skip and his crew.....

There would be a different discussion going on here about the jobsworth Police, MCA, CG et al who left a man, who thought he knew best, and his boat to the elements resulting in loss of life.
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I think this is very unfair. personal safety is out decision, not the CG or the Police - otherwise, why aren't they fining us every day for not wearing a lifejacket etc?

I'm with the OP, I think it smells of over zealousness. Like Pandos said - the police wouldn't break into your car and take the stereo away for safe keeping!
 
I agree on the Stereo front Chrisbitz.

But if there was a risk of loss of life, like a child left in the car on a hot day, then they have every right to break into you car, rather than stand by an watch just in case something starts to go wrong.

It is all about weighing up the risk and if there is even a hint that something could go wrong, they must err on the side of caution.

Why do they have to be over cautious, because we have all in a way forced them to do this through the ambulance chasing claim policy that it starting to rot our society. You know, sometimes they get things wrong, as do Doctors, Nurses, in fact anyone in public service. I am actually amazed that anyone nowdays is willing to put themselves at risk by going into this sort of public service.

For the record, I am not a public servant and I am in no way suggesting that the blatant criminality of some public servants (or anyone else) needs to be accepted. I am all for removing the oxygen (figuratively) from anyone who breaks the law, but you know, sometimes we are all capable of getting things wrong.

My soapbox is now out of commission, sorry, nothing personal to anyone, just concerned that we are creating the nanny state ourselves.
 
Can't see the problem of "unseaworthiness". My old Telstar used to be filled up with fresh water in the floats to allow me last longer out in IBiza in 1995 without having to restock the 50l water bag. I found out all was Ok when I had arrived once, having crossed the Bristol Channel from Padstow to Milford Haven in rough conditions and found both floats awash with water, = sluggish but stable.

Oh and I used to often beach the boat on the East Coast and all over the Coast of france, in reasonable conditions, ready to haull off and carry on. Safest place to be is on the beach when its blowing Force 7+, --if you can find a right spot.
 
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