Ebay yacht stupidity

[bushwacka]

'Barely seaworthy' yacht bought on Ebay issues Mayday call after running into trouble

 

[Greemble]

Not much detail in that report, leaves more questions than it answered

Seriously badly edited story

 

[TernVI]

The thing which made the boat 'barely seaworthy' was probably the skipper being alone on a trip of several days.
Probably a few minor issues with gear that you'd find on many yachts.
Bit of a non-story really.
Lifeboat gives someone a tow to port, RNLI issues press release.

 

[oldharry]

"His behaviour was causing concern" and " several days at sea" on passage from Brixham to within the Weymouth lifeboat ' patch'? Was that the skipper or the boat? Brigham to the Bill = 40 miles or so.

Mind you, I have known boats where ANY progress to windward is good going,though!

 

[ProDave]

"His yacht, barely seaworthy, had been purchased on Ebay.

That's a funny name for a boat.

I'll get my coat.

 

[mjcoon]

"His yacht, barely seaworthy, had been purchased on Ebay.

That's a funny name for a boat.

I'll get my coat.

I wonder how many nudist's boats have been named that?

 

[Black Sheep]

I'm also liking the name in the thread title: "Solent coastguard, this is yacht Stupidity. Radio check, over"

 

[Black Sheep]

On a more serious note, I'm encouraged that the RNLI Wyke Coastguard Rescue Team accept that the yacht actually was seaworthy.

(amended. It wasn't the RNLI; apologies)

 

[jbweston]

I have a feeling that most of the boats we all sail would be 'barely seaworthy' in some circumstances.

First because seaworthiness depends on so many combinations of weather, crew, skipper and geography. Few of our boats would be seaworthy off Cape Horn in a storm crewed by the sort of Dad's Army collection of elderly reprobates (like me and my pals) who are perfectly competent for a summer day in the Baltic, specially if we'd failed to renew that main halyard that 'looks like it will last another season'.

Second, 'barely seaworthy' passes the binary seaworthy or not seaworthy test. I know what the RNLI mean, if that's actually what they said, but I've never heard or 'extremely seaworthy', 'very seaworthy', 'slightly seaworthy', etc. When I was a lad we had a lovely old vicar who was quite a character. He told me that back in the 1920s he'd passed his vicar exams (theology certificate or degree, I suppose) and his piece of paper was marked 'vix satis' - Latin for 'barely satisfactory', or 'only just enough'. Which of course was a pass and what he needed. I don't think he was encourging me to do minimal work for my O-levels, but he was reminding me that a bare pass was enough for him to qualify for a long life of successful vicaring.

So maybe I'll be happy if Penguin, the crew and I continue to achieve 'barely seaworthy' or better. Better wil be nice, but not essential.

 

[Black Sheep]

'barely seaworthy' passes the binary seaworthy or not seaworthy test.

Absolutely! It took me a while to spot it, but that's what I was trying to allude to above.

I know what [they] mean

Ah... and what do they mean?
A cynic might suggest that the RNLI Wyke Coastguard Rescue Team were saying that the boat was seaworthy, while trying to suggest that it isn't.
A judgemental person might feel that this is quite a nasty behaviour perhaps a little underhand.

[edited to correct the origin of the quote, and also, on reflection, to tone down the judgement; that was a little harsh]

 

[cpedw]

... a long life off successful vicaring.

I wonder how that gets assessed?

 

[[163233]]

What do they mean by this bit?

He was on what he felt was an enforced passage from Brixham to Holland.

 

[Slowboat35]

"Barely seaworthy" means it is seaworthy.

What's the point of using such a silly expression if it is meant to imply it wasn't seaworthy enough.

 

[jbweston]

I wonder how that gets assessed?

I think he got a CofE certificate of competence - Congregationmaster Offshore.

I've corrected the typo - off/of.

 

[mjcoon]

"Barely seaworthy" means it is seaworthy.

What's the point of using such a silly expression if it is meant to imply it wasn't seaworthy enough.

Good grief, not all "seas" are the same! I took it to mean OK in the small proportion of seas that are minimally challenging and do not include tides, waves, rocks and so forth that make them a bit tricky to sail in...

 

[[3889]]

What do they mean by this bit?

I guess it alludes to the confusion, experienced by myself and others I have spoken to, as to whether ports are open. I arrived in Padstow after English travel restrictions were lifted and was refused permission to even step ashore at the fuel berth, though I could buy fuel. The previous day I'd been ashore at Newlyn without any issues.

 

[JumbleDuck]

... a long life of successful vicaring.

I wonder how that gets assessed?

Air quality sampling over the churchyard. Too many sulfur compounds and you fail.

 

[Juan Twothree]

Ah... and what do they mean?
A cynic might suggest that the RNLI were saying that the boat was seaworthy, while trying to suggest that it isn't.
A judgemental person might feel that this is quite a nasty behaviour.

If you read the news report again, you'll see that the spokesman quoted was from the Wyke Coastguard Rescue Team, which met the vessel on arrival.

So the RNLI didn't say that the yacht was "barely seaworthy".

I'm curious as to why so many on this forum have such a hatred of the RNLI. We're quite nice people really!

 

[Black Sheep]

If you read the news report again, you'll see that the spokesman quoted was from the Wyke Coastguard Rescue Team, which met the vessel on arrival.

So the RNLI didn't say that the yacht was "barely seaworthy".

I'm curious as to why so many on this forum have such a hatred of the RNLI. We're quite nice people really!

I apologise. I obviously didn't read the report carefully. I saw the pic of the big RNLI boat and that was it!

My comments remain (that a judgemental person might assess the remarks negatively) but should obviously be applied to the good people of the Coastguard Rescue Team. And even then only half seriously - I doubt there was much thought to the words, but they did strike me as a bit weaselly.

I assure you I have no hatred of the RNLI. It's a large complex organisation; it has its own imperfections of course, but what it does well, it does extremely well. And I should have spotted my error, as my experience is that the RNLI are generally very good at not badmouthing their customers.

Again, apologies. My slur was badly aimed.

 

[jac]

If you read the news report again, you'll see that the spokesman quoted was from the Wyke Coastguard Rescue Team, which met the vessel on arrival.

So the RNLI didn't say that the yacht was "barely seaworthy".

I'm curious as to why so many on this forum have such a hatred of the RNLI. We're quite nice people really!

I think most on here have the deepest admiration and respect for the volunteers that man the lifeboats.

The hatred is for the the media wing and the little hitler lifeguards who, to be frank, i wouldn't piss on if they were on fire. Those two groups have done more to destroy the RNLI in the last decade and than anyone else in it's entire history. And they wonder why donations are down.

The provisional media wing seem to take every opportunity to berate people who made a genuine mistake and to issue fatuous copy - one of my pet peeves is the "wear a lifejacket" dogma ignoring all else. In a dinghy a buoyancy aid is recommended by everyone else as it makes you more agile and therefore less likely to end up in teh water anyway. On a yacht, surely the best advice is wear a lifeline clipped to a jackstay, arranged so that you don;t go into the water in the first place but oh no, the provisional media wing know better.

bets advice is surely " get trained and prepare" which then enables people to make a sensible decision.

As for the lifeguards. - Saving lives is great but remember the furore earlier in the year when they wanted beaches closed as they couldn't lifeguard them all. Just another example of quangocracy gone crazy - They should be there to help but have suddenly lost sight of that and the legal framework in which they work ( i.e. they volunteering to help others and HAVE no legal powers) and all of a sudden they want to order people around as the swimmers risk appetite is different to the lifeguards H&S assessment. if a local who has been swimming those waters for years decides it's safe enough to swim in for them then it's no-one else' s business. By all means say it's to dangerous and the lifeguard won;t be helping but don;t go telling people ( or even asking nicely) for people to not do something they have every right to do.


Now you might argue, why does this matter?

2 reasons - 1) it leads to a dislike of the RNLI leading to reduced funding - i cancelled my monthly payment after yet another stupid RNLI press release. plenty of independents around who need the money.
2) It all adds to a tone of dangerous activity that must be regulated to save lives which makes it easier for the civil service and our lords and ,masters to enact more laws to take away our freedoms.

So all i ask of the media team is report the facts, don't sex it up and give a simple clear message that applies to all. For the lifeguard, remember you're on public property and have no more authority that the fat bloke in the speedo's in front of you. You are not the police and can;t order people to do what you want.