carolined
New member
It was my Dad\'s boat that sank
I have seen the messages about the Container Ship that sank the yacht last week. In response to the various comments made in the thread, the facts, as I understand them from speaking to my dad are that the container ship was travelling at 25 knots; he was plotting the course and made a 90 degree turn to pass behind the container ship with a mile and half between them. His boat was only a few months old. It had radar, and all the up to date equipment one would expect, with an automatic foghorn signal every 1m55secs for 5 secs. They left France in pleasant sunny weather. The 5 crew were all experienced sailors. Dad has 50 years experience, with all sorts of certificates in sailing and navigation etc. The picture in the paper was not his boat, just a brochure shot for Moody. He is an excellent sailor and all that sail with him would agree. I have crossed the Channel countless times with him myself and know he is always in control, which makes this accident all the more shocking. He saved the log of the voyage, which should help to identify what happened. He lost 30 or 40 years of "stuff" that old sailors collect - charts, books, records of holidays cruising up and down the coast from west France up to Belgium etc.
He said they really did have only about 15 secs of warning. The front 10 feet of the boat got sliced off. The mast went down, so he could not give a distress signal. He had his mobile phone, but of course was out of range. He was concerned to get the crew safely into the life raft. They drifted in the life raft for over 5 hours. They heard voices at one point and shouted, but were not picked up. I think the Ferry that picked them saw a flare, when Dad realised the Ferry was near.
If it can happen to him, it really can happen to anyone. Do review your safety equipment and plans for what you and your crew would do in an incident!
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I have seen the messages about the Container Ship that sank the yacht last week. In response to the various comments made in the thread, the facts, as I understand them from speaking to my dad are that the container ship was travelling at 25 knots; he was plotting the course and made a 90 degree turn to pass behind the container ship with a mile and half between them. His boat was only a few months old. It had radar, and all the up to date equipment one would expect, with an automatic foghorn signal every 1m55secs for 5 secs. They left France in pleasant sunny weather. The 5 crew were all experienced sailors. Dad has 50 years experience, with all sorts of certificates in sailing and navigation etc. The picture in the paper was not his boat, just a brochure shot for Moody. He is an excellent sailor and all that sail with him would agree. I have crossed the Channel countless times with him myself and know he is always in control, which makes this accident all the more shocking. He saved the log of the voyage, which should help to identify what happened. He lost 30 or 40 years of "stuff" that old sailors collect - charts, books, records of holidays cruising up and down the coast from west France up to Belgium etc.
He said they really did have only about 15 secs of warning. The front 10 feet of the boat got sliced off. The mast went down, so he could not give a distress signal. He had his mobile phone, but of course was out of range. He was concerned to get the crew safely into the life raft. They drifted in the life raft for over 5 hours. They heard voices at one point and shouted, but were not picked up. I think the Ferry that picked them saw a flare, when Dad realised the Ferry was near.
If it can happen to him, it really can happen to anyone. Do review your safety equipment and plans for what you and your crew would do in an incident!
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