Missing yachtswoman in South west.

lustyd said:
I....

Given the weather forecast I suspect most of us would have gone, and looking at the boat there is no reason to suspect it was unsound. Even with dirty tanks it should still have sailed well enough.
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Given the weather forecast, I suspect that most of us would have gone with a crew. There's been no mention of any kind of passage plan and there's a shortage of places along that route to safely moor a deep keeled yacht. If she had had at least one other experienced sailor aboard to take watches and help with trimming the sails, I would have no hesitation in agreeing that she was unlucky while attempting a reasonable passage. To attempt a single handed passage of at least 20 hours along a rocky lee shore in a lightly equipped boat is a very different matter.
 
Niander said:
She was a very foolish woman who didn't know or respect the sea
she probably went overboard
i have a waterproof vhf for such an eventuality[at least then you have a last chance]
she wont[sic] of[sic] had
The sea doesn't suffer inexperienced fools but kills them.
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Nothing like making a well-informed judgement. Do you work for a tabloid?
 
Sandyman said:
One thing I will say about the comments on here is that I do wish people would read the whole thread before making postings. Speculation is just stupid and serves no purpose whatsoever...


...I suspect her head-strong attitude and over self confidence in her abilities caused her downfall. But that would just be speculating.
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:rolleyes:
 
Niander said:
She was a very foolish woman who didn't know or respect the sea
she probably went overboard
i have a waterproof vhf for such an eventuality[at least then you have a last chance]
she wont of had
The sea doesn't suffer inexperienced fools but kills them.
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Wow, that's more than a bit judgmental. Anything at all could have happened inside the boat or on deck which might have incapacitated her, anything from slipping on the companionway steps and knocking herself out to suffering a medical condition. The boat would then be left to it's own devices (for how long?) and ended up as it did, where it did.

I'm not claiming that's what happened at all, but no one yet knows what happened so it's a bit OTT to make the post you did in my opinion. A very tragic incident.

Cheers, Brian.
 
maby said:
There's been no mention of any kind of passage plan
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Because the person with the passage plan is more than likely dead, so I suggest you stop attacking her judgement.
For all you know she had years of experience which would be a reasonable conclusion if she sailed with the Navy many years ago.

The fact that a shore is rocky and has very few boltholes is almost irrelevant in the planning process of a long journey like this - I certainly don't plan on hitting the shore whether it's sandy or rocky. As for boltholes, how close do you need these to be when YOU sail? Perspective is everything but on a 100+ NM journey it's not reasonable to have a bolt hole every 5 minutes.
 
lustyd said:
Remember, none of you knew her or the boat AT ALL......... looking at the boat there is no reason to suspect it was unsound. Even with dirty tanks it should still have sailed well enough.
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So, in the first breath you point out that none of us know anything about the boat 'AT ALL', then in the second, feel informed enough to give your opinion of it?

Personally I'm a great stickler for insisting that if people's knowledge comes only from reading brokers' ads, media reports (or, pilot books), then they don't 'know', and shouldn't comment, on incidents, boats (or ports) unfamiliar to them. :rolleyes:
 
I am hugely skeptical of anything I read in the papers. But if (and that's a big if) she really did leave in such a hurry she didn't pick up the boat's paperwork, and genuinely had no foulies, then it just seems highly, highly irregular.

What was she in such a mad hurry for? Would she really have got to even scratch the surface of knowing all of the boat's systems on her shakedown sail? Even if her husband didn't want to do the trip would she not have asked someone else? "Look, I want this to be "my" trip, but could you just be aboard as a second pair of eyes/hands in case anything goes wrong or fails?"

There's either very inaccurate, sensationalist reporting here, or someone woefully unprepared for the trip. Just by the fact that she just had a refresher, IMHO means she wasn't ready. There's no way you'd take a refresher and think "ah, I remember it all now" and set off on a long trip in an unknown boat dealing with fatigue. You'd think "ah, I remember it all now, let me do some day/weekend sails initially with another pair of hands aboard and put it into practice, clock up some night hours and get some confidence in this boat, then I'll go for it".

If this is a genuine accident that has been dramatised by unfounded rumours from the press then thoughts and condolences to all concerned, and hopefully if it makes one other sailor think "am I, and the boat REALLY ready for this trip, and do I REALLY have to set off now", then hopefully that will provide some comfort...
 
Sandyman said:
For info in case you are not aware, the Navy has its own sail training yachts based at JSSC ( or whatever its called now) in Gosport.
Its where I learned to sail and got hooked, back in the early 70's. In those days the Navy had its own form of qualifications where you ended up with a ''ticket'' as it was known.
Hence she said she had a ''captains ticket. I suspect her head-strong attitude and over self confidence in her abilities caused her downfall. But that would just be speculating.
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+1. I believe it was the only way that Wrens or QARNNS got sea-time until relatively recently - except in times of war.
 
bitbaltic said:
So, in the first breath you point out that none of us know anything about the boat 'AT ALL', then in the second, feel informed enough to give your opinion of it?

Personally I'm a great stickler for insisting that if people's knowledge comes only from reading brokers' ads, media reports (or, pilot books), then they don't 'know', and shouldn't comment, on incidents, boats (or ports) unfamiliar to them. :rolleyes:
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Not at all, I said that there was no reason to suspect it was unsound, not that I knew it to be sound.

As luck would have it I do know the ports (being Cornish) but still find some of the speculative posts to be OTT.
 
Iain C said:
I read somewhere that she'd had a brief refresher 1-2-1 on her boat. Can't remember where I read it though...on this thread somewhere! And what standard it was, and delivered by who, who knows...
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Huffington Post:

Mrs Unwin's husband, Carol, last night denied his wife was an inexperienced sailor.

He told BBC Spotlight: "Before she embarked on the trip she had an expert sailor with her, just to brush up on what she knew.

"He and she were confident about the whole exercise."
 
dylanwinter said:
the boat looks to be in good nick - judging from the brokers images

engine 2003

let us hope the lady is found in good health
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The engine is probably original and therefore year 1985 and a Volvo 2003 model. Very confusing.

The yacht may well have been sitting on brokerage for a long time. So, all the usual maintenance issues would have raised their heads. Water pump impeller, flat batteries, fuel filters, head sail furling gear, windlass, defective electronics etc.

Lets hope she turns up alive.


Edit: Didn't sound like the yacht was surveyed before purchase.
 
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maby said:
Huffington Post:

Mrs Unwin's husband, Carol, last night denied his wife was an inexperienced sailor.

He told BBC Spotlight: "Before she embarked on the trip she had an expert sailor with her, just to brush up on what she knew.

"He and she were confident about the whole exercise."
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I wonder who the expert sailor was, and how he or she is feeling right now. I can only imagine.

Edit: And for that matter I wonder how the ex owner and broker are feeling.
 
lustyd said:
As luck would have it I do know the ports (being Cornish) but still find some of the speculative posts to be OTT.
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So do they have deep water moorings suitable for fin keelers? Genuinely interested as I would like to visit if they do. I don't recall my pilot book suggesting that they'd be viable destinations for me and there's few enough places to go in the Bristol Channel area.
 
lustyd said:
Because the person with the passage plan is more than likely dead, so I suggest you stop attacking her judgement.
For all you know she had years of experience which would be a reasonable conclusion if she sailed with the Navy many years ago.

The fact that a shore is rocky and has very few boltholes is almost irrelevant in the planning process of a long journey like this - I certainly don't plan on hitting the shore whether it's sandy or rocky. As for boltholes, how close do you need these to be when YOU sail? Perspective is everything but on a 100+ NM journey it's not reasonable to have a bolt hole every 5 minutes.
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My criticism of her is something that is not in dispute - she set out on a 20+ hour passage single handed. When did you last attempt a 20 hour watch? And how old are you? I'm a fair bit younger than her and an eight hour watch in even quite moderate conditions is seriously hard work! Of course you don't "plan on hitting the shore" - but would you trust a very basic tiller pilot, not linked to any form of chart plotter to keep you off the shore while you had a sleep? She could have been a very experienced sailor - trying to do a 20+ hour coastal hop like that single handed in a lightly equipped yacht would still be risky. On her own, she had no safety margin in a boat that was still largely unproven - any mechanical failure within a few miles of that coast would have put her in significant danger.
 
sailorman said:
A Captain on the Grey Funnel Line would "Con" the ship, not actually steer her
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In many respects a yacht is much easier, with a warship every thing takes time, so you really have to make sure the orders are given at the right time and think well in advance, yachts are far more responsive and there is no dead time between you telling yourself to put the helm over till it actually happens
 
Sandyman said:
Your question is an example of exactly what I was saying about reading the whole thread
and digesting the comments before posting. If people did just that there would be no need for your post.
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+1. Sadly that is the nature of internet fora. They end up fool of a whole lot of inaccuracies.The broker recommended last week that the missing lady should do a refresher... I haven't seen anywhere that she did so - but others on here have stated that she did.

EDIT: I could be wrong, we all could, but let's not allow the facts to spoil a thread!
 
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