More on 'Captain Calamity'

[bilbobaggins]

More on \'Captain Calamity\'

Poor blogger - he's a danger to no-one but himself.... This from The Indi-Online today

[ QUOTE ]

Captain Calamity in hot water

By Jasmin Brown
Friday, 24 October 2008

A blundering sailor dubbed "Captain Calamity" has run into trouble for the third time in three days after a bomb disposal squad was called to deal with dangerous flares found on his boat.

Anthony Woodford's 25ft trimaran was given a safety inspection by Chris Spencer, the harbourmaster at Burnham-on-sea, in Somerset, on Wednesday morning, when it was found there were unsafe flares on board dating back to the 1970s.

Coastguards were alerted and the Royal Logistics Corp Bomb Disposal Team from Tidworth, near Salisbury, were called in to dispose of the flares.

Steve Bird, Burnham Coastguard station officer, said: "The [flares] were so far out of date and had such cracked cases that they could be potentially be very dangerous if fired or knocked."

Sgt Jay Hobden, from the bomb disposal team, said: "I haven't seen any in such a poor condition as this before."

It was the latest twist in a saga which saw the novice skipper described as "Captain Calamity" by angry coastguards who had organised his rescue after he got in to difficulties in the Bristol Channel twice in two days and run aground

[/ QUOTE ]

Someone down there has got it in for him......

/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[flaming]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

Assuming that safety inspection was voluntary?

It would be news to me if the coastgaurd or harbour master could enforce a safety inspection on a boat....

 

[longjohnsilver]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

Is it just me but isn't getting the bomb disposal squad involved with taking away old flares just a little OTT?

 

[Sgeir]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

As Mr Woodford no doubt agreed to a voluntary inspection of his private property, I fail to see why the Coastguard should feel fit to make statements to the press about it. OK, the guy probably has no knowledge or experience (none of us did before we started), and sure, he should have had proper training blah-di-blah, but he's already been humiliated in the press. Why rub salt into the wounds?

This is like the polis and other public servants leaking stuff to the press. Do they get wee backhanders for it?

 

[Judders]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

This is all going a bit far now. Is this guy a put up by the RNLI to get people thinking?

Are the film rights up for grabs? Perhaps the owner could be played by Adam Sandler? Or perhaps Rowan Atkinson?

 

[LadyInBed]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

flares on board dating back to the 1970s.

I assume that 'he' hadn't owned the boat for that length of time, so some previous owners should feel a little red faced!

 

[MissFitz]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

[ QUOTE ]
Anthony Woodford's 25ft trimaran was given a safety inspection by Chris Spencer, the harbourmaster at Burnham-on-sea, in Somerset, on Wednesday morning, when it was found there were unsafe flares on board dating back to the 1970s.

[/ QUOTE ]

If they go back that far, it would appear that he's not the first-generation Captain Calamity on that boat.

 

[Sailfree]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

[ QUOTE ]
. Is this guy a put up by the RNLI to get people thinking?



[/ QUOTE ]

The guy is MCA a mole for the coastguard agency so that they can demonstrate why all skippers should be licensed, all boats inspected and certified and the standards enforced with fines, the costs by fees so that the MCA show a profit and the IR get a revenue stream from the fines.

Captain Calamity is making the case for all this perfectly.

 

[Judders]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

Unless you believe in natural selection...

 

[Shorn100]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

At the moment it's the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) aka Bomb Disposal Squad who take the flares handed in to the CG - so nothing unusual here really, just journalists being overly dramatic.

Howver, flares are explosives and old ones that are in a precarious condition do need to be treated with care. Previous owners should indeed feel jointly responsible.

Can't help but feel sorry for this chap - he didn't intentionally go out to cause problems. His only 'crime' if that's the right word was not having sufficient knowledge. The problem is you don't know what you don't know.

As far as I understand it, the harboumatser is completely within his powers to inspect the boat and to prevent it from sailing.

Shorn

 

[Rowana]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

[ QUOTE ]
Is it just me but isn't getting the bomb disposal squad involved with taking away old flares just a little OTT?

[/ QUOTE ]

Please tell me how to dispose of old flares? It's a subject that has been debated ot length many times on these fora, and we seem no nearer to getting an answer.

I've a few in my garage. Perhaps I should phone the bomb disposal people!

 

[ronsurf]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

Take them to a chandler you don't like - they should be able to dispose of them because they sell them in the first place.

Then phone the bomb disposal people and tell them there are dangerous out of date flares in a shop. . . .

 

[Blue5]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

Agree it does seem OTT, but knowing how the minds work these days wiv elf and safety would not have been surprised if an exclusion zone was placed around the harbour /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[EdWingfield]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

see here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopi...om-the-sea.html

 

[jb2008]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

Hold on, a couple of days ago they said he had _no_ safety equipment at all?

"were called in to dispose of the flares... " they turned up later in the day chucked them in a bag and drove off again without ranting about the fearsome danger of some old fireworks, so the coastguard had to pronounce upon their deadly nature.

They're just picking on this guy now, if he wants to kill himself it's his business.

 

[hisw]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

mmm I keep a number of out of date flares on board, just in case. If im in my liferaft in the atlantic, id rather risk a dodgy flare than to think that they are at home in my garage and watch a ship go past!

 

[Onelife]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

What's the problem - didn't we all have flares in the 70's? I didn't realise the Bomb Squad were doubling up as the Fashion Police, but presumably they will need some other strings to their bow once the convenient supply of German Ordnance finally runs out (you won't be unearthing unexploded Al Qu'aida Moslem extremists for the next 60 happy years - will you?) . Oh, and thank you very much for letting off a bloody great explosion on Studland Beach last Thursday morning, just as I was sailing past. Onelife now has a Poop Deck - official!

 

[Scillypete]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

Now these are dodgy flares

Found on a boat that I went to view, didn't buy it though, it had seen maintenance about as much as the flare box had been opened.

 

[jb2008]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

[ QUOTE ]
Mr Spencer said: "I have detained him under my authority and harbour safety law. He understands he is not to go to sea until it is safe to do so. If he does go out to sea he could be arrested or go to jail."

[/ QUOTE ]

Lets hope he makes a break for distant shores in the dead of
night, a man such as this cannot be caged by some pompous
nannying tosspot.

These brave eccentric dreamers are what made this country
great (when it was that is, before it went down the pan).

 

[Shorn100]

Re: More on \'Captain Calamity\'

And if he did kill himself then this forum would be bleating why did nobody stop him!

We all have a duty of care to other people. I find it disappointing that so many people on here don't appear to care to help others.

FYI - brave eccentric dreamers did not make this country great. It was the ones who meticulously planned and trained that did it and continue to do - just look at our troops in Afghanistan - none of them are brave eccentric dreamers but they are doing a superbly professional job.

Shorn