Stingo
Well-known member
While sailing across the channel at night in fog (the fog developed when we were half way across - no criticisms for sailing in fog please) the radar detected another vessel about half a mile off our starboard bow. Visibility was down to about 200 yards and we eventually did spot the vessel (a ketch of about 45 feet) with the naked eye and he had no nav lights on. This was just east of a TSS. We altered course to get close enough to him to shout and remind him to turn his lights on. His reply in a very thick french accent was "I am saving my batteries" and he still didn't turn them on. He did not have his engine running and there was no wind so he was not making any way - i.e. there is no way he could change course if he had spotted a ship looming down on him.
Being of the responsible type, our skipper called up Solent Coast Guard to report this "danger to shipping" or "navigation hazard" drifting in front of a TSS entrance. After many questions by SGC, it turns out that they suspected the yacht may have been a 36ft Moody that had been stolen from a marina in the Solent.
I don't know what they did about the issue from a "navigational hazard" point of view, but it is nice to know that SCG were on the case of trying to find a stolen vessel.
<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.stingo.co.uk>http://www.stingo.co.uk</A> <font color=blue>- still showing at a computer near you</font color=blue>
Being of the responsible type, our skipper called up Solent Coast Guard to report this "danger to shipping" or "navigation hazard" drifting in front of a TSS entrance. After many questions by SGC, it turns out that they suspected the yacht may have been a 36ft Moody that had been stolen from a marina in the Solent.
I don't know what they did about the issue from a "navigational hazard" point of view, but it is nice to know that SCG were on the case of trying to find a stolen vessel.
<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.stingo.co.uk>http://www.stingo.co.uk</A> <font color=blue>- still showing at a computer near you</font color=blue>