Roland Wilson Guilty!

[Topcat47]

This is the first time I've seen this. It looks like a case of "left hand down a bit..............NO THE OTHER LEFT HAND! Oops" to me. What ever possessed the guy to try to go in front? And why did the patrol craft carry out those peculiar manouvres? What were the crew doing? I'd have thought they'd be on the sailboat like a rash under those circumstances.

 

[sailorman]

Seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-wn1DM0NYE

From the MCA submission in court.

That guard boat could have done more earlier imho

 

[VicS]

This is the first time I've seen this. It looks like a case of "left hand down a bit..............NO THE OTHER LEFT HAND! Oops" to me. What ever possessed the guy to try to go in front? And why did the patrol craft carry out those peculiar manouvres? What were the crew doing? I'd have thought they'd be on the sailboat like a rash under those circumstances.

I think the patrol boat was more concerned about the broken down Mobo.

Expereienced and able crew of Atalanta should have been able to look after themselves.

That video makes it look as though they deliberately crashed into HK !

 

[flaming]

This is the first time I've seen this. It looks like a case of "left hand down a bit..............NO THE OTHER LEFT HAND! Oops" to me. What ever possessed the guy to try to go in front? And why did the patrol craft carry out those peculiar manouvres? What were the crew doing? I'd have thought they'd be on the sailboat like a rash under those circumstances.

I still think he was terrified of the tanker turning to starboard and catching him out when it did. Though it should have been clear earlier that wasn't happening.

One thing's for sure the large turn away from his course towards his next mark means all those who said in the immediate aftermath that this was all about trying to win a yacht race at the expense of putting the boat in front of the tanker were definitely wrong. He was trying to get out of the way, just failed at doing so.

 

[BlueSkyNick]

I still think he was terrified of the tanker turning to starboard and catching him out when it did. Though it should have been clear earlier that wasn't happening.

One thing's for sure the large turn away from his course towards his next mark means all those who said in the immediate aftermath that this was all about trying to win a yacht race at the expense of putting the boat in front of the tanker were definitely wrong. He was trying to get out of the way, just failed at doing so.

100% agree. "Rabbit in the headlights" syndrome, restricted in ability to manouvre due to flying the kite at the time, and paid the price (thankfully not the ultimate one)

 

[JumbleDuck]

One thing's for sure the large turn away from his course towards his next mark means all those who said in the immediate aftermath that this was all about trying to win a yacht race at the expense of putting the boat in front of the tanker were definitely wrong. He was trying to get out of the way, just failed at doing so.

At what point, O Solent Expert(s), did he enter the MPZ?

 

[BlueSkyNick]

At what point, O Solent Expert(s), did he enter the MPZ?

Whenever he became less than 1000m ahead, which isnt very much when they are closing on each other from opposite directions.

 

[dom]

Seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-wn1DM0NYE

From the MCA submission in court.

The defence will clearly have seen this pre-trial; the yacht acts contrary to both the rule book and to common sense. This business of "one toot", "two toots" as the HK slalomed through the Solent was clearly poppycock. HK behaved as expected, and Atlalanta drove straight at it to face the same situation a goalie faces every time he stands in front of a penalty. Once in this position Atalanta incorrectly guessed HK's intentions, dived to the right and got it wrong.

It was a silly thing to to; thank goodness nobody was seriously hurt; and he should surely have admitted as much. My concern is that the authorities now "misinterpret" the yachting community as somewhat arrogant and never willing to accept the blame. Their response may well be slap irritating and largely pointless regulation on all of us.

Race Committees deciding to implement and "enforce" a draconian "you're kicked out of the entire event" if you mess or interfere with ships rule, would seem like a sensible placatory move to me. We don't after all want to collectively manoeuvre ourselves into the same regulatory position as the Atalanta!

 

[BrianH]

Who said yachting was like standing under shower tearing up £20 notes

At the risk of thread drift it's a quotation almost invariably attributed to Edward Heath in referring to ocean racing. But he was merely paraphrasing Max Aitken, of Drumbeat fame, who coined it in the late 1950s. I heard it from Arthur Slater (with the S&S 'Prospect of Whitby') in Scarborough Yacht Club long before Ted moved from dinghies at Broadstairs and started ocean racing with Morningcloud in 1969.

And in the original it was £5 notes.

 

[flaming]

At what point, O Solent Expert(s), did he enter the MPZ?

If my earlier maths was correct, then somewhere between 1:30 and 2 minutes before the crash.

Crash is at 5:20 on that video. So somewhere around 3:50. Which is about when the second, seemingly crazy, turn to starboard is made.

 

[l'escargot]

At what point, O Solent Expert(s), did he enter the MPZ?

I am only looking at it on the phone at the moment but I would say a good 4 and a half minutes into the video roughly where he meets the escort boat.

 

[AndrewfromFal]

My point in the OP was that this was not an amateur seafarer. He should have known better. His arrogance caused the accident. As an Officer he should have had the common sense to realise he was not going to win.

In my youth I crewed for a retired army Colonel who introduced me to the phrase (with some conviction - no pun intended) 'The 3 Most Useless things on a boat are an Umbrella, a bicycle and a serving naval officer'. Roland Wilson seems to have been rather keen to perpetuate this.....

 

[Way]

Can someone please explain to me....

Condor Vitesse Skippers - wholly inappropriate speed through fog, results in the sinking of a boat and the death of a skipper. PUNISHMENT = c.£15,000 of fines and costs.

Roland Wilson - made a silly error which ultimately resulted in the scratching of paintwork. PUNISHMENT = £103,000 of fines and costs.


We lived in an utterly f*****g twisted world. Essentially the message to commercial skippers is don't worry if you're complete lack of care and attention kills someone and sinks someones livelyhood. Message to recreational skippers - get in a our way and we will ruin you

how lovely.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Whenever he became less than 1000m ahead, which isnt very much when they are closing on each other from opposite directions.

Could he have entered it from the side?

 

[FishyInverness]

Roland Wilson - made a silly error which ultimately resulted in the scratching of paintwork, a man overboard and a head injuryPUNISHMENT = £103,000 of fines and costs.

Not going to answer the whole of that, sure someone can, but you did miss out the actual consequences, it wasn't just scratched paint.

 

[l'escargot]

Could he have entered it from the side?

It's only 100m from the side

 

[Way]

Not going to answer the whole of that, sure someone can, but you did miss out the actual consequences, it wasn't just scratched paint.

I didnt miss anything. It's virtually irrelvent. someone got hurt - they recovered. Pretty hard to recover from death.

How do people not see it? Essentially commercial skippers are being forgiven for monumentally awful decisions whilst some guy ina sailing boat that does damage to his crew and boat and nothing else has a life-changing fine levied.

It's disgusting.

sorry for the rant

 

[JumbleDuck]

If my earlier maths was correct, then somewhere between 1:30 and 2 minutes before the crash.

Crash is at 5:20 on that video. So somewhere around 3:50. Which is about when the second, seemingly crazy, turn to starboard is made.

Danke schön.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Roland Wilson - made a silly error which ultimately resulted in the scratching of paintwork. PUNISHMENT = £103,000 of fines and costs.

The fine is for what happened at sea; the costs are for not putting his hand up to it. Three weeks of court time doesn't come cheap.

 

[l'escargot]

I would fully expect the costs to be dramatically reduced on appeal. There is a criteria that costs must not be disproportionate to the offence....

And on the scale of fines, two are at 10% of the tariff and one at 40% of the tariff which could indicate the judges view of the seriousness of the offences. I don't think he can exercise similar discretion when it comes to costs, unless someone knows otherwise I think he has to award the lot.