Skipper of Atalanta Guilty.....

jimmy_the_builder said:
Not quite correct - £3k fine, £100k costs which are being paid by the Armed Forces Legal Aid Authority. So not personally costing him much at all.

Cheers
Jimmy
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No.

Navy paid for the defence. He has to pay the prosecution costs personally.
 
Of course it's a fair cop. The skipper of the yacht took a calculated risk to gain a racing advantage and f****d it up. Racing yotties seem to think they're God's gift to boating and it's a pleasure to see one of them get their comeuppance. If this verdict makes a few of them think before they do something stupid in the future, that's a bonus.
Our fellow forumite Daka should be dancing a jig this afternoon:)
 
is that right? i thought his costs were paid by armed forces legal aid but he was being made to pay prosecutions costs of 100K??
 
Deleted User said:
Of course it's a fair cop. The skipper of the yacht took a calculated risk to gain a racing advantage and f****d it up. Racing yotties seem to think they're God's gift to boating and it's a pleasure to see one of them get their comeuppance. If this verdict makes a few of them think before they do something stupid in the future, that's a bonus.
Our fellow forumite Daka should be dancing a jig this afternoon:)
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No he didn't. have you seen the reconstruction in the thread in Scuttlebutt? He did the exact opposite - he turned about 45 degrees AWAY from his mark, seemingly to try and pass port/port with the tanker.

He was trying to keep out of the way, he just failed at doing so, spectacularly.
 
flaming said:
No he didn't. have you seen the reconstruction in the thread in Scuttlebutt? He did the exact opposite - he turned about 45 degrees AWAY from his mark, seemingly to try and pass port/port with the tanker.

He was trying to keep out of the way, he just failed at doing so, spectacularly.
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Quote from the article

Skipper Roland Wilson, who at the time was a Royal Navy Lieutenant, said he spotted the red tanker when it was five miles away. However, the yacht sailed into the moving exclusion zone protecting the ‘Hanne Knutsen'.
Read more at http://www.pbo.co.uk/news/535496/breaking-news-roland-wilson-found-guilty#gFfATqg3k0AmwdCp.99
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crikey, I thought yachts had a faster turning circle than that, 5 miles to turn 45 degrees isn't that impressive :)
 
I'm sorry, if I saw a chuffing huge container ship coming my way I'd change direction, racing or not. He either wasn't looking, or thought he could cut in front of it in time, which was a spectacularly stupid thing to do.

He was probably only doing 7-10 knots and probably had several minutes to realise he was going to hit it, or get ridiculously close and risk hitting it. He should have changed course way before he got that close.

Basically he was playing chicken with a mahoosive great ship. Dinlo!
 
Deleted User said:
Of course it's a fair cop. The skipper of the yacht took a calculated risk to gain a racing advantage and f****d it up. Racing yotties seem to think they're God's gift to boating and it's a pleasure to see one of them get their comeuppance. If this verdict makes a few of them think before they do something stupid in the future, that's a bonus.
Our fellow forumite Daka should be dancing a jig this afternoon:)
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I cannot understand why RW did not plead guilty as he was so clearly in the wrong however the funding by the Armed Forces Legal Aid fund perhaps explains this. I have to confess to being rather pleased that a racer clearly so arrogant that he was prepared to play with other peoples lives has got his comeuppance. Hopefully it will make a few more of the "I'm racing get out of the way" brigade behave better towards other water users.
 
ahabdonal said:
I have to confess to being rather pleased that a racer clearly so arrogant that he was prepared to play with other peoples lives has got his comeuppance. Hopefully it will make a few more of the "I'm racing get out of the way" brigade behave better towards other water users.
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How pleasant. And how totally devoid of any factual basis.

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

His mark is the one just to the north west of South Bramble.

Perhaps you, or anyone else wishing to characterize this as a racing skipper pushing his luck, could explain how sailing away from the mark fits that description?

Looks very much to me like he was trying to get out of the way, mostly of the tanker's expected turn to the north, he just fundamentally misjudged the situation.
 
Just be grateful it wasn't "you"* that made the error &, constrained by the pull of a chuffing great Spinnaker, ended up getting hung out to dry.

* this is a generic "you" and relates to no specific poster. Personally, I'm glad I wasn't in charge of that boat at that time & having to make those decisions. It certainly emphasises my desire to stay well clear of large walls of steel.
 
ahabdonal said:
I cannot understand why RW did not plead guilty as he was so clearly in the wrong however the funding by the Armed Forces Legal Aid fund perhaps explains this. I have to confess to being rather pleased that a racer clearly so arrogant that he was prepared to play with other peoples lives has got his comeuppance. Hopefully it will make a few more of the "I'm racing get out of the way" brigade behave better towards other water users.
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The judge went to great pains to refute the allegation that Wilson was arrogant. He said he was a person if impeccable repute. He said the same about his crew. His main crew members had loads of race experience and were not acting arrogantly in his judgement.
 
The verdict is hardly surprising. After seeing the AIS track video replay I am astonished he attempted a defence and didn't plead guilty. Any of us could make the odd poor decision from time to time in any facet of life , but failing to recognise our mistakes and not having the humility to put our hands up is the difference between men and boys. The financial costs are small compared to the loss of life that could have occurred.
 
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