Spall 'lost' in the Medway

Difficult 24 hrs? We heard him talking to a wind farm vessel at 4pm yesterday having just come out of Brightlingsea - being guided towards the Spitway. Wondered where he was going so late in the day. Obviously taking the flood down the Swin but rather thought he was hopping to Burnham being so late. He's a nice chap and the programmes are entertaining but if it was anyone else .......
 
Bless 'im. I find it refreshing. He comes across as a regular (relative novice) guy, who's making the same mistakes countless other folk make day in day out.

Just he happens to be doing a bit of a mission.

Don't be too hard on him. We all have our 'wally moments'
 
It would have been pretty dark and probably raining at 9-40pm last night. Not the best conditions in which to negotiate the Medway for the first time I would think.

Even in daylight it is not obvious where the channel lies, as the river appears very wide there, but the buoyed channel does not run in an obviously predictable way. I don't know what sort of navigation equipment he has on board, but if he has no chart plotter then it is down to eyeball pilotage from buoy to buoy.

Once you have lost the plot then it would be pretty scary for a relative novice in the dark. It says in the report that he was heading out to sea when located, but he may have chosen to turn back once unsure of his position on the basis of thinking that it would be safer retracing his course?

He moored up ahead of us when he was in Southwold recently and on brief acquaintance he seems a very pleasant chap. SWMBO was filmed chatting to him when he first arrived so she might get on TV. :D
 
Leighb said:
It would have been pretty dark and probably raining at 9-40pm last night. Not the best conditions in which to negotiate the Medway for the first time I would think.

Even in daylight it is not obvious where the channel lies, as the river appears very wide there, but the buoyed channel does not run in an obviously predictable way. I don't know what sort of navigation equipment he has on board, but if he has no chart plotter then it is down to eyeball pilotage from buoy to buoy.

Once you have lost the plot then it would be pretty scary for a relative novice in the dark. It says in the report that he was heading out to sea when located, but he may have chosen to turn back once unsure of his position on the basis of thinking that it would be safer retracing his course?
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I agree - that particular part of the Medway (no 12) can be very confusing at night, even with plenty of day experience on the river.

It sounded from his voice exactly as you say - he lost the plot and began to panic. He was given a course to steer be CG, but it became obvious that he did not follow this. Hence he ended up in Stangate, and then over the mudbank just the the east of Stangate (on the ebb) when the lifeboat was eventually called. Just taken out of his confort zone, and not enough confidence in traditional navigation to continue.
 
Pye_End said:
I agree - that particular part of the Medway (no 12) can be very confusing at night, even with plenty of day experience on the river.

It sounded from his voice exactly as you say - he lost the plot and began to panic. He was given a course to steer be CG, but it became obvious that he did not follow this. Hence he ended up in Stangate, and then over the mudbank just the the east of Stangate (on the ebb) when the lifeboat was eventually called. Just taken out of his confort zone, and not enough confidence in traditional navigation to continue.
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Were you listening to the VHF at the time? Or is there a recording that I have not noticed?
 
Leighb said:
It would have been pretty dark and probably raining at 9-40pm last night. Not the best conditions in which to negotiate the Medway for the first time I would think.

Even in daylight it is not obvious where the channel lies, as the river appears very wide there, but the buoyed channel does not run in an obviously predictable way. I don't know what sort of navigation equipment he has on board, but if he has no chart plotter then it is down to eyeball pilotage from buoy to buoy.

Once you have lost the plot then it would be pretty scary for a relative novice in the dark. It says in the report that he was heading out to sea when located, but he may have chosen to turn back once unsure of his position on the basis of thinking that it would be safer retracing his course?

He moored up ahead of us when he was in Southwold recently and on brief acquaintance he seems a very pleasant chap. SWMBO was filmed chatting to him when he first arrived so she might get on TV. :D
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Agree very much.

I expect it was close to high water . When the water is up it is difficult to see what's what as you mention.

I have ended up in odd places a few times in the Medway when the banks are hard to see. That's my excuse anyway.

Hope he knows that we have all done it.
 
If this is Aufiedersein Pet man (as he was known at the time), he kept a barge/canal boat thing in Chatham marina for a while.

He came into the lock one evening opposite me, two attractive women on board running around with warps and fenders, he was sitting in his little wheelhouse thing with a goblet sized glass of red in his hand and handled her (the barge) beautifully.

Wonder what's happened to him!
 
xyachtdave said:
If this is Aufiedersein Pet man (as he was known at the time), he kept a barge/canal boat thing in Chatham marina for a while.

He came into the lock one evening opposite me, two attractive women on board running around with warps and fenders, he was sitting in his little wheelhouse thing with a goblet sized glass of red in his hand and handled her (the barge) beautifully.

Wonder what's happened to him!
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That's the chap. Barry from the series, if I remember right.
 
Amazing isn't it, the difference between this thread and the one on SB about this incident, completely different tone and emphasais. Makes me glad to be an Eastcoaster :)
 
Habebty said:
Amazing isn't it, the difference between this thread and the one on SB about this incident, completely different tone and emphasais. Makes me glad to be an Eastcoaster :)
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Same thought was going through my mind! Some people do seem to be determined to make something out of nothing don't they. Still, never let the facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory :)

To me, it's another case of "there but for the grace of God ..." and I can't help feeling a little bit sorry for the Spalls - if he wasn't famus the incident, such as it was, would hardly have rated a paragraph on page 9 of the Sheerness Chronicle (or whatever the local rag is) ...

"Last night some bloke on a barge got in a bit of a muddle in the dark and called the coasties for advice. The local lifeboat crew overhead and popped out to guide him to a safe spot. Everybody retired to the hostelry of their choice for a well earned drop of lemonade".

National news? I think not!
 
I agree.
I've enjoyed watching the Programmes so far.
He doesnt pretend he's better than he is.
He's obviously doing them because he likes boating (he hardly needs the money) and he seems a really nice guy as does his wife.
Takes a lot to make all these mistakes on film and every time we make a mistake I'm glad to know I'm not the first. He's yet to film setting off without opening the sea cock however. That would make me feel a whole lot better, though wouldn't help with the bill....
 
Habebty said:
Amazing isn't it, the difference between this thread and the one on SB about this incident, completely different tone and emphasais. Makes me glad to be an Eastcoaster :)
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You beat me to it, I think most of the "should have been shot at dawn" types have never found themselves up a strange river in the dark and got lost, or have they? I wonder?
 
There certainly seems to be a bit of a 'holier than thou' attitude going on and probably a fair bit of selective memory.
Dare I say there are some on the Internet who would find fault in the likes of Knox Johnson if it made themselves feel a bit better.

The trip is clearly out of the Spall's comfort zone but they're giving it a damn good try..
 
I'm really surprised by this thread's tone given the facts.

He seems like a nice chap, and we can of course all make mistakes, but he actually has charts, GPS and a plotter - the only reason he messed up is because he clearly hasn't got a clue how to use them, which seems really foolish doesn't it?

It's not the first time he's messed up either. I've only seen two episodes myself and in both he made considerable errors which were completely avoidable if only he'd known how to use his equipment in the most simple of ways.
 
CaptainBob said:
I'm really surprised by this thread's tone given the facts.

He seems like a nice chap, and we can of course all make mistakes, but he actually has charts, GPS and a plotter - the only reason he messed up is because he clearly hasn't got a clue how to use them, which seems really foolish doesn't it?

It's not the first time he's messed up either. I've only seen two episodes myself and in both he made considerable errors which were completely avoidable if only he'd known how to use his equipment in the most simple of ways.
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Well obviously there is a cultural divide. We have Arthur Ransome, 'Better drowned than Duffers. If not Duffers won't drown' Which is pretty much saying we make lots of mistakes round these parts, and no one is perfect.
I guess I really like it that way.

He had to thread his way across the Thames Estuary, not simple nav in itself.

Hats off Mr Spall, your anxiety levels must be very high.
 
Pye_end asked me (I'm a CG amongst other things) if this was all staged. I said I was sure it would have been, but on reflection and reading the full account, perhaps not.
As others have rightly said, the pilotage challenges in the Estuary are demanding and we can all make mistakes and get disoriented especially after dark and a long passage. I listen to incidents developing on the radio and generally think "There but for the grace...etc".
No harm in being humble sometimes.
 
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