Strange story of yacht aground near Eastbourne

Cast your minds back a few years, not many really, to a fella called Chris Columbus. Would he be arrested nowadays? Wasn't the world flat?

Sometimes crazy aint so crazy
 
The press report that "the owner of the yacht, once the rescue started, said he was going to bed and did so..." could, if true, be the reason the authorities doubted his sanity.
 
From the pictures (and I mean at the time they were taken )the conditions didnt look that bad
So what if the boat looks scruffy
Does every one on here believe all the boat yards do a good job all the time, or do they put a yard boy on the job but charge for a skilled man. I say this as so many more posh looking boats get into trouble than scruffy ones their owners spend cash having some thing maintained but by whome and to what standard ? just because you spend money it does not constitute the boat or equipment is safe !

The guy could have hit his head causing miss judgment or agressive behavior
If it is the case that he said he was going to go to bed then it may well be he was going to see the boat take the ground and retire for a kip
I wonder how any one of us would react if in our view, yes things have gone wrong but nothing worse will happen and then you get people telling you leave the boat to god knows who and crist knows how much they'll charge he clearly is skint so his reaction seems about right
mick
 
From the pictures (and I mean at the time they were taken )the conditions didnt look that bad
So what if the boat looks scruffy
Does every one on here believe all the boat yards do a good job all the time, or do they put a yard boy on the job but charge for a skilled man. I say this as so many more posh looking boats get into trouble than scruffy ones their owners spend cash having some thing maintained but by whome and to what standard ? just because you spend money it does not constitute the boat or equipment is safe !

The guy could have hit his head causing miss judgment or agressive behavior
If it is the case that he said he was going to go to bed then it may well be he was going to see the boat take the ground and retire for a kip
I wonder how any one of us would react if in our view, yes things have gone wrong but nothing worse will happen and then you get people telling you leave the boat to god knows who and crist knows how much they'll charge he clearly is skint so his reaction seems about right
mick
As I said, compulsory rescue gone badly wrong?

Been there on a boat with a split exhaust resulting in steam, fumes and water in the bilge: we needed a tow back, but CG decided we 'might be sinking' so upgraded to a full Mayday with lifeboat, local rescue, chopper and all. Owner was not at all pleased at being 'rescued' for a minor problem.
 
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Yes, but you are a newspaper proprietor. Which sells more newspapers:

1. Boat runs aground on rocks off Beachy Head in gale force winds.

or

2. Boat on shingle beach; will be re-floated on next tide.
 
Seriously?

Want to bet this 'haul of firearms' turns out to be a flare gun and a pistol for his own protection?

Oh That's alright then. No need to do anything if someone suffering (allegedly) from Mental Health problems only has a pistol for their own protection...
 
Its very unusual for the Police to use their powers under the Mental Health Act.
If the boat was securly beached no reason not to go to bed and wait for the next tide.
But if this gentleman was known to the powers that be who were concerned about his behaviour then perhaps this course of action was appropriate.
Sadly if someone is deluded they lack the ability to check in their own brains what is real;unreal;sensible ;eccentric or totally dangerous.
In many ways they can behave just like a young child.
 
Speaking as a CG (elsewhere), I would imagine that the volunteer boys and girls on the CG Rescue Team who turned out on the shout were, or felt, threatened. Dealing with that is way beyond our remit and our pay-grade and hence they would, without hesitation, have called the boys in blue.
 
Speaking as a CG (elsewhere), I would imagine that the volunteer boys and girls on the CG Rescue Team who turned out on the shout were, or felt, threatened. Dealing with that is way beyond our remit and our pay-grade and hence they would, without hesitation, have called the boys in blue.

wouldn't it have been easier to have just left him alone as he wanted?
 
wouldn't it have been easier to have just left him alone as he wanted?
So the next headline says "... coastguard stand by with hands in pocket while man dies in his stranded yacht. Spokesman says it was sailor's choice...."
 
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So the next headline says "... coastgurd stand by with hands in pocket while man dies in his stranded yacht. Spokesman says it was sailor's choice...."

yes it might.... but that's the kind of boll**ks you get in papers..... didn't you know that!
 
yes it might.... but that's the kind of boll**ks you get in papers..... didn't you know that!

Headlines are only reflecting society's values.

So, for your little bit of society its OK to stand by and let somebody die when your actions could have saved his life.

Glad I don't inhabit the same bit of society that you seem to.
 
awwww........ yawn yawn yawn.......

has your savings fund transfer to the Red nose appeal gone through yet by the way?
 
Short of popping over to see, I just hope the bloke ( cold, tired, famished, up agin it, worried about being forced into unaffordable marine style refuge, storm weary then bounced on a hard landing ) .... Well, I just hope that somehow he gets an intact boat back and his independence and calm..

On Saturday the tides were huge, the wind onshore and the seas breaking with many tons of momentum in them. Must have been horrific on board, feeling each thump.. Amazed if the engine, electrics and indeed ports have not been down flooded , sadly..
 
Well, I just hope that somehow he gets an intact boat back and his independence and calm..

Once the 'caring' part of society gets its hands on someone like this; someone who just wants to be left alone and to their own devices, they disappear.
That boat will mysteriously evaporate under cover of darkness, and as for confused Jerry, he'll be ushered off into obscurity.
 
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