Torbay lifeboat attends yacht in Dartmouth

Talulah said:
Apologises. I meant local RNLI boat. I'm guessing they are all RIB's. But I have no knowledge/experience.
Click to expand...

My apologies also - I didn't know RNLI had a presence in Dartmouth. By "local boat" I thought you meant a fishing vessel or pleasure boat of some kind.
EDIT: Had I paid more attention to the article in the link, I would have discovered the yacht was attended by the lifeboat from Torquay and the Dart Inshore Lifeboat.:o
 
Last edited:
It was the nearest station, the boat on the Dart is a D-class (inflatable).

The D-class did attend & helped to furl the errant sail, but couldn't tow such a big boat in those conditions. Torbay has a 17m Severn class (plus a D-class).

Just common sense really. No waste of money, no frivolous call-out & a long distance solo sailor (from Ireland) helped in a significant moment of need.

Sorry guys, RNLI are not meeting your expectations of wasting money - yet again. :D:D
 
SimbaDog said:
Why was he anchored there when 50knot winds had been forceast :confused:
Click to expand...

Being non-local, he may have been expecting it to be sheltered. Also having crossed solo from Ireland, he was probably pretty tired too. It's how most of us come to make mistakes.

Edit: fresh info now tells me he had been there for a while, apologies fo my assumption & thanks to LJS for providing local knowledge
 
Last edited:
They interviewed a crew member from Dartmouth inshore lifeboat on Radio Devon this morning. He said the lone skipper was on the foredeck at 1am, struggling with foresail which had come unfurled in F10 (46ft boat), and was stuck. This was causing the yacht to drag it's anchor. The ILB tried to tow it, but was unable to do so due to the wind strength, which is why the Torbay AWL was called. Coming round Berry Head in F10 must have been interesting !
 
Nikia said:
They interviewed a crew member from Dartmouth inshore lifeboat on Radio Devon this morning. He said the lone skipper was on the foredeck at 1am, struggling with foresail which had come unfurled in F10 (46ft boat), and was stuck. This was causing the yacht to drag it's anchor. The ILB tried to tow it, but was unable to do so due to the wind strength, which is why the Torbay AWL was called. Coming round Berry Head in F10 must have been interesting !
Click to expand...

This particular boat is/was anchored about 20m away from my boat. Contrary to what has been reported it has been in the Dart for a month or more. There were gusts of over 50 kts last night, must have been very local cos I didn't hear a thing in Exeter and it was completely still last night at 23-00 on the Exe. It seems that all the action took place at around 02-30. Plenty of boats have been anchored in stronger winds in the past with no great problems. If the wind direction was N or NW, which I believe it was, I expect the sea was relatively flat coming round from Brixham, plenty of protection from the land.

Plenty of pics herehttp://www.theviewfromthedartmouthoffice.com/Home/Home.html
 
I was on board in Plymouth last night, and the storm was fierce but brief, lasting only 2-3 hours. The wind there was SW, which is probably why the Torbay ALB reported only being able to make 15kts. They also reported winds building to 60kts :eek:
 
Nikia said:
I was on board in Plymouth last night, and the storm was fierce but brief, lasting only 2-3 hours. The wind there was SW, which is probably why the Torbay ALB reported only being able to make 15kts. They also reported winds building to 60kts :eek:
Click to expand...

Can't see how it was S or SW in Dartmouth otherwise he'd have been blown up river. Very localised conditions.
 
Hehe we slept through the whole thing.

Saw the fcast so moved onto a visitor pontoon opposite the anchorage.

Went to bed and could see his anchor light twinkling and felt like a bit of a wuss for running to the pontoon.

Woke this am to see he was gone!

He is back next to us in the anchorage now so he obviously hasn't lost his nerve.
 
Nikia said:
... the lone skipper was on the foredeck at 1am, struggling with foresail which had come unfurled in F10 (46ft boat), and was stuck....!
Click to expand...

FWIW I always tie a short rope around the furling fores'l whenever I leave the boat or am expecting bad whether when on board.

Saves the trouble for later - as they say in Ireland.
 
Dartmouth

The harbour master at Dartmouth has his own boat, I would have thought he would have asessed that the danger to other craft warranted the shout to Torbay.
Stearman65
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

T
Notices to Mariners - Week 21
Replies
2
Views
446
tillergirl
T
Concerto
Round Ireland Part 3
2
Replies
28
Views
1K
Concerto
Concerto

Share this page

Top