Trainee Yachtsman rescued by the RNLI

Magaz97

Magaz97

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Our local RNLI are claiming to have rescued a TRAINEE YACHTSMAN on the river Tyne. He was, at the time, sailing a Topper, under instruction from South Shields Sailing Club.

When rescued, he claimed to be training to be a Yachtsman; and that is how the RNLI have reported it. Seems to be a little sensationalist to claim that a Yachtsman was rescued. Would anyone class Topper sailing as being a Trainee Yachtsman? Or as the RNLI are claiming; am I just being pedantic?

http://www.tynemouth-lifeboat.org/trainee-yachtsman-assisted-by-tynemouth-rnli-lifeboat/

I suspect it was a quiet weekend on the Tyne.
 
As reported.

To me, the headline seemed a little sensational. I dont doubt that the guy needed to be rescued, even though he has 'instructors' nearby in another boat.

A TRAINEE yachtsman was assisted by volunteers at Tynemouth RNLI lifeboat station today after his boat capsized in the river Tyne.

The casualty, a 20 year old university student, was learning to sail in a small 'Topper' dinghy when it was capsized by a combination of a strong ebb tide and a passing cargo ship, throwing him into the water and hitting his boat on the rocks underneath the inside of the south Tyne pier.

As the inshore lifeboat was launching the casualty was rescued from the water by the crew of the Tyne pilot vessel 'Collingwood' who brought him to the lifeboat station where he was found to be very cold and shaken but otherwise unharmed. He was kept under observation, given warm clothes and a warm drink and eventually was found to be fit to be taken back across the river.

As the casualty was being looked after, the inshore lifeboat crew went to recover the sailing dinghy, a task made difficulty due to the boat's damaged sail and centreboard but the boat was taken to South Shields Sailing Club,

The lifeboat crew crew returned to the lifeboat station and then took the casualty back across to the sailing club, and gave advice on keeping him warm before allowing him to return home.

The lifeboat then returned to station.
 
I am beginning to become a tad pi$$ed 0ff at the sensationalism at the RNLI press releases; they are not the Sun newspaper.

How is a dingy sailor a trainee yachtsman?

The vision of "the rocks underneath the inside of the south Tyne pier" is hard to conjure up with, unless you can move through solid matter.

I might need to ask some questions, about where they got their press people from as I am not sure they have a simple grasp of English, when I renew my membership.
 
I think it quite wise that someone who aspires to being a yachtsman, a 'trainee yachtsman' starts out in something like a Topper. All too often these days people skip the fundamentals and start out in a 36ftr +. The trainee yachtsman will have learned a lot in that incident. Nothing wrong with the headline, sorry RNLI knockers, you'll have to try harder than that.

PRV, we had 9 of us (all adult) on a Topper when I was learning to sail (a trainee yachtsman mainly on Wayfarers) in Paxos, 25 years ago. No, 9 on the Topper was not because it was a budget school, we did it for a hoot!
 
galadriel said:
I think it quite wise that someone who aspires to being a yachtsman, a 'trainee yachtsman' starts out in something like a Topper. All too often these days people skip the fundamentals and start out in a 36ftr +. The trainee yachtsman will have learned a lot in that incident. Nothing wrong with the headline, sorry RNLI knockers, you'll have to try harder than that.

PRV, we had 9 of us (all adult) on a Topper when I was learning to sail (a trainee yachtsman mainly on Wayfarers) in Paxos, 25 years ago. No, 9 on the Topper was not because it was a budget school, we did it for a hoot!
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Firstly, I do not class myself as an RNLI knocker. I support them each month with my direct debit donation. I know our local crew personally and have sailed with them on occasion. However, I felt that the headline was a little sensational, and told the press officer my thoughts. He like you, told me that the headline was fair.

I think it is over stated, and that a 'Trainee Sailor' would have been a better headline. You learn to sail in dinghys (surely) and learn to be a Yachtsman on a yacht. This is of course my opinion. I could of course be way off the mark with this.

I love having a sail on a Topper, all 16 stone of me. It is great fun. I dont think it brings anything to my Yachting though.
 
Magaz97 said:
....I think it is over stated, and that a 'Trainee Sailor' would have been a better headline. You learn to sail in dinghys (surely) and learn to be a Yachtsman on a yacht. This is of course my opinion. I could of course be way off the mark with this.....
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A lot of sailors think that a lot of yachtsmen are not proper sailors, and might take offence at such a headline in the same way that you have.
 
ArthurJStoatfondler said:
A lot of sailors think that a lot of yachtsmen are not proper sailors, and might take offence at such a headline in the same way that you have.
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Quite true I suppose. I learned to sail in a Dinghy and then moved over to Yachts. I still classify myself as a sailor AND a yachtsman.

I suppose that I may have come across as a pedant; who is offended by the article. I think 'offended' is a little strong though. More disappointed in the sensational style of the reporting really. Especially as I know the press officer.
 
I actually think anyone who gets offended or pi$$ed off with any headline, is not getting in enough sailing. ;-)
 
galadriel said:
I actually think anyone who gets offended or pi$$ed off with any headline, is not getting in enough sailing. ;-)
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I think you may very well be right!....I think it may be because I had a great cruise this weekend, and now I am back at work! :)
 
A lot of fuss about how the rescued person refers to himself. He may (or may not) be pedantically accurate. I dont really think it matters very much.

What concerns me is that there was supposed to be qualified instructors (and presumably a safety boat) supervising - how come they needed to waste a lot of time waiting for the RNLI????
 
Magaz97 said:
Especially as I know the press officer.
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Would you kindly ask them to re-read the artical and ask if, "the rocks underneath the inside of the south Tyne pier", really means the rocks under the pier or were they needing to reach a word count?
 
Magaz97 said:
As the inshore lifeboat was launching the casualty was rescued from the water by the crew of the Tyne pilot vessel 'Collingwood' who brought him to the lifeboat station............
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Seems to me like a case of "no such thing as bad publicity"

From the above report, the RNLI didn't conduct the rescue?

Also from the text, the safety boat probably wasn't far away, either.

I wonder what the public perception of "yachtsman rescued" is?

It all seems a bit of marketing hype to help stimulate public donations.
 
Do you think he should have been left to get battered against the pier until the safety boat got there? It's not some walk on thing with ice cream and a punch and judy show.

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davidjackson said:
Seems to me like a case of "no such thing as bad publicity"

From the above report, the RNLI didn't conduct the rescue?

Also from the text, the safety boat probably wasn't far away, either.

I wonder what the public perception of "yachtsman rescued" is?

It all seems a bit of marketing hype to help stimulate public donations.
Click to expand...
 
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