Two men rescued from sinking boat after sailing from Swansea to Ilfracombe to buy pasties.

ylop

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I read it last night and my initial thoughts were - experienced skipper water up to his knees from a failed window surely a bucket would get that under control even if the bilge pump had failed? Then I read that it didn’t sink until the RNLI started towing it and I thought mmm… overzealous coxswain with a powerful rib. Not really a criticism of the RNLI - they did the primary job of saving the crew, but I wonder if a different approach might have saved the boat from ending up as yet more marine waste? Although - the skipper may not have cared - “sank under tow from RNLI” is a good insurance claim setter quickly but “loads of flood damage” is chasing round yards for quotes and then trying to get work done whilst the season disappears!
 

fisherman

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Pasty at sea? No wonder.
Crewman turned up on Town Quay, 0600, with a pasty for his crib. Skipper said "You can eat it or leave it behind" so he ate it.
 

cpedw

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“sank under tow from RNLI” is a good insurance claim setter quickly but “loads of flood damage” is chasing round yards for quotes and then trying to get work done whilst the season disappears!
Ooh that's cynical! But not necessarily inaccurate.
 

oldmanofthehills

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I imagine he was trying to get shelter from easterlies in the bay beyond baggy. His natural direct route would have taken him further east with prospect of getting shelter in combe martin, but perhaps he could not make that course due to the weather.

As an ex BC sailor I can commend the Ilfracombe butchers pasties
 

Sandy

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I imagine he was trying to get shelter from easterlies in the bay beyond baggy. His natural direct route would have taken him further east with prospect of getting shelter in combe martin, but perhaps he could not make that course due to the weather.

As an ex BC sailor I can commend the Ilfracombe butchers pasties
Bay beyond Baggy, that would be Croyde Bay, an odd direction as he would have passed Morte Point and Morte Bay which would have given him shelter if the easterly was causing a chop on a flooding tide. If it was that bad then staying in Ilfracombe and finding a pub might have been a better idea, but we were not there.

Just hope it was not one of those awful plate pasties they do in north Devon.
 

SaltyC

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The attraction of a real Pasty! What we will go through for the Real Pasty! Unfortunately, when you arrive you need to find the ultimate pasty.
 

Juan Twothree

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Then I read that it didn’t sink until the RNLI started towing it and I thought mmm… overzealous coxswain with a powerful rib. Not really a criticism of the RNLI - they did the primary job of saving the crew, but I wonder if a different approach might have saved the boat from ending up as yet more marine waste?

"Not a criticism of the RNLI...."yet that's exactly what you've done, by suggesting that the coxswain was a bit too throttle-happy, and the boat might have survived but for the actions of the RNLI.

We're not all idiots, we do have some idea of what we're doing.

What I took from the account was that the vessel was already fairly far gone.

All ALBs carry a decent salvage pump on board, and my first action on going to a vessel with water where it shouldn't be is to put a couple of my crew aboard and start pumping it out before trying to tow it anywhere.

The fact that the coxswain wasn't prepared to take that risk suggests to me that it had so much water on board that it was in imminent danger of rolling over or sinking, so the best option would have been to try to tow it to somewhere it could perhaps have been beached.
 

oldmanofthehills

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