Helicopter Rescue off Dover

[photodog]

Neither him nor the company have tweeted a update yet.....

[prv]

The Skipper appears to be "Sailingboy55" on twitter....

You can see his feed here...

http://twitter.com/Sailingboy55

Only just clicked through to this.

Does like his exclamation marks, doesn't he!

Pete

[BlueSkyNick]

Neither him nor the company have tweeted a update yet.....

Any sensible company owner would have told the guy to shut the **** up!

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Like others above, i'm stunned that they even considered setting off!

If it was my boat with a delivery crew lined up, and i'd not had a phone call saying "trip off", i'd have fired the skipper before he left!

[photodog]

Any sensible company owner would have told the guy to shut the **** up!

As his Meeja adviser.. that would be my advice as well!

[photodog]

Only just clicked through to this.

Does like his exclamation marks, doesn't he!

Pete

Seemed to be quite excited by the possibility of a F10..... No unhappy faces!

[sailorman]

Seemed to be quite excited by the possibility of a F10..... No unhappy faces!

The Helm looked out of place

[dunedin]

Not sure I'd want to be on anything less than a steel round the work contender in a storm 11.

Having once been caught in relatively sheltered waters in a F10/11 (forecast was F8-9) on an ex BT Challenge 70 footer, with a boat load of Yachtmaster Instructors, Examiners et al ...............................

.............. I would never dream of going out with a forecast F10 in anything (even a BT Challenge boat), but certainly feels like insanity for me in a First 40.7 with an inexperienced crew (not that these are anything but fantastic racing boats in the right conditions and with a strong racing crew)

Perhaps one of the paying crew will take them to court - would seem like there is plenty of circumstantial evidence, at least, of issues with three incidents in a year and that Tweet

[Simondjuk]

My observations (for what they're worth).

1. That sort of trip attracts people who either want to give sailing a try or who are building the required 2500 miles to take a Yachtmaster exam. Therefore, the chances are the crew are complete novices, or as near as makes no difference.

2. Why did the boat leave the Solent at all when some of the ports of refuge on the passage become unsafe or marginal to enter in SW gales, let alone leave into a forecast F10?

3. The boat should have been perfectly capable of coping with the conditions. The skipper should have considered that he might end up effectively singlehanded in those conditions and asked himself if he was as capable as the boat.

4. All the above should have become more and more apparent to him as he made his passage plan and caused him some very serious consternation. To wit, 'Don't go!'

5. Will the six portions of the £225 fee paid for the 'cruise' allotted to 'safety equipment' be enough to cover the launch of two lifeboats and a helicopter?

6. Is there still no such thing as bad press?

[Boomshanka]

Their arrival into Ramsgate:



Picture of the damaged wheel:





More photos http://www.dungenesslifeboat.org.uk/...shout_030112_1

I've done a fair bit of sailing with HL (must be over 1000 miles), some really excellent skippers along the way, but this skipper's judgment (backed up by the Tweets!) and the two other 'incidents' in 2011, really makes me think I'll look elsewhere.