A Princess 67 named Victoria crashed into Richmond Bridge yesterday afternoon after rising water levels on the Thames meant it could not fit underneath.
 
Eyewitnesses said that the luxury motorboat was dragged by strong currents towards the bridge and got stuck against one of its beams.
 
The incident happened shortly after the river Thames burst its banks elsewhere in Richmond.

The boat’s skipper commented on the YBW forum, saying: “The problem I encountered was aligning the yacht up to the centre line
of the arch as the arch has rather steep drop offs from the centre line.”

“Once astern thrust had been engaged, the strong tidal flow started to
push the stern to the starboard rather rapidly. This caught me unawares
as the yacht obviously has a lot of power to hand, but not enough to
stem the tide.”

“I’ve certainly learnt a harsh lesson in coping with strong tidal currents, and narrow bridge arches.”

Onlooker Lesley-Anne Berthon said: “We saw the whole thing. We saw the boat coming and thought ‘there’s no way he’s getting through in that’.
 
“There was a man standing on the back trying to gauge the height.”
 
The motor cruiser suffered considerable damaged as the skipper tried to pass underneath the bridge and it eventually made it through with cheers from the crowd.
 
Hundreds of people gathered to watch the boat, with many taking pictures and video.

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