NavList:

First time I ever heard it called a GPS. Oh well! you live and learn.

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006 08:46:53 +0100 "George Huxtable"
<george@huxtable.u-net.com> writes:
>
> Those who draw pleasure from the misfortunes of others may find the
> following story of interest It was reported with pictures on the
> same
> page of July issue of Practical Boat Owner as my recent quote about
> Gypsy Moth IV.
>
> Back in April, it was reported in the UK news and TV that a
> brand-new
> 47 ft. Beneteau yacht, valued at £250,000 (about $400,000) had run
> into the cliffs at Anvil Point, on the Dorset coast.
>
> That is a headland I know well, with sheer vertical cliffs about 150
>
> ft. high, just a few miles from my home port of Poole. That part of
> the English Channel coast is steep-to, with no hazards off the
> coast,
> right up to the foot of the cliffs, with fallen boulders underwater
> confined to within a boatlength or so of the cliff foot.
>
> At the top of the cliff is a large lighthouse, but it appears that
> the
> event occurred in broad daylight, and in fine weather. Editorial
> comment states that the new owner had recently taken sailing lessons
>
> but his girlfriend/crew was a novice. They were heading East along
> the
> coast, for Lymington in the Solent, with a fair tide, in a moderate
> southwesterly breeze. Reports stated that the owner had gone below
> "to
> check his GPS". His course to the Solent would take him parallel to
> the line of cliffs, with no reason at all for any close approach.
>
> The couple were able to scramble onto the rocks at the base of the
> cliff, and an inflatable lifeboat from Swanage was quickly on the
> scene to take off the owner, but his crew was "not confident enough
> to
> follow him into the lifeboat", so a helicopter was summoned, with a
> winchman to lift her away. At some risk to all, presumably; close to
>
> that cliff is no place to be swinging helicopter blades. The vessel
> was destroyed.
>
> So the question arises, how could such a collision with those cliffs
>
> possibly happen? Was there anyone on any sort of watch? Why on earth
>
> would anyone be fiddling with his GPS at such a spot? Nobody seems
> to
> be admitting to anything. I suspect that the GPS fiddling had a lot
> to
> do with it. Was the vessel on self-steering, to a course set by the
> GPS? Had he done something to alter the next waypoint? Did she know
> how to disconnect any self-steering in an emergency, and con by
> hand?
> This may have been an electronically-assisted accident; and if so,
> probably not the first, by any means.
>
> Truly, there are those around with more money than sense. Those of
> us
> that claim, for one reason or another, to have money and sense in a
> different ratio, have reason to worry about this trend. It brings
> closer the prospect of regulation, with the aim of weeding out such
> folly. That aim is unlikely to succeed, but we will all get caught
> up
> in its clutches.
>
> George.
>
> contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com
> or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
> or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
>
>
>
> >
>


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