What IS the matter with Yachties in Portsmouth?
by This is Hampshire/Sail-World Cruising on 7 Jul 2008
Watch out Arthur we’re going to hit that big red thing! SW
What IS the matter with the yachties down Portsmouth way in the UK? There's no hurricane there, no high seas at the moment, nothing you could call challenging - yet the Hampshire lifeboats have been kept busy saving yachties who bump into things, run out of fuel or otherwise get themselves in a tangle.
In one twelve hour period, Hampshire lifeboat crew had to rescue no less than three yachts. One, with a mother and two sons on board, had run out of fuel (what about the sails then?) in the ocean south of Portsmouth Harbour and had to be towed to port.
Another crashed into an 'obstruction' (no charts then?) near the entrance to the Harbour and started to take on water.
The Ministry of Defence Police launch boat was first on the scene, and the Gosport and Fareham lifeboat crew attended with a pump to pump out the water. The lifeboat towed the yacht to Gosport Marina.
Then there was the yacht that got itself so stuck on a port marker (what was it doing near the port marker?) east of Gilkicker Point, that it had to call for rescue. The rescue boat managed to free the yacht so that it could continue on its way.
Sail trainers in Portsmouth, you obviously need to conduct a campaign to get your yachties better trained!
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