About us
Events
Ashdown Log
Members boats
Find out more
Links
Back
Home
As reported by Gerry Raby
A yachtsman was rescued off the coast of Calais on Saturday night when he believed himself to be near Kent. The skipper contacted Dover Coastguard saying that he was lost but thought he was in the Ramsgate Approaches. Neither the Coastguard or Dover Port Control could locate him so they asked him to sail to a buoy and report back. When the buoy turned out to be Sandettie, 10 miles off Calais, they decided the safest course of action was to send out the RNLI.
Dover Lifeboat was on scene 40 minutes later and found the compass to be 190 degrees out. The yacht was towed back to Dover, and the skipper was met by Langdon Coastguard Rescue Team, who offered him advice.
Coastguard watch manager Gary Brown said: 'The skipper of this vessel was crossing some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world without, it would appear, much navigational knowledge or experience. It is very worrying that he managed to sail to France without noticing his error.