Too much excitement
Last night (or rather this morning ....02.30am) we had some excitement (or what passes for excitement around here).
Dee woke me (God knows how she knew something was happening) to tell me that a boat had gone aground outside our house.
Looked out. Small yacht with a tender on the forshore. Couldn't see any lights or any sign of life. Maybe it had broken away from its moorings and I could claim salvage rights? (No such luck).
I rang the Thames Coastguard Station (our next door neighbours) to ask them if they had seen it.
Them "Where is it?"
Me "Outside your front window about a hundred yards away to your left"
Them...."Oh, hadn't seen that... So?"
Me....."Don't you think we should take a look at it?"
Them...."OK, if you want to".
I got dressed and went, risking waking all my other neighbours as their security lights went on.
On the way to the boat the coastguard appeareed on the beach. We went to the edge of the surf together. (Romantic .... NOT.)
Shouted. Still no signs of life (there might have been but I had forgotten to put my hearing aids in).
I threw a few small pebbles onto the foredeck.
Eventually a lady (as Victor Borge used to say "I sincerely hope" ) appeared.
It seems that she and her mate (male or female I couldn't tell in the moonglow) had anchored on the shore awaiting daylight before making their way to the local marina.
They hadn't got a radio.
They had a chart (but I'm not sure they knew how to read it).
They didn't appreciate that they had anchored close to the maximum high water mark and may have trouble getting off the beach as the tide started to go out. Not sure that they even appreciate when high tide was.
they did have a mobile phone and the coastguard asked them to dial 999 and ask for him so that he could speak to them without having to compete with the sound of the waves.
Later he rang me back to let me know that they had decided to wait until about 04:30 (high tide) before moving off.
How do folk get away with being so cavalier? If I went to sea less prepared in any way I am sure that it would be bound to end in disaster. Any road up, the next morning they were gone. Let's hope they didn't get stuck on Pye Sands and have to call the lifeboat (on their mobile phone) to get them out of trouble.
Dee woke me (God knows how she knew something was happening) to tell me that a boat had gone aground outside our house.
Looked out. Small yacht with a tender on the forshore. Couldn't see any lights or any sign of life. Maybe it had broken away from its moorings and I could claim salvage rights? (No such luck).
I rang the Thames Coastguard Station (our next door neighbours) to ask them if they had seen it.
Them "Where is it?"
Me "Outside your front window about a hundred yards away to your left"
Them...."Oh, hadn't seen that... So?"
Me....."Don't you think we should take a look at it?"
Them...."OK, if you want to".
I got dressed and went, risking waking all my other neighbours as their security lights went on.
On the way to the boat the coastguard appeareed on the beach. We went to the edge of the surf together. (Romantic .... NOT.)
Shouted. Still no signs of life (there might have been but I had forgotten to put my hearing aids in).
I threw a few small pebbles onto the foredeck.
Eventually a lady (as Victor Borge used to say "I sincerely hope" ) appeared.
It seems that she and her mate (male or female I couldn't tell in the moonglow) had anchored on the shore awaiting daylight before making their way to the local marina.
They hadn't got a radio.
They had a chart (but I'm not sure they knew how to read it).
They didn't appreciate that they had anchored close to the maximum high water mark and may have trouble getting off the beach as the tide started to go out. Not sure that they even appreciate when high tide was.
they did have a mobile phone and the coastguard asked them to dial 999 and ask for him so that he could speak to them without having to compete with the sound of the waves.
Later he rang me back to let me know that they had decided to wait until about 04:30 (high tide) before moving off.
How do folk get away with being so cavalier? If I went to sea less prepared in any way I am sure that it would be bound to end in disaster. Any road up, the next morning they were gone. Let's hope they didn't get stuck on Pye Sands and have to call the lifeboat (on their mobile phone) to get them out of trouble.
posted by GlynWild at
7:27 PM
