Incidents & Stories

Chased by the Coastguard

You do not miss a helicopter hovering over you as you sail along at 6kts off Shetland. 

It was deafening. My crew and I wondered what we had done wrong.

I went below to call Channel 16 and Shetland Coastguard why we were being tailed.  But – I was not on Channel 16.  I was on Channel 12 – Lerwick Harbour’s VHF channel to whom I had been speaking earlier.

I flicked to 16, and before Shetland could reply, the helicopter pilot said “Good Dog, we have been trying to call you, please can we do a low level training excise over you?”  

I could hardly say no! 

RNLI Rescue – no regrets calling them out.

It was forecast Force 7 the day we had to reach Ardfern for some repairs.  Will and I were in good spirits as we sailed down the Firth of Lorn. 

We rounded the Dorus Mur, and as we furled the last few feet of the genoa, the reefing line went “snap” and the whole genny unfurled.  I went forward to try and lower the sail, but got hit by the clue and my glasses came off.  26 sq m of flailing sail is a dangerous beast. 

At that moment I knew we needed some help as I was not prepared to risk Will or my life.  After a calm “Pan Pan” to the coastguard we turned the stern of the boat into the wind and waited Oban Lifeboat to appear.

RNLI member Andy calmly stepped on board and said “How can I help?” Within minutes we had the sail down and Oban lifeboat earned a generous donation! 

A puncture in seconds.

I was in a rush.  We were racing up the Clyde into central Glasgow for a radio interview.

The pilot book said boats could ask for the Millenium Footbridge to be raised to allow us to moor right outside the BBC building. 

When we phoned Bridge control, we were told it was closed. Bugger!  A quick phone call to the Maritime Museum solved our problem and we were invited to moor right up against Tall Ship Glenlee with just a metre clearance under their spar.

A quick launch of our tender with John from Seafarers’ Charity aboard and we sped under the footbridge and approached the council pontoon.  BANG. Too late – the bow of the tender hit the sharp corner of the jetty and there was another lesson learned – don’t rush! 

Fishers of Litter in MacDuff

To be completed.

Don’t arrive too early at the party!

To be completed.