TomBettle Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 (edited) A sailing boat, "Dipper", ran aground at the entrance to The Blue Lagoon, next door to Salterns Marina in Poole Harbour. Winds were a steady Force 7 to 8 and the rescue involved: 2 x Inshore Lifeboats 2 x Police Boats 1 X Sailing Club Launch 1 x Offshore Lifeboat 1 X Ships Tug (standing by) 1 X Coastguard Helicopter The inshore lifeboats attempted to drag the stricken yacht off the mud (close to the rocky breakwater at the entrance to the lagoon), but her bilge keels simply dug in further. The offshore lifeboat eventually came to the rescue and a line was passed to the yacht. Initially the hugely powerful offshore lifeboat faired similarly to the smaller vessels and Dipper simply dipped some more into the seabed, but with wide open throttles and clouds of exhaust smoke she was eventually dragged into deeper water where she was in a position to make her own way into the safety of Salterns Marina. The crew of Dipper were unharmed and to be honest could simply have waded to shore. The cost of the rescue was probably more than the boat was worth!!! At least no one was hurt. Tom ...wonder if dipper has had an RNLI Sea Safety Check....? Edited April 11, 2008 by TomBettle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomBettle Posted April 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 Some pics: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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TomBettle Posted April 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 and more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomBettle Posted April 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 (edited) more Edited April 11, 2008 by TomBettle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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djredrupp Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 fyi, that the new coastguard rescue chopper! great pics tom! Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomBettle Posted April 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 fyi, that the new coastguard rescue chopper! great pics tom! Dan And they are supposed to be on strike today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHoy Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 The response does seem completely out of proportion to the incident, surely an ILB and shore team would have been sufficient to ensure the safety of the yacht crew. I can understand the RNLI taking a boat in tow under other circumstances, but in this case the yacht could have been recovered by a local commercial organisation at far less true cost. On the other hand, if the offshore lifeboat and helicopter were on exercise and locally available, rather than responding to the "emergency", then a bit of extra training resulting in a free tow would be welcome. Was the yacht owned/skippered by "someone of importance" perhaps? AHoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomBettle Posted April 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 It was fun to watch. Myself and MadW stood watching for a while. To be honest, they could have anchored her safely and then dragged her off on the next set of spring tides, she wasn't going anywhere on her own and towing her as they did, must have damaged her keel. Hate to think what the overall cost was, but if a commercial salvage group had been involved (the tug boat that was waiting in the wings?), that would probably have been far more costly to the owner. The offshoe boat that attended did seem to lose his way a bit. There is a very definite channel (still very shallow) going into the Blue Lagoon. He decided to initially not bother and came straight across from the direction of the start of the channel going into the Yacht Club. A big cloud of dirty water and the bow dipping suggested this was not best practise and he backed out and came in the proper way after that. Spiced up an otherwise quiet morning. And, as I said before, no one was injured so excellent. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
great white Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 I was watching that from my office, and I must admit thinking that they were definatly in overkill on the number of boats in attendance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Fox Posted April 12, 2008 Report Share Posted April 12, 2008 Was it this incident? http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga07-home/n...3F97&m=4&y=2008 Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
great white Posted April 12, 2008 Report Share Posted April 12, 2008 sounds like the one although it does seem a bit over dramatic we usually put an anchor out off the bow and go back on the flooding tide to get the boat I am sure one of the 4 ribs could have done that, never mind they are all safe which is the main thing. Charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Posted April 12, 2008 Report Share Posted April 12, 2008 Would be interesting to see if the 2 people on board had lifejeckets and the two aboard the tender had none on ( most likely scenario I would guess ). or the 2 people on the tender had lifejackets and the 2 in the boat had none ( which surely was not the case ?? ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw Posted April 12, 2008 Report Share Posted April 12, 2008 This must be a differant incident the yacht at blue lagoon was called dipper quite apt as it almost did when the life boats were pulling the mast the yacht was in no danger and any one on board could have walked to shore they were in less than two feet i do not think there is any rock and it looked like they had the engine going when they got off mark w Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddriff Posted April 13, 2008 Report Share Posted April 13, 2008 Better safe than sorry though. Especially if it was your property or family. All a bit negative I thought. some great pics though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codpiece Posted April 13, 2008 Report Share Posted April 13, 2008 MADW I am sure it it was the ''dipper'' incident but it's a shame that the press release did not reflect the actuality. derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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