Muppet sailor got lost

[Swifty]

Read this story.

Looks like the RNLI didn't fancy teaching this guy how to sail home and dragged him back themselves.

I find it worrying that someone can find themselves 25 miles offcourse in a very busy area with lots of nav aids around.

I once got myself sort of lost. I was leaving Boscastle harbour in Cornwall and after we were about half a mile out we couldn't spot the harbour entrance. It appeared to be hidden among the cliffs with very few buoys around to mark the entrance. Got the chart out and got a fix from landmarks, then plotted a compass course back to the harbour.

Anyone got a tale to tell about being lost and how far out your reckoning was. Surely cannot be as bad as 25 miles?

[Brian]

I dont know if this helps, but.................
from experience I have noticed that a large percentage of otherwise "hidden" harbours have a (huge) white paintsplash adjacent to their entrance.
Was never taught about this on any course, and have never read about in any book.
Torquay is a very good case in point. (Someone may have a photo of the harbour entrance?)
Their white splash is about 10 foot high and 20 foot long so it is usually visable from a decent distance.

The two best "hidden" ones I have come across are :
Bangor NI-especially at low tide and
Dunstaffnage, Argyll - spent ages there, going up and down the coast looking for the b****y entrance!

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Brian

Dunstaffnage, Argyll - spent ages there, going up and down the coast looking for the b****y entrance!

Yep!

Pwhelli in the dark took a bit of finding too . . .

John

[TQBoater]

Originally Posted by Brian

Torquay is a very good case in point. (Someone may have a photo of the harbour entrance?)
Their white splash is about 10 foot high and 20 foot long so it is usually visable from a decent distance.

Think I've got that covered
1. Torquay entrance
2. Paignton (not so obvious at high tide)

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Swifty

Anyone got a tale to tell about being lost and how far out your reckoning was. Surely cannot be as bad as 25 miles?

Actually my worst experience by far was as a passenger when I was invited to the press launch of a new RIB.

As seems to be the way, they were a bit tight for time finishing the boats and hadn't fitted a compass, GPS or VHF. Within about 200m of the starting platform at Lymington we were so completely lost in thick fog that we didn't even know which way we were facing. Eventually another RIB with radar managed to find us and lead us home!

John