Breydon Water Catches People Out Again!

[CeePee1952]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-61208092

Crikey! Lucky escape for them!

Chris

[Popeye]

What's wrong with waiting for the next tide to float them off? If nobody on board had any medical needs what is the problem?

[ranworthbreeze]

If you follow advice freely given by all of staying between the posts you can hardly go wrong.

 

[CeePee1952]

I'm wondering how big the second cruiser is - 11 people onboard??? 

Chris

[SwanR]

51 minutes ago, Popeye said:

What's wrong with waiting for the next tide to float them off? If nobody on board had any medical needs what is the problem?

It does look as if they had already spent an uncomfortable night stuck on board. The boats were listing and they were deemed to be in danger. I’m sure an airlift wouldn’t have taken place unless really necessary. 

[SwanR]

50 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

If you follow advice freely given by all of staying between the posts you can hardly go wrong.

 

It does sound as if one of the boats had broken down. They might have drifted. None of us were there so we don’t really know what happened. 

[Popeye]

According to BBC News they had been there all night anyway so what was the problem? Actually Breydon is a wonderful place to stay overnight. I got caught in a sudden fog or ha as they call it up there and could not see much further than the bows of the boat and had to moor up to a post when I found one, what a lovely quiet mooring.

So they survived the night and called the emergency services when in a couple of hours they would have floated off anyway. What a waste of resources.

A friend of mine who was a bit of a novice went aground in good weather not far from Southend Pier, somebody, not him called out the lifeboat and the RNLI rib spent ages on station there burning gallons of fuel until my friend's boat floated off on the next tide. My friend told them they were ok but they would not leave.

On another occasion an acquaintance accidentally grounded his sailing boat near Bradwell one evening whilst having a friendly race with another boat. Somebody called out the lifeboat and they arrived, jumped off their rib into the deep mud and climbed aboard and spread mud everywhere in the cockpit. The lifeboat crew insisted in taking him across the river to his home boatyard which he did.

The man was experienced and had taken a compass bearing to get him back to the marina when the tide rose, had food and water on board and told the lifeboat crew that he was ok and not in danger.     

I think they do it for publicity. 

[Popeye]

20 minutes ago, SwanR said:

It does sound as if one of the boats had broken down. They might have drifted. None of us were there so we don’t really know what happened. 

Its a bit difficult to drift if with any common sense the mud weight had been deployed, unless half a gale was blowing which was not the case. 

[CeePee1952]

I posted the link as a gentle reminder to all those less experienced forumites on here (me included) that things can and do go wrong at the worst possible time.  A cruiser with an engine problem, two dogs and a rabbit?? on board one of them, a pregnant woman and a baby.  I'm assuming they were just normal holidaymakers and the experience for them must have been horrible stuck out on that, to them, large expanse of water (until it disappeared!).  Who knows what the circumstances were, it's not for us to judge or criticise but be thankful of a successful conclusion.

Chris

[DAVIDH]

That's a very uncomfortable angle to spend any amount of time at. Looks like Brinks Emperor, which can sleep 12 (including a rabbit it seems). It's happened enough times over the years, to show it's an easy mistake to make for an inexperienced crew. In those circumstances, they may even have thought there was a risk they may tip over completely! 

[Mouldy]

Reading the report on the BBC website, the engine of the Barnes boat was (according to a member of one of the lifeboat crews) broken, which would probably explain why it was aground.

Without the full facts, is it our place to potentially denigrate a crew?

[Bernard]

May also be good 'real' training for the helicopter crew, getting people off a boat who may or may not have actually needed rescuing but dealing with actual people in a real low risk situation 

[grendel]

1 hour ago, Mouldy said:

Without the full facts, is it our place to potentially denigrate a crew?

No, its not, and the potential would be there to fall foul of the TOS and get the moderators on your case. 

[YnysMon]

I am surprised at some of the comments above. I’m assuming that comments were made without the linked article being read in detail. It’s always tempting to skim read.

The original article did state that their engine had broken down. Sounds like they acted very responsibly. 

On a slight tangent…reminded me of Tom in Coots Club!

[andyg]

1 hour ago, Popeye said:

Its a bit difficult to drift if with any common sense the mud weight had been deployed, unless half a gale was blowing which was not the case. 

Hardly, I've hired that boat and drifted a fair bit whilst mudweighting on Ranworth broad. Wouldn't of thought a mudweight would be much use on breydon overnight. Bit of a harsh comment...

[Roy]

I can’t believe some of the above comments I would have wanted to have stopped on that boat at that angle.

[grendel]

58 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

On a slight tangent…reminded me of Tom in Coots Club!

surely the D&G's they were the ones that beached the sinking Margoletta on the mud and threw out the anchor, so salvage couldnt be claimed

 

[Guest]

I am glad everyone was ok after this incident. That is all that matters 

[Matt]

Assume they weren’t crossing at low or slack water? I always tell myself when we cross at slack that if anything goes wrong I won’t have to wait long for the tide 😃

[rightsaidfred]

I could be wrong but given the list on that boat is there not a risk of flooding through the skin fittings before the boat rights itself.

Fred.

[floydraser]

It says the alarm was raised by local marine engineers. I trust they would know what they were doing and either there really was a danger to life, or one or more of the occupants were finding it a bit traumatic.

It's always possible that in a large group there could be some who were a bit hesitant about a boating holiday and it wouldn't take much for them to panic in such circumstances. 

[Hylander]

This is our wonderful EDP24's effort.    I did hear on the local news this morning that Wednesday would be the first day it can be floated off, so it is not just a question of ' waiting for the tide'.    I cannot imagine 10 people on board a boat, let alone add to the mix a very very young baby and dog and to boot a rabbit.      I bet going to the loo was problematical to say the least.  I wonder who was at the helm at the time.    Loved to have been a fly on the wall.

Seriously though 10 people ,  I do think that is silly,   where does people's comfort come into it.

 

 

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/great-yarmouth-breydon-water-coastguard-rescue-8917366

[Vaughan]

8 hours ago, rightsaidfred said:

I could be wrong but given the list on that boat is there not a risk of flooding through the skin fittings before the boat rights itself.

There might be, but it is not usual.  If the boat is built CE then all hull vents, etc., have to be at least 40cm above the waterline.

[Vaughan]

Can anyone remember how many people have been drowned, or otherwise died, or suffered serious injuries, after grounding on Breydon, ever since the war?  I can't think of any, myself.  I wonder how many millions of holidaymakers have safely crossed Breydon, in the last 75 years?

 

[andyg]

12 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

Can anyone remember how many people have been drowned, or otherwise died, or suffered serious injuries, after grounding on Breydon, ever since the war?  I can't think of any, myself.  I wonder how many millions of holidaymakers have safely crossed Breydon, in the last 75 

To much is made of crossing Breydon. Like anything treat it with respect and use your common sense and it's not a problem. Back in the 80/90 we've made crossing in all sorts of weather, it's been a bit fly by your pants at times but nothing to scarey. I also don't remember them closing it to hire traffic back then, I may be wrong on that tho. Boats running aground on the mud are as common an event as boats bumping into each other at Ludham bridge. Everyone is safe the boat will be recovered and its no big drama.