Near Tragedy of the Trimaran Trivial Pursuit

[Deleted]

Cautionary tale. This morning (Sat 11th July) the single handed skipper of yacht Trivial Pursuit fell overboard off Brean Down and managed to swim ashore. He called the coastguard who implemented a pan pan call warning of an unmanned vessel in the channel. The yacht had the mainsail hoisted engine running in gear and auto pilot on, she was doing in excess of 6 knots and heading for Newport. Gwennan was on patrol in the area off Newport approaches and sighted her along with the yacht Super Snoopy and gave chase. Gwennan managed to get within 100m but could not get closer. Trivial Pursuit ran aground at about 1200 hrs. We had been in touch with the CG during the pursuit! and advised them of the yachts grounding. Eventually three inshore lifeboats arrived (Weston & Penarth boats) as we stood by and the yacht was retrieved from the shore and sailed back to Weston. The skipper must be a very lucky person to have been able to survive, get ashore and to be repatriated with his mainly undamaged yacht. Contact was made with the CG on return to our mooring who advised us of the circumstances leading to the yacht being unmanned.

[allan]

I met a guy in France who mainly sailed alone. When in open water he used to trail a floating line behind his boat. The line was rigged to dis-engage the autopilot when tugged. His idea was that, if he went overboard, he would swim to the line and hold on. He had tested it with a crew on board and said it worked.
Allan

[Viv]

There's an article in August PBO about DIY self-rescue sytems