Watching a Sinking

I was back at Eastney on Sunday. The wife wanted a picnic and what better thing to do than park up at the entrance to Langstone harbour watching the watercraft.

Much hilarity watching the Harbour Master try and control the jetskis. One unfortunate chap cam hooning into the harbour entrance, past the harbour master, then turned around and went past him again even though the harbour master was holding his hand up for the jetski to stop.

Sadly for the jetskit on the other side of the entrance was a bi Police rib. Which promptly gave chase! Those Police ribs have some acceleration! Jetski man sheepishly came back in the harbour with the Police and had his name taken by the harbour master and then endured another 15 minute lecture.

About half an hour later I noticed a boat in some difficulty amongst the fishing boats near the harbour entrance. I had noticed him go through the fishing boat moorings and thought it a bit tight to get through there. Not something I'd personally attempt. Especially after what ensued.

The yacht got pinned up against a fishing catamaran. Not a small thing. The tide was running into the harbour at quite a rate and at least once I saw the yacht tip over dangerously as it went side-on to the current.

Around the same time the harbourmaster rib noticed the same boat and scooted over to offer assistance.

By now the yacht had tied onto the bow of the cat I guess because when he was pinned to the bow of the cat by the tide, the bow of the cat holed the yacht below the water line. The second harbourmaster rib got a call and went over. But now the yacht was down at the bow.

Then the Gosport lifeboat came round the corner hopefully to bring pumps. Then 10 minutes later the Portsmouth lifeboats were launched too. I was parked next to the lifeboat station and watching the ensuing drama, so they didn't have far to go.

Unfortunately the yacht had by now gone down top the gunnels at the bow and to be honest it looked like the line to the cat was the only thing stopping it from going under.

The lifeboat guys put pumps aboard, but to no avail: the angle of the mast kept creeping further and further to the horizontal as the bow went under the surface. At one point it got to about 45 degrees.

In the end they made the decision to cut their losses and let the yacht sink in case it damaged the cat or took that down too. They cut it free from the cat and the yacht drifted maybe 50ft with just the stern above the water before it succumbed and slipped beneath the surface.

It settled on the seabed with about 4ft of mast still above the water. Such a sad thing to watch for any boat owner.

The two people on the yacht were taken to the lifeboat station and I assume at some point the yacht will be lifted from the bottom as it lies amongst the deep water moorings on the eastern side of the harbour entrance.

UPDATE: I went down the boat tonight for a couple of hours and noticed the mast of a boat at an angle over the other side of the shingle spit. I guessed it was the boat from the weekend. After coming off the boat I walked down to have a look.

Here's what I found:

Looks like the boat has been semi-floated out of the entrance. Hopefully it can be pulled further up the shingle to expose it. This was high tide, but I doubt much will be exposed at low tide.

It's a shame bu it looks a total loss.

Gosport Lifeboat have their side of the story with dramatic pictures of the sinking here: http://gafirs.org.uk/2020/07/13/collison-and-sinking-lifeboat-crews-respond-to-calls-for-help/

I went down to Eastney this week and the boat was almost floating: