A Island of Jersey owned Pershing 62 has sunk on hitting a large, steel nav buoy. The irony here is that the RNLI Offshore Lifeboat had just been snatched away after a dispute with the local volunteer crew. https://guernseypress.com/news/2017/11/21/yacht-sinks-off-jersey-hours-after-rnli-removes-lifeboat/
How do you hit a large steel nav buoy? Never mind, must have have been a sudden attack of autopilotitis.
By using the lat / long from the light list as waypoints and running in dense fog. Amazed at how many times this happens.
No, the first rule is "keep a proper watch", and don't assume anything. The buoy could have been adrift and off station for all we know.
Hmmmm, Plastic boat vs large metal buoy... Boat sinks. Conclusion: Boat was going hella fast! Wonderment: Visibility? Was it restricted or clear? At 18:00 over there, I suspect it was either twilight or dark. Large Nav buoy = huge radar contact. Was radar on and tuned? 2nd Conclusion: operator was neither looking out the window, or at the radar. 3rd Conclusion: Education costs. Fortunately, this time "life, or lives" wasn't part of the tuition.
4th Conclusion; Complete SFBs. Sadly they are out there. Sadly hard to identify (for some) AND further Sadly, not against most common laws... Beware, SFBs are among us.
From the Jersey Evening Post: "The £1.8 million, six-berth yacht, called P6T2, sank on Friday night after colliding with the green Ruaudière Buoy at about 26 knots (30 mph) in the centre of St Aubin’s bay at about 5.45 pm on Friday. It had been heading out of the Bay towards St Peter Port in Guernsey. The JEP has seen CCTV footage of the yacht travelling towards the buoy which was brightly lit at the time of the accident." So dark, fast, and stupid seem to be key ingredients.
Who was operating the boat? Nobody thinks it could have been scuttled? Have I become that cynical - oh Lord!
The hull of the crashed boat has washed up on a beach in France after a series of winter storms. https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2018/01/06/wreck-of-yacht-washes-up-in-france/