Pastime - Overboard at night with no GPS or radio: the Pastime
On a night delivery up the Channel, Pastime's delivery skipper went overboard unclipped; with the GPS dead and the VHF failing, the owner could not give a position, and the skipper was lost.
What happened.
On the night of 17 March 2006, during a delivery of the 9 m yacht Pastime from Hamble to Plymouth, the delivery skipper went overboard at about 2330 — not wearing his lifeline. Electrical failures had knocked out the GPS, and the VHF soon stopped working, so the owner could not pass a position. Three RNLI lifeboats, five merchant ships and a coastguard helicopter searched; the skipper's body and the yacht were eventually found.
On 17 March 2006, the 9-metre leisure yacht Pastime was being delivered from Hamble to Plymouth with two people aboard — the owner and a delivery skipper. At about 2330 the delivery skipper went overboard. He was not wearing his lifeline. Electrical power problems meant the GPS was not working, and although the owner raised the alarm by VHF radio, he was unable to give a position and the VHF soon stopped operating altogether. A major search involving three RNLI lifeboats, five merchant ships and a coastguard helicopter eventually located both the skipper's body and the yacht. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch found that fatigue and seasickness probably affected the crew's decision-making; that the skipper was not wearing his lifeline; that the owner could not read the instructions on the distress flares and had to fire them from memory; and that the electrical system's low-voltage alarm had been disconnected. No recommendations were made.
What it teaches.
- 1Clip on — at night the tether is what stops a man overboard happening at all. Pastime's skipper was not wearing his lifeline when he went over the side at 2330. Offshore and after dark, a harness clipped to a jackline is the difference between a stumble on deck and a fatality in the water.
- 2A casualty you cannot locate is one you may not save. With the GPS failed and the VHF dead, the owner could not give a position; it took three lifeboats, five ships and a helicopter to find them. Carry battery-powered position and comms — a handheld GPS and VHF — and a personal locator beacon on each crew member.
- 3Know your safety gear by heart before you need it in the dark. The owner could not read the flare instructions and had to fire them from memory. Handle your flares, EPIRB and lifejacket kit in daylight and drill them, so fumbling for instructions is never part of the emergency.
- 4Never disable a safety alarm, and respect fatigue. The low-voltage alarm had been disconnected, so the power failure that killed the GPS and VHF went unwarned, while fatigue and seasickness on a shorthanded night delivery eroded judgment. Keep alarms live and build real rest into delivery passages.
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