Dozy sailor wakes in a different port after drifting 100 miles as he slept
A HAPLESS British sailor smashed into rocks off a Spanish beach after his anchor broke while he was asleep and his vessel drifted more than 100 miles off course.
David Robert, 65, had to be rescued after he woke to discover he was in danger off a shoreline he did not recognise.
He had drifted through the night on Thursday and was off La Caleta beach in Cadiz.
The setting was made famous when a bikini-clad Halle Berry was filmed emerging from the surf in the James Bond film Die Another Day.
He told police he should have been off the Costa del Sol resort of Marbella 110 miles away and must have drifted through the Strait of Gibraltar – one of the world’s busiest shipping channels – without realising it.
Twist
Last night a further twist occurred after it emerged he had checked out of his hotel saying he needed to get to Portugal and had left his yacht on the sand with expensive equipment inside.
The 22ft boat – called Miss Brenda – has been described as a write-off but has electronic equipment worth an estimated £6,500 on board.
Maritime Authority officials said they had yet to hear from the owner about how he planned to remove the vessel.
They were trying him without success.
A spokesman for the Maritime Authority in Cadiz said: “We’ve been trying to speak to him because he needed to present us with a written plan about how he to contact intended removing the vessel. We haven’t heard from him and we’ve no idea where he is now.
“All sailors know they have to contact the Maritime Authority when something like this happens. They have 24 hours to do so.
“It’s not our job to remove the boat and we haven’t resources to do it.”
The boat was still on the beach as of yesterday.
A Maritime Authority source added: “The vessel is a write-off. The hull was very badly damaged.” got the