Yacht skipper collided with tanker that could be seen f ive miles away
A FORMER Royal Navy lieutenant crashed his racing yacht into an 870ft oil tanker that could be seen from five miles away, a court heard yesterday.
Captain Roland Wilson was helming his 33ft yacht Atlanta of Chester when it ploughed into the bow of the tanker on the first day of Cowes Week, the world’s largest sailing regatta.
Wilson, of Stanley, Perthshire, and his seven-man team allegedly strayed into a temporary exclusion zone and collided with the Hanne Knutsen, despite apparently seeing it ten to 15 minutes beforehand.
Thousands of spectators watched as the mast of the yacht was ripped off in the dramatic crash, captured on film from shore. Race commentators are heard relaying the racing action as the distinctive pink-sailed Atlanta careers into the tanker.
One of the crew – all but one of whom had served or were serving with the Royal Navy – suffered head injuries and needed hospital treatment.
The fully laden tanker was heading up the Solent on its way to Fawley oil refinery, off Cowes, on August 6, 2011, Southampton Magistrates Court heard.
Because of its huge size it had to be escorted by two pilot boats and remain in a strict channel marked by buoys that smaller vessels were not allowed to enter. But Wilson, 32, all egedly l et his Corby sl oop stray into the channel in breach of international navigation rules.
Yesterday, he denied failing to maintain a proper lookout, impeding the passage of the UK-registered tanker and crossing the channel used by the tanker.
Prosecutor Charles Handley, representing the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said the Atlanta was racing towards Cowes on the penultimate leg of the course when the incident happened around 4pm.
Disaster struck after the Joy C, a 36ft motor cruiser carrying spectators f rom Hamble, Hampshire, suffered an overheated engine and ‘stopped dead’ in the Hanne Knutsen’s path, the trial heard.
The tanker, carrying a cargo of crude oil loaded in the North Sea, moved to port slightly to avoid the stricken vessel then continued starboard t o head f or Fawley to discharge.
In the meantime, the Atlanta moved into its way, and the tanker sounded five warning blasts. Pilot John Mileusnic, who was on the bridge of the Hanne Knutsen, said it ‘did not cross’ his crew’s minds that anyone would alter course before a turning tanker as Wilson’s yacht did.
Mr Handley said: ‘ From t he transcript of the bridge of the Hanne Knutsen, we can see that within ten seconds or so of the blast that the Atlanta had been seen.
‘A crew member is heard to say: “That pink sail (the Atlanta) has not seen us”. We can also see on the Cowes footage that the Joy C slipped to the side of the Hanne Knutsen just as the blasts sounded.
‘Yet the Atlanta was not making any obvious attempt to clear the area – she had not started her engine.
‘The mast hit the bow of the Hanne Knutsen, it was rended apart and she [the Atlanta] was dismasted.’
The trial continues.