Navy rescues British-Thai couple adrift at sea

[Rimmer]

Navy rescues British-Thai couple adrift at sea

PATTAYA:A British-Thai couple adrift at sea were rescued after their yacht hit a rock and sunk en route to Koh Samet.

The First Naval Area Command found British national Raymond Luggman, 75, and his wife Ubolrat Nikornpol, 49, in a rubber life boat just after midnight March 4 about three nautical miles off Koh Era. The Rescue crew provided first aid, food and water before taking the pair to Queen Sirikit Naval Medical Center in Sattahip for evaluation.

Ubolrat told the sailors she and her husband had set sail from Ocean Marina Yacht Club in Pattaya around 10 that morning for a trip to Koh Samet.

But her captain husband was unfamiliar with the route and they encountered rough seas. They went off course and hit a rock below the surface. The boat began slowly taking on water.

- See more at: http://www.pattayamail.com/news/navy-rescues-british-thai-couple-adrift-at-sea-56597#sthash.6l6YPM3z.dpuf

-- Pattaya Mail 2016-03-11

[colinneil]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

[billd766]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

In one way I agree with you but every journey to a new destination is different.

He did have a life raft, life preservers, presumably a GPS and a radio as he gave his position to the RTN.

As to whether he had up to date charts and even if the charts showed rocks etc was not mentioned in the article.

Given the circumstances, they did all the rights things and kudos to the Navy for rescuing them. I don't suppose Thailand has anything like the RNLI in the UK.

[hutchings1963]

I know its 50-50 risking your life on a Thai bus but you should have gone by bus mate

[onemorechang]

Well done Thai Navy.

Give the boys credit, its well due.

Good job

[chrissables]

I know its 50-50 risking your life on a Thai bus but you should have gone by bus mate

I wonder where the bus stop is?

[cumgranosalum]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

Unprepared? What makes you say that?

It looks like a textbook incident from the reporting so far - the only thing I can see that might be awry is a lack of charts on board, but no-one has said that. The other problem may also be that available charts are not that good.

the boat started to sink and they correctly took to a life raft...can't see anything unprepared there.....

...... "unprepared sounds like you are jumping to conclusions.

Edited March 11, 2016 by cumgranosalum

[Jdiddy]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

Agreed, look at them, no life jacket and no life boat, just swimming around aimlessly in the sea, didnt even have a radio to tell the Navy where they were and above all else, didnt have xray vision and the ability to make the their boat hover when rocks were detected

[Balance]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

In one way I agree with you but every journey to a new destination is different.

He did have a life raft, life preservers, presumably a GPS and a radio as he gave his position to the RTN.

As to whether he had up to date charts and even if the charts showed rocks etc was not mentioned in the article.

Given the circumstances, they did all the rights things and kudos to the Navy for rescuing them. I don't suppose Thailand has anything like the RNLI in the UK.

It did not say, but today it makes no sense to sail without a good GPS based chart system. If hazards are known they will get uploaded with the map updates and then you have audible alarms. I remember when you had to negotiate reefs at noon with some aloft and do it very slowly.

Glad they are O.K. and hope they had insurance for their boat.

[Boatfreak]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

The only thing the poor old man was unprepared for is to be chasen away from his quite anchorage place in the middle of the night resulting in a rescue by the same navy a few hours later. What could an old 70 year old man at anchor do wrong? Well done navy indeed :-(

[joboss]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

The only thing the poor old man was unprepared for is to be chasen away from his quite anchorage place in the middle of the night resulting in a rescue by the same navy a few hours later. What could an old 70 year old man at anchor do wrong? Well done navy indeed :-(

Huh?

[shaurene]

He did some things right.

He should have gone to the marina office and got the latest forecast for the area on his course.

He needed 100% up to date charts for the course he set.

Charts should pin point shallow areas with rocks.

At a guess he went to close to the island to hit rocks. You should pretty well stay a good distance from islands in the dark.

He would or should have had an emergency pack with flares, and set a flare up when he noticed taking on water. As probably some one on the island would see it and notify a local fishing boat.

I am saying this because I have done a lot of ocean sailing and have a skippers ticket.

I did a run many years ago from Merseyside in the UK to Mallorca in the Med and crossed the Bay of Biscay.

Hit one real storm on the way off Cadiz Sea area Trafalgar.

Glad they are safe. Hope he had his boat insured.

[technologybytes]

Above all else it appears that nobody was hurt.

Well done Thai Navy for coming to the rescue!

[rumbo1]

Where's the life raft ? ..... I can only see a tender in the picture , better than nothing but it wouldn't be much good in rough weather

[slipperylobster]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

In one way I agree with you but every journey to a new destination is different.

He did have a life raft, life preservers, presumably a GPS and a radio as he gave his position to the RTN.

As to whether he had up to date charts and even if the charts showed rocks etc was not mentioned in the article.

Given the circumstances, they did all the rights things and kudos to the Navy for rescuing them. I don't suppose Thailand has anything like the RNLI in the UK.

Charts and proper equipment aboard are required. His error was not reading the charts, and going on luck. Depths and obstructions (large rocks) would be on the chart. Tide schedules are also critical, if sailing by your britches. He would still have his boat, if he took precautions.

He had the equipment...but failed to read his chart....which I have often neglected to do (and paid the price in keel damages).

Cost him an expensive yacht....a pretty grievous error.

Edited March 11, 2016 by slipperylobster

[LostDemocracy]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

Response to initial report. The boat sank. It didn't sunk.

[MockingJay]

"her captain husband was unfamiliar with the route and they encountered rough seas"

Think this sentence says it all. It's 2016 and there are internet and thousands of gadgets readily available to prevent such idiotic mistakes.

[asiamaster]

Officially in Thailand you have to employ a Thai captain.....

[umbanda]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

In one way I agree with you but every journey to a new destination is different.

He did have a life raft, life preservers, presumably a GPS and a radio as he gave his position to the RTN.

As to whether he had up to date charts and even if the charts showed rocks etc was not mentioned in the article.

Given the circumstances, they did all the rights things and kudos to the Navy for rescuing them. I don't suppose Thailand has anything like the RNLI in the UK.

Charts and proper equipment aboard are required. His error was not reading the charts, and going on luck. Depths and obstructions (large rocks) would be on the chart. Tide schedules are also critical, if sailing by your britches. He would still have his boat, if he took precautions.

He had the equipment...but failed to read his chart....which I have often neglected to do (and paid the price in keel damages).

Cost him an expensive yacht....a pretty grievous error.

A scary situation, sure..An expensive loss I doubt. Yacht insurance usually covers a lot more that the sale price if it is an older one. Only if was a new one. but I doubt too. A new boat may have GPS and radar on board......

[ggt]

Darn...I was looking for a story of a couple trying to escape Thailand...wait...maybe they were...

[farcanell]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

The only thing the poor old man was unprepared for is to be chasen away from his quite anchorage place in the middle of the night resulting in a rescue by the same navy a few hours later. What could an old 70 year old man at anchor do wrong? Well done navy indeed :-(

Huh?

The story is a week old, and assumedly boatfreak has some prior knowledge regards the back ground circumstances.

If correct, it's a real worry, with the Thai navy showing indifference to an old man, which could have resulted with the death of the couple.

[cumgranosalum]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

In one way I agree with you but every journey to a new destination is different.

He did have a life raft, life preservers, presumably a GPS and a radio as he gave his position to the RTN.

As to whether he had up to date charts and even if the charts showed rocks etc was not mentioned in the article.

Given the circumstances, they did all the rights things and kudos to the Navy for rescuing them. I don't suppose Thailand has anything like the RNLI in the UK.

Charts and proper equipment aboard are required. His error was not reading the charts, and going on luck. Depths and obstructions (large rocks) would be on the chart. Tide schedules are also critical, if sailing by your britches. He would still have his boat, if he took precautions.

He had the equipment...but failed to read his chart....which I have often neglected to do (and paid the price in keel damages).

Cost him an expensive yacht....a pretty grievous error.

"His error was not reading the charts, and going on luck" how do you know that? I also have seen charts for around Pattaya and they weren't very good.

[RolandRat]

They seemed prepared, they had adequate equipment to survive, they were rescued, they are safe, surely that's all that really matters.

Not another "accidental" death in Thailand. Well done RTN

[buythisdashcam]

You, for sure, seem to be someone who knows how to manage his life a lot better than them...

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

[farcanell]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

In one way I agree with you but every journey to a new destination is different.

He did have a life raft, life preservers, presumably a GPS and a radio as he gave his position to the RTN.

As to whether he had up to date charts and even if the charts showed rocks etc was not mentioned in the article.

Given the circumstances, they did all the rights things and kudos to the Navy for rescuing them. I don't suppose Thailand has anything like the RNLI in the UK.

Charts and proper equipment aboard are required. His error was not reading the charts, and going on luck. Depths and obstructions (large rocks) would be on the chart. Tide schedules are also critical, if sailing by your britches. He would still have his boat, if he took precautions.

He had the equipment...but failed to read his chart....which I have often neglected to do (and paid the price in keel damages).

Cost him an expensive yacht....a pretty grievous error.

"His error was not reading the charts, and going on luck" how do you know that? I also have seen charts for around Pattaya and they weren't very good.

And let's not simply gloss over the fact that they ran into a rough sea state, which would not have helped.

And as the chap seemed to have his schmitt together, with an evacuation plan etc, there is no reason to suggest that a weather report would have been ignored,

Actually, I would say the opposite, as I would expect that a 75 year old sailor would err on the side of caution...., but that's just my take on it.

Edited March 11, 2016 by farcanell

[cloudhopper]

Officially in Thailand you have to employ a Thai captain.....

No, officially you don't.

[Dogbreath]

Officially in Thailand you have to employ a Thai captain.....

No, officially you don't.

Unless the boat is for hire and you are carrying paying passengers.

[flyingdoc]

Well done the RTN !

[catman20]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

he was prepared he had a dingy not everyone bothers with a dingy as they think they will never sink. I had a boat so I know

[rumbo1]

Silly old bugger taking out a boat unprepared.

he was prepared he had a dingy not everyone bothers with a dingy as they think they will never sink. I had a boat so I know

He should have had a life raft , the dinghy was probably only with him as a means to get ashore when at anchor , I think more luck than planning