Skipper will pay over 100,000 in fines after found guilty due to collision with a 120,000t tanker
The skipper of a racing yacht has been made to pay over 100,000 in fines and costs after colliding with a 120,000 ton tanker in the Solent. The32-year-old skipper was found guilty on three counts of breaching international maritime law at West Hampshire Magistrates’ Court.
On 6 August 2011, the yacht ‘Atalanta of Chester’ was taking part in the first day of racing at Cowes Week. Heading towards Southampton Docks was the tanker ‘Hanne Knutsen’.
The skipper said he spotted the red tanker when it was five miles away. However, the yacht sailed into the moving exclusion zone protecting the ‘Hanne Knutsen’.
Fearing for his safety, a crew member on board the yacht then jumped overboard moments before they collided with the front of the tanker.
The yacht’s rigging then got caught up on the tanker’s anchor causing the mast to collapse onto to the head of one of the crew. He later was taken to hospital but wasn’t seriously injured.
The skipper was found guilty of failing to keep a proper lookout, and impeding a vessel using a narrow channel. He was fined 3,000, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of 15, and made to pay costs of 100,056.68.
Source: UK MCA
