Laurence Dollimore
A BRITON fell asleep on his yacht in Marbella and washed up on a beach in Cadiz more than 100 miles away.
The unnamed 65-year-old appeared disorientated when he emerged from his boat and realised he was no longer in Marbella but on La Caleta beach in Cadiz.
He was helped from his boat by the Maritime Rescue service and local friemen but did not need medical attention.
A sweeper alerted authorities to the vessel at around 5.50am on Wednesday morning.
The man said he had fallen asleep on the Miss Brenda, the name of his boat, in Puerto Banus.
He believed his anchor broke, allowing his boat to drift away.
Amazingly, the Brit crossed the Straits of Gibraltar without being disturbed.
Upon leaving his boat he only requested a hotel room, and was transferred to a central hotel in the capital of Cadiz.
A spokesman for the local coastguards confirmed: “We were called by the Civil Guard around 5.40am yesterday.
“They were alerted by council workers cleaning La Caleta beach who spotted the yacht heading for rocks as it sounded its siren.
“The vessel had run aground near the shore by the time we mobilised a rescue team so firefighters helped the occupant to safety in the end.”
Yacht??????? Looks like a speedboat to me!
Dozy old fool!
Yet another, with more money than sense….. Evidently.
On a more serious note, he was extremely fortunate that his vessel didn’t drift in-front of much bigger vessels in the shipping lanes. It could have ended much worse than it did, with dire consequences, not just for him but for others as well.
The Russians could have easily boarded his vessel, had their way with him, and departed long before he woke up; as a matter of fact, this may be what happened – you’ll notice he was too embarrassed to speak to the press…
It says a lot for the Coast Guard. They noticed nothing.
It says a lot for the Coast Guard. They noticed nothing, but no-one will be disciplined.
It says a lot about the Coast Guard, they noticed nothing, but I wouldn’t expect anyone to be disciplined.
It says a lot about British sailors. They are able to drive a boat asleep along the Street of Gibraltar without any damage. Chapeau! I even couldn’t do that awake.
“Strait” or “Straits” Wollfgang. It would be an even trickier task to drive down a Gibraltar “street”!