By Richard Crockett
Imagine being run down by a ship – and surviving that ordeal?
This is exactly what happened to Tony and Terry English whose 34 foot steel yacht was run down in the dark by a Lithuanian freighter.
For Tony, coming to terms with the ordeal has took time. For months he had nightmares about the dark hull of the ship bearing down on them in heavy South Atlantic seas – moments before his ankle and ribs were broken. Although their yacht had a Collision Avoidance Radar Detector (CARD), a radar reflector, tricolour mast lights, bright cockpit lights and a vigilant skipper, it didn’t help. Visibility was poor, the freighter was not using its radar and the yacht was sailing downwind in winds of up to 30 knots.
READ THEIR ORDEAL HERE: Pages from 1998 09 – SA Yachting – OCR