A HIRE boater grounded his cruiser at Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, and caused mayhem, by having emergency services attend, and then nearly drowned two crew members.
Such were his antics that his cruiser was seized to stop him causing more problems, with an RNLI volunteer stating that 'the skipper refused safety advice and his crew were severely lacking in skill and judgement', Alan Tilbury reveals.
Lifeboat launched
Grounding the boat caused the Loch Ness RNLI lifeboat to be launched with a crew member transferred to the grounded vessel and a tow line to be attached and it pulled into deep water.
But then against strong advice, the boater once again attempted to moor his boat at the pier and once again he failed, nearly getting grounded again, and nearly losing two of his crew in the water.
The skipper was finally persuaded to head for a safer berthing, but left several lines trailing in the water, so that a lifeboat member had to recover them to stop them fouling the propeller.
Inverness police
The lifeboat crew then recovered the two stranded crew from the pier and escorted the vessel to Urquhart Harbour where it was met by Inverness Police, with the crew being removed from the boat.
RNLI Helmsman Martin Douglas explained: '
"An unpleasant situation became a potentially very serious incident when the skipper engaged full astern whilst two of his crew members were attempting to tie lines to the pier. Berthing is a tricky business and the weather and choice of berth should be considered along with the experience of the crew."
The police alerted the hire company to the situation, and they reclaimed the boat, with the crew being sent home.