1 June 2007 - Boat in ferry crash drama

By Eric Randolph (reprinted from the Daily Echo with permission)

The two occupants of a speedboat braced themselves as the currents in Poole Bay dragged them towards the Bramble Bush Bay ferry and pinned them against the side of the Sandbanks ferry when their boat ran out of fuel.

RNLI crews were dispatched to save the stricken vessel and take the man and woman to safety. Eyewitness Alan Johnston said: ‘We saw the boat come in at quite a speed and it was a huge shunt when it hit. At one stage we thought the current would take the boat underneath the ferry. It took a lot of manoeuvring on the part of the lifeboat to get a line to them. The ferry was forced to stay put so the powerboat could not drift any further into the harbour and risk crashing into other boats.’

Passengers had to wait for more than an hour while the lifeboat carried out the rescue. Dozens of people watched the drama unfold.

The entrance to Poole Harbour is one the region's busiest waterways, especially in the summer months.

Paul Taylor, station mechanic for Poole lifeboat, said: ‘The powerboat had run out of fuel and couldn't steer away from the ferry, so drifted into it. They were pinned alongside it for quite some time by the flood tide, and we got tasked to offer support and tow the vessel.’

The episode happened on Friday afternoon.

This is not the first time Mr Johnston, who visits Shell Bay only a few times a year from Winchester, has witnessed such an incident: ‘A couple of years ago we saw a yacht do a similar thing. It was forced on its side and dragged right round the ferry. It was horrendous to watch.’

One of the more serious accidents happened in May 2001 when three vessels from Parkstone Yacht Club collided with the ferry as they tried to avoid a Condor ferry. A 72-year-old grandmother was dragged right underneath the ferry after she, her husband and a friend were washed overboard from their yacht. She emerged on the other side unscathed.

A spokesman for the ferry company said no information was available over the weekend about Friday's incident.