Now Two UK Captain Calamity's Banned

9:54 AM Tue 28 Oct 2008 GMT

'Anthony Woodford looking glum after the second rescue' .

How many Captain Calamity's does it take to make a good summer for rescue crews? There are now two English sailors who have actually been banned from sailing by local authorities in 2008 for being continually rescued.

The latest is an amateur sailor called Anthony Woodford, who needed to be saved three times in three days off the west coast of England, who has been nicknamed Captain Calamity and banned from setting sail.

In 72 hours Mr Woodford required help from an RAF rescue helicopter, two lifeboats, several coastguard rescue teams and the Royal Logistics Corp Bomb Disposal Team. Mr Woodford, 52, was barred from taking his trimaran, the 25ft Star of Burnham, onto the ocean after requiring emergency help on board for the third time in three days.

In just 72 hours Mr Woodford required help from an RAF rescue helicopter, two RNLI lifeboats, several coastguard rescue teams - and the Royal Logistics Corp Bomb Disposal Team.

Mr Woodford first got in to trouble on Sunday night when Swansea Coastguard picked up a Mayday signal from two men who said were lost in the Bristol Channel.

The Star of Burnham was found by an RAF helicopter off the coast of Burnham-on-Sea, in Somerset, and was towed by an RNLI lifeboat to Barry.

Rescuers found Mr Woodford, 52, and his companion Chris Gregory, 35, were without suitable life jackets, flares, charts or a proper radio.

Then on Tuesday morning, Mr Woodford again contacted Swansea Coastguard to say he had grounded the vessel on mudflats off the Burnham coast.

Another search party was launched and the pair were found on Wednesday morning and again towed to the safety.

In the final incident the bomb squad was called to Mr Woodford's trimaran moored in Burnham-On-Sea, Somerset, over fears that his flares were so old they could explode at any moment.

Swansea Coastguard manager Steve Jones said: 'It is irresponsible enough to go out on the water without sufficient maritime knowledge but it is ludicrous to set off not only without any experience but also without any of the appropriate safety equipment on board.

'This Captain Calamity figure has cost the time and effort of lifeboat and helicopter crews and coastguard rescue teams on two occasions in two days.'

Mr Woodford has now been banned from setting sail and his boat impounded by the Burnham-on-Sea harbour master Chris Spencer until he is deemed safe to be back on the water.

Mr Spencer said: 'I have detained him under my authority and harbour safety law. He understands he is not to go to sea until it is safe to do so. If he does go out to sea he could be arrested or go to jail.'

The cost of all three rescue operations is thought to run in to thousands of pounds.

Glen Crawley being rescued - .. .

The other bannee, is from Newquay in the UK. There harbourmaster Derek Aunger banned Glenn Crawley, skipper of a yacht appropriately called Mischief, from sailing, until he could prove competency.

Aunger - who before the meeting labelled Crawley 'a bloody menace' and vowed not to let his boat 'anywhere near Newquay' - said later that the sailor had shown some contrition.

Conditions were seemingly ideal when the 52-year-old set off for his final misadventure which proved the last straw. Disaster struck some time before 12:50pm on a Sunday, in calm weather, on a flat sea.

Members of the public spotted an overturned boat in Newquay Bay and a man floundering in the sea. A three-man lifeboat team was launched, and within minutes rescuers had helped Crawley to right the boat, a virtually impossible task to perform single-handedly since it is designed for a crew of at least two.

It was just the latest in a series of near misses; logs at a local lifeboat station of incidents involving Crawley bore the headline 'him again'. On one occasion he was found swimming to shore after abandoning his boat in the surf; on another, he was saved four times in four hours.

Lifeboatmen had finally had enough of Glenn Crawley.

by Sarah Knapton,Telegraph/Sail-World Cruising