"Simple Simon" wrote in
:

This story is more proof of how people become
stupider the more north they live.

Oh I simply must introduce you to the cyber nazis.


Bertei

S.Simon


"Scout" wrote in message
...
A retired couple's dream of sailing round the world has been
wrecked by a calamitous Icelandic fisherman who crashed into their
yacht twice in one year.

The second collision occurred when Eriker Olafsson, still feeling
remorseful, tried to sail alongside to reinforce earlier apologies
for the first mishap.
Jim and Trish Hughes, who had just completed repairs to their 45ft
yacht Dragon Song when Olafsson hove into view the second time, now
say they
will
feel safe only when he has left British waters for good.

Olafsson's drunken antics landed him in court facing a charge of
criminal damage. Nigel Hodkinson, defending at Fareham magistrates'
court, Hants, said
that the case was proof that lightning can strike twice in one
place.

On the first occasion Olafsson caused £25,000 of damage, forcing Mr
and
Mrs
Hughes to cancel their trip of a lifetime. He paid them in cash for
the
cost
of the repairs.

A year and a day later, after drinks at a party, Olafsson was
sailing down the Solent when he spotted the Dragon Song lying at
its moorings.

Graham Heath, prosecuting, said: "He was overcome with a desire to
give a more formal and heartfelt apology to the yacht owner for the
trouble he caused the previous year. But instead he smashed into
the yacht again, getting caught in its swinging moorings for the
second time."

Mr and Mrs Hughes were not aboard their yacht. Witnesses saw
Olafsson "taking slugs from a bottle of wine" as he tried in vain
to free his 45ft yacht from the moorings of the other. He then
"steamed off with the luxury yacht in tow".

Harbour police arrested Olafsson after he had dragged the Dragon
Song five miles from its moorings at Gosport, Hants, to near
Portsmouth. Olafsson, a 59-year-old bachelor, admitted causing
criminal damage of £18,000.

Mr Heath told the court: "This case is based around an amazing
blunder by Olafsson who managed to wreck the same yacht twice." He
said the
Icelander,
a retired fisherman, had been drinking heavily at a party in
Chichester, West Sussex, before setting sail up the Solent, bound
for Ireland.

Mr Hodkinson said: "The fact that Olafsson managed to make this
mistake of hitting the same yacht and getting entangled on two
separate occasions is proof that lightning really does strike
twice.

"This was a hugely unusual and unlucky mistake. Olafsson has been
at sea
all
his life and, as a former Icelandic fisherman, has sailed in
probably some of the worst waters in the world.

"He is distinctly hazy about what happened but remembers wanting to
apologise to the yacht owner for the incident a year before, and
the next thing he knew, bang, the two boats struck again. Olafsson
is a gentleman
who
just panicked."

The defendant, who has already paid compensation for the damage
caused by his yacht on June 6 this year, was fined £200 and ordered
to pay £118
costs.

Speaking after the case, Mr Hughes, 55, said the collisions had
shattered his life's dream of sailing across the Atlantic for two
years in a row.

He and his wife had sold their house and put their savings into
their £150,000 yacht. Mr Hughes, a former builder and developer,
said: "What
that
man has done to me is absolutely incredible. I don't want him ever
to apologise to me again. Both times he caused massive damage to
the hull and mast."

He and his wife have been forced to live on a small motorboat while
Dragon Song is repaired. "I can never rest sound or leave her alone
again unless Olafsson has sailed off into the distance, never to
return," he said.

"I, for one, will never, ever sail anywhere near Iceland, just on
the off-chance that he will be there."