"JimB" writes:

I'm quite prepared to believe that Steve may have experienced a
weather change that frightened him immensely. I suspect the swell
may have been building up beforehand, but perhaps it's
significance hadn't registered. I think also the swell height was
exaggerated - it just doesn't build up from nothing to more than
2 metres within less than half an hour - unless you've popped
around a sheltering headland by mistake.

He said he was heading back into a lee shore in order to return to the
place from which he'd started. I agree that the sea isn't likely to pile
up that quick in open water but close in shore there may have been a
very vicious sea very quickly - which is why he shouldn't have closed
a lee shore in those circumstances.

And also, in a small boat, especially if you don't have much
experience, it's quite hard to judge the height of a sea - it can look
very intimidating.

So, though this discussion is interesting, I think it's a red
herring concerning licencing.

Well, I don't think it is. It's not a license he wants, it's a
'Certificate of _Competence_', and competence is exactly what he
needs. Of course a piece of paper won't give him competence, but a
good course may help in giving him competence.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

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