Captain Calamity Crashes Again
The head British Royal National Lifeboat Institution for Newquay, Cornwall is practically begging a local sailor to please find another hobby. Why? Well, since Glenn Crawley bought his catamaran in 2003 he has been pulled out of the water by the RNLI a dozen times. That isn't counting the number of times fishing boats and others have rescued him.
A sailor nicknamed "Captain Calamity" was urged to find a new hobby yesterday after costing lifeboat crews £25,000 for a string of rescues.
Glenn Crawley, 51, has capsized his catamaran dozens of times, prompting costly rescue missions for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
The retired electrician and engineer from Newquay, Cornwall, began sailing his boat, aptly named Mischief, in 2003 and was forced to call emergency crews three times in the first year alone.
Since then RNLI teams have been called out for Mr Crawley on a further nine occasions, costing £2,200 a rescue.
Local fishermen have also plucked him from the water several times.
Earlier this year he was rescued four times in four hours.
Gareth Horner, the Newquay RNLI operations manager, said his team was "getting to the end of our tether".
"We have lost count of the times we have launched to this chap and his boat. It's about time he tried another hobby - it's obviously not for him. We view it as completely irresponsible as our time could be spent saving lives elsewhere," he said.
Crowley maintains that he never calls for help - other people do. He says it is all part of "extreme sailing". The RNLI should simply send Captain Capsize the £2,200 bill for each rescue. Crowley will get extremely tired of extreme sailing extremely quickly.
World news | Gaius Saturday, 18 August , 2007
By Ted Goldman, Sunday, 19 August , 2007 @ 10:26 am
Leave Crowley in the water next time, rescue the boat, and sell it to recoup the costs incurred.