Solo Sailor Whips Herself Up Into a Frenzy at Passing Sub (Video)

Fox News in Orlando had a howler of a sea story on Tuesday. The story said, “A solo sailor was left terrified and shaking after a near-collision with a U.S. Navy submarine in St. Marys River. Officials ordered the woman to clear the channel while she was struggling against strong currents and low fuel.”

All that came from a video narrated by the solo sailor herself, a portion of which you can view below. Loose Cannon watched the whole thing so you don’t have to. This was only her second time singlehanding, and she was delivering the boat from Miami to Charleston. Spoiler alert: She made it.

Yes, she probably was terrified—sincerely so—but the danger was coming from her imagination not the ambient world. The real question is why the people at Fox-Orlando ever thought this was a story to begin with.

She happened to be motoring on the Intracoastal Waterway by the Fernandina Beach inlet at the same time as an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine was outbound from her base at Kings Bay, Georgia. The solo sailor’s handheld VHF was turned down, and she didn’t respond to hails from the escort RIB, so they sped over to her and told her to get out of the way.

The Fox headline was spectacularly bad, but not in the way you might be thinking. The headline writer had skipper Shay Love avoiding “a near-collision,” which, taken literally, meant that her hopes for a “near collision” had been dashed, and she had actually hit the sub, or the sub had hit her.

Alternately, you could infer something else. The likelihood of colliding with the sub had been so small, one couldn’t even call it a “near collision.” It was so far from trouble that nearness was not achieved. Avoided, you might say.

Hey Fox, pick one or the other: Either the collision was avoided, or it was a near-collision. It’s a crime against English to avoid a near-collision.

My bet is that there never really was much chance of an accident—Love’s emotional state aside. But who wants to read a story headlined, “Escort vessel asks solo sailor to get out of sub’s way, and she does?”

Love also did some things that even some experienced recreational sailors like to do. She exaggerated the strength of the current happening while these events played out. I heard her say five knots at one point. The reporter quoted her as saying 10, which would have been nonsense.

The truth is the current at this inlet probably maxes out at 3.5 knots or 3.9 at worst, which is bad enough. She was also sweating fuel, which I don’t understand because she had just passed by a couple of gas docks on the Fernandina Beach waterfront.

All of this angst might have been avoided, if our young captain has gotten a copy of an old fashioned cruising guide. Waterway Guide, my old shop, probably could have forewarned Captain Love about the submarine traffic, inlet currents and the location of Fernandina fuel docks.

Anyway, all’s well that ends that way. She’ll probably handle routine stressors such as these much better the next time. Love will find a way.

As far as the news reporting, it harkens back to the reason we print people always held TV reporters in contempt, despite their better clothes and grooming.

A MUCH BETTER SUB STORY

Sub Surfaces in Front of Two Sailboats in Gulf Stream, Surprising Maybe Everyone Peter Swanson   ·   June 11, 2023 Read full story