This is the moment a bungling yachtsman narrowly cheated death after sailing within yards of a 42,000 tonne passenger ferry.
The tiny vessel came perilously close to Brittany Ferries’ Pont-Aven before veering out of its path at the last second.
Eyewitnesses watched in horror as the enormous craft, carrying 2,400 passengers, sounded its horn five times as it headed towards the yacht.
The dramatic near miss occurred as the 600ft (184m) cross channel ferry was coming into Millbay docks, in Plymouth Sound, Devon, at 1pm on Sunday.
Musician Guy Harris, 51, of Plymouth, watched the incredible near miss unfold.
He said: ”The red buoy is a channel marker, which means it must be kept on the left of the boat at all times.
”The yellow buoy is a cardinal marker meaning that there is a danger of rocks nearby and so it must be kept on the west at all times.
”The ferry literally had nowhere to go. It is outrageous behaviour by the person on the yacht and we were all gritting our teeth ready for the impact.
”She sounded her horn five times which means ‘what are your intentions’ or more accurately in this case, ‘get out of the way’.
”It is a last resort signal. But the yacht appeared to pay no attention whatsoever and was lucky to come away intact.
”I imagine the atmosphere would have been very fraught on the bridge of that boat. The outcome could have been very different.
”If the wind had dropped or the person on the yacht had stopped steering it would have come to a stop and been obliterated. It is utter madness.”
The seven-year-old Pont-Aven ferry is the largest in Brittany Ferries’ fleet and travels from Plymouth to Santander in Spain, Roscoff in France, and Cork in Ireland.
@…hole onboard yacht getting the rest of us a bad name!!
hole on board, did it sink?.