By JASON COLLIE
New Zealand yachting skipper Grant Dalton has been fined 12,000 pounds ($41,300) after sailing his super-catamaran, Club Med, the wrong way up the world's busiest shipping lane.
Ferries were forced to dodge out of the way in Britain's Dover Straits after Dalton was blown off course, Southampton magistrates heard.
Club
Med sailed north up the southwest-bound lane in darkness for more than an hour, past 17 ships, including two ferries and several tankers, coming in the opposite direction.
Hundreds of lives were put at risk, said Mark Capon, prosecuting for the British Transport Department.
Club Med came within 160m of a tanker carrying potentially dangerous marine pollutants, which Mr Capon said was "a very near-miss" in shipping terms.
Dalton confessed to coastguards that he had made a "boo-boo."
Club Med, due to race Pete Goss' catamaran, Team Philips, around the world next year, was being sailed from Southampton to London to meet sponsors.
Dalton's lawyer, Russell Kelly, told the court the 42-year-old had been surprised by a sudden wind change.
