16/01/2012 Inside Out South West

Hello and welcome to Inside Out South West. Stories from where you

live. Five sailors dead, two of them from Devon. Tonight, did this

man put profit before safety? did you falsified the skippers

experience on EC be? That is dangerous. Also tonight. Nick Baker

explores the magic of this rare heathland. This is Inside Out South

West. Sailing is a popular hobby in we have been investigating claims

by the families of two Devon skippers that the way one delivery

company operated had fatal consequences. Delivering yachts

like these across the world's options can be a great way to earn

a living. Sometimes the reality can be far from a glamourous lifestyle

of their wins and foreign ports. These five sailors all delivered

boats for the same company Reliance. I am one of the directors. We

specified in yachts were wide and I want to show you how we prepare

boats for delivery. Families and survivors claimed the company

pressured skippers to sail into dangerous conditions with fatal

consequences. One of Reliance's most experienced sailors was John

Anstess. He had been a sea senior coxswain on a lifeboat. He had sold

water running through his veins. His sister crude for him. To go

through the bad weather we went through out there, it he was

incredibly calm. I said, why are you not panicking, and he said I

could panic if you like! It will not help. He was incredibly camp.

It was a natural instinct for him - -,. Later that year, he was

contacted to take a catamaran to Seattle. Delivering other people's

jobs is a great way to see the world and experience the high seas.

The crew are often unpaid as they are trying to build their mileage.

Paul Webb wanted to get some more offshore experience. But Reliance

was fairly well advertised on the internet. They had a reputation

that I thought was very good. flew to Trinidad where he met John

on board this best-of-. As the move north, the weather deteriorated.

were close to the Colombian coast and we were starting to get some

change in weather and there were lots of thunderstorms and lightning

and tap heavy rain showers. There were three to four metre waves. The

boat was getting battered pretty good. The best thing we could do

was turn around and head back to our rhubarb and wait for a change

in weather. Reliance criticise John for returning to port. John, Paul

and Caspar motored through the Panama Canal, but they were worried

about the unpredictable weather in the final voyage to Seattle. John

Ward Reliance about the storms and he wanted to wait until the weather

clears and suggested an alternative route. Reliance said he had attired

attitude and was making too much of the weather. They said not to worry

about it. He has two options were a sensible route which was safer for

the boat and crew or to stop for those bad winter months and

actually keep the boat somewhere safe. He was in San Francisco. He

asked Reliance if he can change route and go through Hawaii and

avoid the hurricane. He was flatly told know. The owner will go

ballistic. He was told he was taking too long. Paul felt safety

was compromised and he and Casper decided to leave when they reached

California. I told John that I was not happy going further north at

this time of the year. John told reliance that Paul said that

chances of survival were slim, a view echoed by local sailors. John

needed new crew to complete the delivery. He was told he had an

attitude because he was complaining. He was told not to tell prospective

crew that the weather could be bad, tell them that there was nothing

wrong with the weather. John was joined by Richard Bachman on the

left at -- these two men. This will renew her husband loved adventure

Bopper safety-conscious. I took him to the airport and I can remember

having a sick feeling. Excuse me... That was the last time I saw my

husband. Sorry... This man was from California and chief -- he phoned

his wife and she thought she had nothing to worry. I heard nothing

from them, other than the fact that he was excited. He was finally

going to go. I said just be safe. The last e-mail from Reliance when

he asked what the weather was like, I am having difficulty getting the

weather here, what is it, be E mailed back said the weather is

fine, nice light winds, C in Seattle. There are three sailors

missing of the Oregon coast. boat was found and there was no one

there. The Coastguard found the catamaran and it was destined for

Seattle, but the crew and the lifeboat was no word to be found.

My world fell apart. Caro has not seen all the evidence contained in

the US Coast Guard report on the loss of the boat and the three

deaths. It was dated 7th December and says... Before the catamaran

left California John warned that the journey was dangerous. I was

not leaving the boat on a whim and I put that in an e-mail to Nick

Irving and I said that I did not feel the boat was equipped to sail

to the north Pacific in winter. There were some fairly major

deficiencies on the boat. One of the things was there were no

survival suits on the boat, no heat on the boat. It had no heat. No

radar or, no survival suits? In addition, the whole had developed

stress cracks. I do not know who sent this or what they are talking

about. That... You have to stop... Stop... When the Coastguard found

the catamaran, they also found the logbook. The last entry was at 3am

on Monday morning. Could this tragedy have been avoided. Why did

a season skipper like John agree to put to sea? Dee Caffari knows only

too well the dangers of her profession and that short cuts put

lives at risk. The he has just spent half of the money that he had

at the beginning on fuel, provisions, birthing, Crewe, so he

is out of pocket and he was risking not getting paid. It is a hand-to-

mouth existence, so it was undue pressure from the company to force

him to take that final trip to Seattle. When you see the report of

the winds, the gale force winds, it isn't that the boat is designed to

be in. It is a cruising catamaran. This man's body was banned a

hundred and 13 miles away. bodies of Dave Rodman and John

Anstess were never found. The memory still Homs Paul Webb. John

would have been a long-time friend. You have that affinity with him?

Yes. It was... And sorry. Even today... Mat Sandys-Winsch worked

for Reliance as a delivery skipper and any of us. He later had a major

falling-out with the company and severed all ties. At the time it

was terrible. I do not remember tears, but it was a pretty sombre

place. It was not long before it was all back up and running as per

normal. I heard a huge bang and felt the boat lurched up and over.

One big motion, just flipped the whole way over. I cannot believe

this is the way I will go out, I thought. No one will know how it

happened. You would think that after the loss of three men, Nick

Irving would be more attentive to what the crew had to say, but just

two months later, it would appear that Mr Irving ignored another

skipper. I was instructed, quite bluntly, to say, go north of

Bermuda or do not work for us again. Aboard the catamaran with Kevin

Klinges was this man and skipper Steve Hobley from Newton Abbott.

Reliance appointed Steve Hobley to deliver the boat from France to

Florida Anstey that he would be at his daughter's wedding in the

States. He promised me that I will be about wedding. The French-built

catamaran was headed for Fort Lauderdale in what should have been

an easy passage at that time of year. Five days out of Madeira and

Steve got a text message on a saxophone, he saying the they were

wanted to change course. I was confused that anyone would want us

He went from the perfect delivery route to being told to sail into...

An area of bad weather. Steve did not want to divert. It was a bad

time of year to go north. Would history repeat itself? They

basically held that over his head, whether, if you do not... Change

course, and if you decide to go on to Fort Lauderdale we might not

have a job for you. instructions came from Reliant in

Farnborough but he got the weather information from his children.

got his own satellite phone and even down to training Jonathan and

I have to plot the weather on the internet. And then it text him

important things coming up in the weather. Things that maybe a yacht

company should be doing. I am not a professional. The fears have become

reality. The catamaran had capsized 200 miles from Bermuda in 45 ft

waves. Steve was becoming hypothermic. I heard him talking to

his mother, I think as he was a little kid. It was very strange.

Very sad. The ocean it seems to get more aggressive. And now I am being

thrown off the hull with Steve attached to my harness. He landed

on me in a way with his head staring at my face. He was

underneath the water, eight inches with his mouth at his eyes wide

open. He had died and I would try everything I could to at least give

his family his body, to give them something, if I could do that.

Another wave came and blew us off the boat. I climbed back on and

pulled and all the sudden there was just a life jacket. 11 hours after

the capsize, they were rescued. Having nothing back of dad is... It

leaves a wound. It is at somebody has walked out of life and hung up

the phone and you are in mid- conversation. It's the most awful

thing. They claim the boss gave the fate order to divert North. I have

to live with that, the knowledge that I could helped him, I could

have done something, I could have... Changed the course of events. But I

have to live with that. A third's delivery skipper Alastair Crawford

died in the Bay of Biscay on a winter delivery from reliance to

the Caribbean. His mother claims there were so much pressure that he

changed his plans for Christmas to get out to France. She says it was

a case of pressure, pressure, pressure. An investigation

concluded the boat did not have storm sails, insufficient charts

and no way of getting weather reports at sea. It also appears to

have been incorrectly registered. We have evidence Mr Irving allied

to owners and insurance companies about the skippers experience. Nick

is embellishing your CV before 2007 to show lots of deliveries. It's in

black and white. Nick added 10,000 miles, tripling a skipper's actual

experience. To enhance some reason mileage in a position of

responsibility when they have not had the experience is shocking.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency asked the CPS whether criminal

proceedings could follow from the death of John. It is it was foreign

registered both were powerless. John's sister suit them for

negligence and one, the judge and was damning concluding pressure

from them directly caused the loss of skipper and crew. He has five

deaths on his hands. And I do not know how he sleeps at night.

boss refused to be interviewed but said his business had completed a

thousands of your deliveries and the skippers of professional and

given 24 hours before. I want to ask you about the deaths of five

sailors. I would ask why you put so much pressure on them to sail on a

route they did not want to. I have answered those questions with the

producer. You owe it to the families of the sailors who lost

their lives and brothers and lives. The losses are great. I cannot make

up for that. I do respond to the questions at have answered them as

best I can. If you want anything further, put it in writing. We put

it in writer and he denied pressuring the skippers but he

ignored the specific questions about the e-mails so we gave him

one last chance to defend himself. Sending e-mails like this, John

told to the weather was unsafe. have answered his questions to the

producer. The e-mails you sent, putting unfair pressure. That is an

opinion that is yours. It is not mine. We offered to show him how he

was avoiding questions. I have your answers here.

Put it in writing and I'm happy to respond and writing. Can I ask you

about a CV? Why did you also buy a skipper's experience on a CV? That

is dangerous, isn't it? And he has been found liable in four civil

cases but failed to pay damages. Four times a court has told you to

pay. Why haven't you done that? If a court rules you should pay...

court ruled against the company. Which you run. Yes, I was director

at the time. Let's finish this here. I need to get back. Have you

anything to say to the relatives of the skippers that were lost at sea

because of your actions and your company's actions? I have got

something to say, it is personal and will be to them directly and

not in the public arena here. their grief, relatives have found

Nick Irving's silence speaks volumes. We had a memorial party, I

sent a letter to the office to see if anyone would pay their respects,

I do not think they have treated us like human beings that have lost

somebody. They clearly did not have any value for Dad as a human being,

One of the great things about the south-west is you're never few

miles away from so many different types of landscape. Whether the sea,

woodland, small hands or a rapidly disappearing type of habitat,

heathland. In the summer, Kinnock visited a precious remaining

fragment. -- Neil. 213 Hector's of nature reserve in Devon. It is

owned by the Clinton estate but run by the RSPB, a real wildlife haven.

This is lowland heath, a rare habitats anywhere in the UK, let

alone in Devon. To the untrained eye, it is nothing more than other

and prickly and pine trees. He things like this are humming with

life, particularly at this time of year. The gorse and heather produce

a fantastic habitat for insects. Spiders and bumblebees. In turn,

the insects feed the birds. You cannot have heathland that had

there. This is my favourite. Look for a bright purple patch and you

have got her there. If you want to double check the identification,

look at the beautiful flowers. This is common heather, the stuff in

your garden. This less plentiful species, or when you look down the

stem, you can see why got its name. But this time of year, the plants

are at their best in full flower. It is one of several heathland in

this part of Devon which are known as the East Devon pebble bed heats.

No surprises, pebbles. They are everywhere. This will is riddled.

In places, the pebbles go down 17 metres below the surface. The clue

as to how they got here is in the texture. They are very smooth to

the touch. That has been worn smooth by running water which can

be explained by the fact millions of years ago this whole area was

under water. This was the bed of the great river from south to north.

Once part of a river system created by fast geological events, the

Heath and was made by land -- man. The sentries, locals cut the turf

and gathered her there. That kept that city in the solo and with that

a greater diversity of plants. Beautiful flowers like this are not

crowded out by nettles and grass. It all makes for great habitat for

moths like this one. The challenge for the Paris PB is keeping it all

in good condition. -- R S PB. They have introduced these, Exmoor

ponies. They eat the grass is at take fertility out of the soil. I

met up with the warden he explained more. This is what you are aiming

for, this wonderful mish-mash of different heather and gorse. Yes,

we are looking for a mosaic between these areas with their ground,

mature heathland, so a whole variety in these areas. We are

achieving this by grazing and using cattle and ponies and using native

breeds which are at risk, Exmoor and Galloway and Devon. Traditional

breeds. And it seems to be working. The it's like this are using the

gorse. And if you look into the pine, you might get lucky enough to

see that real specialist, the, crossbow. All in all, it's a feast

for the naturalist. In another piece of course, another is egg-

laying. The butterfly is famous for laying eggs on Holly. But in some

parts of Devon a eases course as its main food plant. In parts of

the heathland they have gone beyond preening the gorse and heather and

are trying to re-establish fresh heathland by scraping off the

topsoil to take a fatality out. That newly created heathland is

providing great habitats for these butterflies. They prefer the hotter

and drier ground and what we're witnessing is a courtship ritual

which means it is a rare sight of their upper wings. The Mail is

bowing to the female. Trying to trap her antenna between his wings.

But, he is getting the cold Butterflies are the real jewel in

the Crown and to see them at their most abundant you need to walkaway

to a nearby patch of woodland. This bitter and delayed his full of

butterflies, they reckon they have the biggest right here of any

Look at this, they're not here by accident. The flowers are here

because this is managed woodland. To surely, humans would have used

and cut it for access and to collect firewood. This is a modern

wildlife designer delayed. One of the species to benefit of these

still awash. They are the largest butterfly and up staging a comeback.

If you are lucky, you might just catch their exciting courtship

ritual with the male circling the Mail. They eventually settle team-

mate. If only they were not interrupted by another male trying

to get in on the act. Nearby, a rare blue form of the insects. It

is the sheer variety that takes the breath away, sadly many are in

severe decline and some are on the edge of extinction. It is great to

see so many species here. BRS p b have done this to -- because water

is a valuable resource on the dry heath. It is useful when it comes

to fighting wildfires. But of equal importance is this is yet another

wildlife habitat created by mankind. It seems rather peaceful today but

if the sun came out, it is aerial dogfights and a battlefield for

dragonflies. This female emperor has come for quite to lay eggs.

These eggs hatch in the next few weeks. And two or three years later

a dragonfly will emerge. Around the pond you can find many. This one is

deterred by a buzzing mail. Eventually, the female returns to a

different part to continue egg- laying. As another potential

disturbance, a grass snake in the water looking out for prey. Pretty

soon, it is time for me to make my escape as well. I am on my way to a

lame behind known as the Lone Pine. This tree is past its prime but in

its heyday, this was used as a navigation aid but at some point it

was threatened by a trackway to come through the area and it is

said local which is put a curse on anyone who took an axe to it. Even

though it's past its best, the position cannot be detracted from.

It's the highest point and you can see the full extent of this

stunning corner of Devon. I doubt there are many places they can

boast this range of animal and plant species. It is the hand of