Doesn’t that cover everything?

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I was just reading the latest magazine from the RNLI (the lifeboat association - of which I am a supporter, along with many other charities). One piece of news was that they have created a series of videos to address common boating troubles, so that people can be better prepared before going out onto the water. This sounds all very sensible but I did laugh when I read the list of ‘Top Five Boating Troubles’ which are: Machinery failure Equipment failure Stranding or grounding Human error Sinking Doesn’t that cover pretty much anything at all that can happen? I mean of course machinery and equipment can fail due to fatigue or extreme weather, for example, or due to not being maintained properly - which would surely count as ‘human error’. And the terms 'machinery' and 'equipment' surely cover the vessel and everything in it! Stranding or grounding would almost certainly be due to not reading the chart properly or not taking proper account of the weather - in other words human error. Sinking is usually a result of one of the preceding four troubles, it isn’t often that a boat or ship will just randomly sink of its own accord. Can you think of any other possible reasons why a boater might need to call for a lifeboat, other than sudden illness or injury, which don’t really count as ‘boating troubles’? All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2021.