Here's a news story I found on another forum. They don't mention the man's name in the article, but surely it can only have been Father Dougal Maguire.
Man 'sailing around Britain' in small boat was doing lap of small island off Kent
27th April 2010
A man who thought he was sailing round the UK turned out to be circling a small island off the coast of Kent and didn't realise until he ran out of fuel. A lifeboat was called to rescue him after his engine wound down off the Elmley Marshes on the Isle of Sheppey, which he had been sailing round all day and night.
In addition to his tour of the 8-mile-wide island, the man, who had set out from Gillingham, had also made a series of other unfortunate decisions: The man had bought the motor cruiser online, and it only had a 20-litre fuel tank and a 20 horse power engine - not designed for sea use. He thought that because he could drive in his car to Southampton using a single tank of fuel, he only needed one tank of fuel for the vessel and he had a VHF radio, but did not know how to use it.
Lifeboat volunteer Tom Ware said: 'Because he had no chart and he didn't even know what navigational charts were, his general principle was to keep the land on his right, except he didn't realise Sheppey was an Island. It took him a day and a half to get from Gillingham to where he ran out of fuel.'
Coastguards, who met the man at Queenborough, advised him that engine sizes and therefore fuel consumption differs and the coast route was longer than the road distance in any case. Coastguard Ian Goodwin said: 'We passed on relevant safety advice and advised him that the best way to Southampton would be by train. However, he said he would get some fuel and get under way but asked us if he went left or right when he came out of the Swale.'
It is not known whether the man made it to Southampton.
