The skipper of a speedboat which crashed into a buoy, killing a 15-year-old girl, during an “adrenaline-fuelled” thrill ride has told a court he lost his vision for a “split second” before the impact.
Emily Lewis suffered fatal injuries when the rigid inflatable boat (Rib) collided with the 4.5m-high buoy at 36.8 knots in Southampton Water at 10.11am on August 22, 2020, with a number of other passengers seriously injured.
Michael Lawrence, 55, who was driving the boat, has been charged with manslaughter by gross negligence, failing to maintain a proper lookout and failing to proceed at a safe speed.
Michael Howley, 52, the owner of Seadogz, the company which operated the boat trip, is accused of not operating the boat safely.
Lawrence, who served as an RNLI lifeboatman for 20 years, told Winchester Crown Court that he had lost his love of boating, having previously had a “fascination” for all types of vessels.
He said he had known Howley for around 15 years and began driving Ribs for him about seven years ago.
Describing the Stormforce 950 Rib involved in the accident, Lawrence said it was powerful with twin 300 horsepower engines, and added: “I would say it’s one of the most capable Ribs that I have driven. The handling was exceptional.”
Lawrence said he wore a Seadogz-branded face mask during the fatal ride – and took a selfie photograph of himself wearing it – as part of precautions he was taking during the pandemic while assisting his elderly parents.
He said: “I have worn a mask to protect the people on the boat and myself as I am passing people very closely, within a metre. I was trying to be as safe as I could.”
Lawrence denied being a “show-off” and said: “I have spent my whole life on the water and my whole life I have gone out to show people how to be safe on the water, and I have gone out when it has gone wrong to try to save people.
“The ride on the day up until the last bit was a ride we had done many times, we hadn’t done anything different and was well within the capability of the boat.
“I didn’t believe anything I was doing was unsafe.
“I tried to give a ride that was the ride they expected or wanted, well within the limits of the boat and well within my limits.”
The trial has heard that Lawrence crossed the wake of an Isle of Wight ferry and the Rib then drove straight at the buoy for 14 seconds before colliding with it.
He said he would not drive deliberately straight at a buoy before making a last moment turn to create a thrill and added: “I do not believe that is a safe thing to do.”
Lawrence said he used his judgment to gauge the speed of the boat during the ride, but accepted he had misjudged it as the Rib earlier reached 44.7 knots – which is above a speed limit of 40 knots which used to be in place in the area.
But he said he did not believe the speed he travelled was unsafe because “there wasn’t any traffic”.
His voice cracking with emotion, Lawrence described how he lost his vision as the Rib headed for the buoy and he only saw it a moment before impact.
He continued: “All I can remember is I came round the turn and straighten the boat up, I felt a little bit light-headed maybe, I don’t know how to describe that.
“Then I lost my vision and then it came back, in my timeline, I lost my vision and by the time it came back it was a split second, that’s how it felt.
“I do not know how to explain that, I referred to it as maybe (the length of) a sneeze, there wasn’t a timeline of me going around for 10 seconds, it was a split second.
“I do not know if I might have blinked but as my vision cleared, the buoy was right in front of us, I do not know where it came from.
“As soon as I saw the buoy, I immediately pulled the throttles back to stop the boat.
“As I pulled the throttles back, I heard a thud, that’s all I can remember.
“When I next have a memory, it was everything had changed, there were people everywhere.”
Lawrence said he had injured his knee in the incident and described how after another Rib and a yacht came to assist, Emily’s father asked him to help.
He said: “He said that Emily wasn’t well and said she was better off on the Rib and I thought that was a good idea.
“I remember picking Emily up and putting her on the Rib and I think I said her family should go with her and I helped some people get on to the yacht.”
He added: “I spent many years on a lifeboat, I have attended many incidents, seen many horrible things.
“I have been used to going in after an incident, with the helicopter vision of being a rescuer, I have never been rescued before and I think I had problems coping with that.”
Lawrence said that after the crash, he told people his face mask had blown over his eyes because he thought at that time this was a “plausible” cause, but he said this no longer “adds up”.
He said: “In the confusion afterwards I saw the face mask floating in the water and I made the assumption that is what happened.”
Christine Agnew KC, prosecuting, said to him: “Did you pull it off out of frustration?”
Lawrence replied: “I do not know, I do not know what happened.”
Ms Agnew added: “You were fiddling with your face mask and that is why you took it off?”
He replied: “I straightened up and had my hand on the wheel and from that point I don’t know what happened.”
Lawrence denied lying about the face mask and said he did not know what happened in the moments before the crash.
He said he underwent medical tests which were inconclusive and added he had a “family history”, with the death of his 82-year-old mother after a massive stroke and his father collapsing after suffering a bleed to the brain.
He added: “I do not know what’s happened to me, I still do not know what happened to me and I live in fear of it.”
Lawrence said he understands the pain felt by Emily’s family as his second cousin had died aboard the Cheeki Rafiki yacht, which sank in the Atlantic in 2014 killing the four crew.
Lawrence, of Blackfield, New Forest, and Howley, of Hordle, New Forest, deny the charges and the trial was adjourned until Wednesday.
