Media reports used the "Captain Calamity" epithet when Hill caused five lifeboat launches and two rescue helicopter call-outs during a failed attempt to single-handedly circumnavigate Britain in a "15-foot (4.6 m) dinghy" during 2001.
[1] His vessel Maximum Exposure – a "converted rowing boat"[3] "likened to a glorified sailboard"[4] with a sail "cannibalized"[5] from a windsurfing board – was considered by many, including the Coastguard and RNLI, to be under-equipped and "unfit" for such a journey.
Louis Rivett-Carnac, of the Great Yarmouth coastguard said "This type of craft is totally unsuitable for what he wanted to do.
"[4]Hill's problems began when his launch was delayed for a month after he suffered an allergic reaction to resin he was using to treat the hull of his boat.
[7] After a three-week delay he set sail into high winds and what Coastguards described as "the worst weather forecast possible"[8] and progressed less than 3 miles in three days.
Louis Rivett-Carnac, of Great Yarmouth coastguard said "A lifeboat went to offer him assistance and persuade him that it was crazy and he was costing us a fortune so he decided to knock it on the head"[4] He was towed ashore to Cromer beach.
He again caused trouble for rescue agencies when he was "spotted drifting in circles 22 miles out in busy shipping lanes"[9] and the Coastguard were unable to contact him.
On his return to inshore waters the Lowestoft lifeboat in Suffolk had to put to sea to warn him he was so close to shore that he was in danger of running aground.
Chris Barnes, honorary secretary of the Cromer lifeboat, said "My coxswain described it like putting someone blindfold in the middle of the M1 and telling everyone else to miss them," and that Hill should never have attempted his voyage, but the RNLI would always go to his aid.
"He was asleep in his bunk"[10] when his boat overturned but managed to contact rescuers with via a satellite phone and spent around an hour in the sea clinging to the upturned vessel.
If only he had held on until the next morning when it was calm and clear, he might have made it and shown the world that a small guy could build a world-beating boat.
However, Rab Taylor, Great Yarmouth coastguard's Operations Manager, told the BBC "Launching the lifeboat, offshore and inshore, helicopters, Nimrod aircraft and using other vessels at sea all costs money and it could be counter-productive compared to what Hill is going to raise for charities through this trip.
[14] On Sunday 14 September 2008 Hill had to be rescued again from the seas of Shetland after launching a "home made"[15] plywood boat, described as "ramshackle" and a "floating wardrobe",[16] without a radio or lifejacket in very poor weather conditions.
[18] Stuart Hill told the Shetland Times newspaper that his reputation as a calamitous mariner was one thing he would "like to put to bed" but "it seems to follow me around.
"[20] After announcing his "independent state", Hill refused to register his vehicle or pay road tax.
[22] Having made claims against the Royal Bank of Scotland, he appeared at the Court of Session in Edinburgh in July 2012, where Judge Pentland rejected Hill's arguments.
[24] His contempt of court led to him serving a detention of sixteen days at HM Prison Peterhead.