BLUEMOMENT

Why were they towing a drilling rig down the west coast of Lewis with the weather that was forecast.

Sounds like a gamble to me, I've been on a transoceanic rig being towed when the bridle snapped, not fun, just a single line from rig to towing vessel, fine in calm conditions but in any large sea state the tow line starts to be shock loaded with obvious results.

A bit about it on the BBC Highlands & Islands page

That's bad news. A beautiful bay although I've only been there by road in the camper. Let's hope they can pull it off in one piece.

According to the BBC nobody was onboard the drill rig, which is rediculous, how are they ment to reattach without having people onboard..
And now they have an even bigger problem to solve, obviously had no plan in place incase the bridle snapped, which is quite a common occurrence.

Some better pics from a mate of mine:
https://www.facebook.com/innes.k.smith/ ... 9354826485

I would say that they have two chances of getting it off:- fat and nae.

Even if they do refloat it, there is a high risk that it will coup as one of the sponsons seems to be holed.