Power gives way to Sail ... right ???

[BarryK1200LT]

On Sunday I was out on Waterloo Bay having a ball of fun on the Maricat. Winds were building in the afternoon and everything was going well. Then I had a REALLY scary encounter with a 40 odd feet power cat.

I was on a reach and flying the port side hull, so my vision to the starboard side of my boat was bloked by the sails.

While I regularly check under the boom to get my bearings and see what other boats are around me, I couldn't believe it when a 40 odd foot power cat came into view past the leading edge of my jid sheet not more than about 4 boat lengths ahead of me.

I steered hard to starboard and managed to just miss the back of the boat, but it was heart in mouth stuff and the consequences could have been much worse if I was on a slightly different tack and ran clean into the side of this other boat without seeing it.

What amazed me though, was the skipper of this boat and his partner just looked down at me from their fly bridge as thought I was in the wrong. From where they were sitting they would have been able to see that a collision was possible, and with half a brain between them, should also have been able to work out that given I was hidden from their view by my sails, there was a good chance that I hadn't seen them as yet.

They took no evasive action at all, didn't sound a horn, hadn't changed course to go behind me, nothing.

When I got past the back of his boat I took another look around, and we were the only two boats in the area for about 500 metres.

Goes to show that when your out there having fun, not everyone belives that power should give way to sail, and you need to keep a close eye on whats going on around you.

Cheers

Barry

[This message has been edited by BarryK1200LT (edited 09 July 2007).]

[dood]

Were you going out the leads of Manly harbour.

[BarryK1200LT]

No, we were way out in the middle of the bay. That's what surprised me the most. The skipper of the power boat would have seen me closing in on his port side, and should have been able to figure out that I may not have seen him, and could have easily steered a coarse around the back of me to avoid a possible collision.

[barefoot]

Been a stink boat, the skipper most likely only used one hand to drive the boat, the other used to entertain the family jewels.

Can't say as a general impression I like stink boaties very much. I used to especially hate the ones that 'illegally' speed into Manly harbour making huge waves as they go (not fun on a Laser).

cheers

[QB2]

The attitude of any investigation by insurance, police, or marine regulatory body would be that "an appropriate watch should be maintained by all persons in charge of a craft such that collisions are avoided."

In other words if someone hits you some blame would be yours because you didn't maintain a watch or take avoiding action to prevent a situation where a collision can occur.

Catch 22

Mark

[Village Idiot]

If their bigger than you GIVE WAY,

seriously you don't know if the other party involved know the rules ,it's safer to treat everyone else like an idiot and keep clear ,an example of this and it occurs everytime I go windsurfing in a busy area is the amount of wankers who don't know the port/starboard rule ,I've had one of my boards cut in half once.

[darcy1945]

There are several rules in play here, particularly if a collision had occured, the FIRST rule, (in the international rules for the prevention of collisions at sea), is to avoid a collision, keep a proper lookout, power gives way to sail (only if both are pleasure vessels), give way to the right, if your boat has a horn (which he would have) sound the horn 5 times to let the other vessel know that you are unsure of his intentions. I think a court would rule that even though you were not keeping a proper lookout, the person deemed to be in charge of the power boat was at fault. WHICH WON'T HELP IF YOU ARE DEAD.

[BarryK1200LT]

I accept that I was equally as much at fault for not seeing the cruiser closing in on me until the very last second. And as has been pointed out, having the rules in your favour "after the incident" won't help, if you've been run down by another boat and are either injured or killed.

By sharing my experience I hope others can learn from my close call, and be mindful of how important it is to be vigilant.

When your out sailing solo and you've got your boat cranked up and humming, its easy to become focused on all the "immediate stuff" thats going on with your boat, and forget to look around as often as you should, particularly in open waters where there are few other boats around.

Cheers

Barry

[This message has been edited for spelling by BarryK1200LT (edited 11 July 2007).]

[This message has been edited by BarryK1200LT (edited 11 July 2007).]

[Guest Cormeister]

Had a similar experience a few years ago, we were doing the Hog to Hog Race (Redcliffe Hogs Breath to Moolooba Hogs Breath) on a Farrier F82R, east/south east breeze at 12 to 15 knots (about perfect for the Farrier) We were finally out the top of the bay and heading north along Bribie Island heading for the Fairway Beacon with the Number 2 kite up (a bit shy for the big kite) when we noticed a large stink boat heading south (directly at us) we had time to discuss whether they had seen us and elected to harden up stightly to avoid them , they didn't seem to alter course at all to put any extra room between the two boats (we later figured they may have been under auto pilot, but we were in a fleet of about 20 boats and at the time there were 4 or 5 boats ahead of us, the power boat must have seen this many boats heading north at some point). We pasted the power boat with about 5 boat lengths between us, our boat went up the first stern wave doing about 15 knots, we eased the kite expecting the boat to slow and the apparent to move back, our boat plowed into the second stern wave and came to a dead stop, the mast then decided to fold at the hounds and snapped the top 12 ft of the top, it stayed up for about 10 seconds more and the collapsed over the side of the boat, this all happend within about 10 mtrs of the stink boat, they just keep heading south without even slowing or even turning back to see if any assistance was required, a couple of the other boats in the race fleet sailed over to see if any assistance was required, we set about getting the sails of and the remains of the mast back on board before it holed the boat in the swell, we then spent the next 5 hrs motoring into the wind and waves back to the marina at Bribie (the advantage of not having the rig up is that you can get under the bridge). To this day we have heard nothing from the power boat, the new rig was fitted with running backstays to assist controlling the top of the mast (I dont think these would have been enough in this situation to prevent the mast damage). The lesson from this for us was that we had assumed that by altering course to miss the power boat would be reciprocated by the power boat or even slowing to reduce his wake at such close quaters, he however did nothing and the evasive action we had taken was not sufficient to keep the rig in the boat. Remember assume nothing, its to late after its happened.

Keep having fun blasting around the Bay on your Maricat but keep an eye out for the Dick Heads that are also out there.

[REV YUKKA II]

i had a bloke in a ski boat one day tell me i had to stay out of his way as he was towing a skier. i went up to him on the bank later on and explained the rules to him. i also pointed out that if he was driving on the road towing a trailer that dosn't give him right of way to all over traffic. it realy makes you wonder how they even get a boat licence. at least the price of fuel is keeping them at home more these days.

[warbird]

Windows are cheep; fit one to main and jib. Cats are fast and should not be without them.

If you can find him and think you can take him bad mouth his bint until he moves on you and then whack him.

Explain nothing, they are dicks.