Cowes Week Yacht Hits Bulk Tanker

[Capt Phil]

Smurphny, were you the only vessel in LI sound at the time? The tanker pilot may have been trying to communicate with another large vessel. As these larger boats enter and leave a congested area, many times there are many medium to smaller vessels all heading in different directions with no rhyme or apparent reason for their course direction or change in their heading.
Sailboats seem particularly prone to confusing behavior and because they are under sail appear to believe they have the right of way even in the face of several thousand tons of steel on a collision course with them.
I've been on the bridge of several of these LCC's and VLCC's trying to negotiate a busy fairway and maintain adequate speed to handle the ship safely. It is not an easy task on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Any pilot will tell you that the most harrowing experience they have is bringing a ship in to port on a weekend. All of us out there for a pleasant afternoon need to do everything we can to stay safe and not play chicken or interfere with the ship handling of these professionals. Remember, tonnage rules! Capt Phil

[Bash]

There is a clear moral here: if you're planning to exchange paint with a tanker, make certain not to snag his anchor with your spinnaker.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Capt Phil

I've been on the bridge of several of these LCC's and VLCC's trying to negotiate a busy fairway and maintain adequate speed to handle the ship safely. It is not an easy task on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Any pilot will tell you that the most harrowing experience they have is bringing a ship in to port on a weekend. All of us out there for a pleasant afternoon need to do everything we can to stay safe and not play chicken or interfere with the ship handling of these professionals. Remember, tonnage rules! Capt Phil

Quite right. We used to call them %&!# Sunday Sailors, now I am one.

[avb3]

Scary video of what can happen in a crowded sea lane.

‪Yacht dismasted by supertanker off Cowes, Isle of Wight‬‏ - YouTube

[S/V Alchemy]

This is being discussed on Anything-Sailing.com. The sailboat skipper is at fault in a restricted waterway, besides being terrible at estimation.

[rhr1956]

Didn't look like a well planned execution to me...

[Vasco]

what happened to the old thread on this?


*MODERATOR'S NOTE - Two threads have been merged.

[easterly38]

Maybe if the tanker was painted a brighter color it would be more visible. (obvious sarcasm)

[saben]

There are no winners here. The bulk ship is now in port for a time during investigation, hundreds of k$ per week. Sailboat , well we saw what happened to them.

[smurphny]

Originally Posted by Capt Phil

Smurphny, were you the only vessel in LI sound at the time? The tanker pilot may have been trying to communicate with another large vessel. As these larger boats enter and leave a congested area, many times there are many medium to smaller vessels all heading in different directions with no rhyme or apparent reason for their course direction or change in their heading.
Sailboats seem particularly prone to confusing behavior and because they are under sail appear to believe they have the right of way even in the face of several thousand tons of steel on a collision course with them.
I've been on the bridge of several of these LCC's and VLCC's trying to negotiate a busy fairway and maintain adequate speed to handle the ship safely. It is not an easy task on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Any pilot will tell you that the most harrowing experience they have is bringing a ship in to port on a weekend. All of us out there for a pleasant afternoon need to do everything we can to stay safe and not play chicken or interfere with the ship handling of these professionals. Remember, tonnage rules! Capt Phil

I could well understand it if it was a congested area but this was mid-Sound on a weekday, not another boat in sight! It was calm, I was motoring, sails down. All it would have taken on his/her part would have been some indication of intention. It is just a good thing I did not alter course radically to port, assuming he was passing to starboard or he may well have run me over. He had plenty of room to clear me by 5 miles in either direction well in advance.

[Billy Higgins]

In the Solent, pleasure craft are legally required to stay clear of commercial shipping so I would be surprised if this owner escapes legal prosecution. However, the yacht skipper should also be banned from regattas for a couple of years if we are to seriously protect our sport of sailing. Race committees have an obligation to ban irresponsible skippers as they reflect badly on the rest of us with enforcement results and regulations we will grow to regret.

Addtionally, one comment here on remarks such as "the captain of the ship can't see for X metres under the bow of his enormous vessel", or similar. As a former bridge watch stander in the US merchant marine, I can assure everyone that no ship enters crowded waters like the Solent without a bow lookout in radio contact with the bridge. In a ship of this size, it is likely to be the First Mate, so there are some smart "eyes" on the water. While it is true a ship's bridge can't see the first X hundred metres, the vessel crosses that distance fairly quickly so the blind spot is shorter than it appears. This is in the same way you can't see the ground up to X metres ahead of your car's steering wheel, but you may be confident there is nothing there because you could see that space seconds ago before you reached it, and you knew it was empty.

[ericalan]

Wow, I am stunned by this...

I have sailed and raced most of my life either on the Delaware River or up in NY Harbor and the one clear rule is that you do not fool around with ships, period.

[sailorboy1]

and for the power boaters here that watch the video and wonder why a sailboat would try to cut in front of a freight like this; sailboats wonder the same about some of you when you decide you can made it crossing in front us

[boasun]

Originally Posted by tartansail

Since we're supposed to be nice here on CF, I won't comment on the sailboat captain's judgment and seamanship.

I am interested in what is considered a safe distance to cross the bow of a large commercial vessel. In particular, I'm thinking about crossings outside harbors. I've generally felt that 1/2 a mile was OK for a ship going normal speed in coastal situations and more like a mile offshore. When in doubt, I cross astern. I got a couple of blasts on the horn from a ship in the Gulf of Maine last year when I crossed with what seemed like a reasonable safety zone. What do others use to determine whether to cross the bow or change course and cross astern?

The SAFE Distance to cross the bow of a large ship is: NEVER!!

You never cross the bow of another vessel because Murphy's Law is in effect an you could lose power, lose wind, Find that the vessel whose bow you're crossing is going faster than you thought... And a Myraid of other things that can go wrong. You do know Murphy's Law don't you??

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by boasun

The SAFE Distance to cross the bow of a large ship is: NEVER!!

You never cross the bow of another vessel because Murphy's Law is in effect an you could lose power, lose wind, Find that the vessel whose bow you're crossing is going faster than you thought... And a Myraid of other things that can go wrong. You do know Murphy's Law don't you??

You've obviously never crossed the English channel then.

Dave