Cruiser killed in Grenada

[SV Sailfish]

Our thoughts are with the person's family. Sad, no matter how it happened.

[Cadence]

It is sad. But exercising some sense seems to be better than blaming the administration. If your not a native and don't like it don't visit. JMHO

[Island Time O25]

Would the local Coast Guard allow the cruisers to paint the markers? A can of reflective aerosol paint would probably be under $15-20, even at the island's prices and the cost per cruiser, there at the moment, would be miniscule. Definitely a possibility worth pursuing. Just have a collection beer-party and at least try to prevent the next accident.

[Simi 60]

Rule 6 colregs.

Every vessel shall at all times proceed at a safe speed so that she can take proper and effective action to avoid collision and be stopped within a distance appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and conditions. ... Excessive speed contributes to many collisions. Rule 5 on look-out and Rule 6 are closely linked.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

Would the local Coast Guard allow the cruisers to paint the markers? A can of reflective aerosol paint would probably be under $15-20, even at the island's prices and the cost per cruiser, there at the moment, would be miniscule. Definitely a possibility worth pursuing. Just have a collection beer-party and at least try to prevent the next accident.

Even slapping on any white/yellow paint festering in a locker will be better than nothing.
Tying some flotsam to it, old white plastic bucket or similar would also be better than nothing.

[Navicula]

shame....very sad story....
but the cruisers could paint the poles or put a solar light on them....

in georgetown bahamas the crusiers take care and replace the water hose....I am sure this could also happen there if it hasnt already

[Jim Cate]

The world is full of unpainted, unlit hazards, some artificial, some natural. It is the inescapable responsibility of the operators of boats of all sizes to avoid hitting them. Trying to blame the Granadian coasties for this accident is folly.

Jim

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

The world is full of unpainted, unlit hazards, some artificial, some natural. It is the inescapable responsibility of the operators of boats of all sizes to avoid hitting them. Trying to blame the Granadian coasties for this accident is folly.

Jim

[alansmith]

It is always sad when someone loses their life over something as common sense as this.

I do want to say that having worked in the hospitals for 40 years it doesn't take much to kill ya. Sometimes we just flat out forget our mortal state. If you are in a dingy and get launched by striking an object...well....it brings into play Newton's first law of motion which says,

" An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force."

Travelling at an unsafe speed where you can not see what is coming up in front of you....you are at risk. Even if not planning you could be killed if you launched head first into a steel buoy and hit your skull in a not so nice way.

Lesson for all of us to remember. I wouldn't lay the blame on the gov't agencies in Grenada. Do we need to lay lawsuits on them for rusty buoys? Do you know what their retort would be? It certainly wouldn't be good for cruisers.

Tragic accident caused by unsafe speed and poor visibility due to nightfall.

Bummer

[CarinaPDX]

This is a sad event, and my sympathies go out to family and friends. Still, the brutal truth is that the deceased was operating too fast for his vision, and his poor judgement was the cause of this accident and not any failure on the part of the Grenadian government. While we may all wish that the world be made safer for us, ultimately we are responsible to keep ourselves safe by our actions in the world that exists. By all means slap some paint on those poles, but recognize that it is our job to keep clear of them, not the other way around.

Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy

In Toronto harbour, even though it was not legally required, I had my Zodiac C310 with a Honda BF100 lit up with an all-around white at the stern on a pole and red/green at the bow. In addition, I carried a spotlight.

I can't speak to Canadian laws, but the International Rules of the road do require the all-round white stern light and the red/green bow light if your boat is capable of doing 7 knots, which is clearly the case with your dink. IMHO your nav lights are nothing more than the minimum required for a world cruiser. Nav lights are there so that others may see a vessel's location and judge its course and speed; they do nothing for visibility ahead (and in fact usually reduce night vision). Which is no doubt why you wisely carry a spotlight as well.

Nav lights don't really enter into this accident - the pole could not maneuver out of the way of the oncoming dinghy. It is all about operating within the limits of visibility. If shore lights or moonlight did not adequately illuminate the path then the operator should have used a powerful flashlight/spotlight instead. Or kept the speed to a minimum.

Operating within the limits of visibility is also required to avoid damage to the dink. Early in the ownership of my RIB I had to return after dark from the yacht club near Port of Spain to Chaguaramas - perhaps 5 miles. I had no problem seeing any other vessels, but before I reached Carina one of the tubes had deflated; I had run over something low in the water that had cut a 3" slice in the bottom at the very aft end of one tube. As long as I was planing I doubt that I could have seen and reacted in time, even with a flashlight. Sometimes one just has to slow down...

Greg

[Kenomac]

Most of the responses including the original post, just sound like a bunch of Americans trying to apply their nanny state liability laws onto the rest of the world countries. If the same Americans were to ever venture out to other countries, they'd quickly find many more issues to complain about like missing guard rails almost everywhere, or ancient walkways without wheelchair cutaways. Hey... we come across unmarked junk and large boulders in the water all the time while out cruising, what do you expect? It's not the local government's fault if we crash into it if we decide to dinghy across at 20mph in the dark and hit it. Many times we've almost hit markers at night, but it wasn't an issue because we were only going about 5mph at the time, and saw the object in time to steer around it. We also use a high power flashlight.

People have forgotten how to watch where they're going.... It's not some foreign government's fault when someone plows into something at night, everyone needs to watch out and basically drive safely within the conditions.

[belizesailor]

Another cruiser was recently killed in Belize...nightime, no lights, collision with a larger boat.

http://riodulcechisme.com/index.php?...=1411&Itemid=1

[Brewgyver]

Originally Posted by Maple Leaf

Does anyone know where one could purchase some portable Nav lights for the tender?

If you're still stateside, check your local Walmart, they carry an inexpensive LED set, complete with clampin hardware. They run on AAAs, very handy.

[finefurn]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Headline should read “Cruiser dies in Grenada,” not “Killed.” “Killed” implies that it happened as a result of someone else’s action such as a robbery or murder.

That was exactly my first impression when I read the title

[admiralslater]

As Jim Cate said there are un lighted marks every even here in Toronto ,it is a terrible accident .
It is not un heard of for fully lighted objects to be hit . You tube is full of videos of the same . There were to USN ships that could not stay out of the way of freighters.
I am not sure that 40 EC a month for a cruising permit , an occasional trip to Spice land mall ,and a trip to the local happy hour entitles us to make demands on the government We do not pay taxes ,or vote there . Remember this is a country where people drive around the island in a dump truck raising money to send a loved one for cancer treatment.
I am not denegrating live aboards and hope to some day be one ,however one should not overplay their impact .
IMO the real financial contributors are the boats hauled in the marinas you support all the local technicians who work there . I know this broad brush and I probably get pummeled.
For me the lack of rules and the freedom that places like Grenada have is part of the joy