Collision on the Severn

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

You can see the boom has been torn off the mast, good deal everyone is safe. I bet the fwd corner of the mainsail is trashed.

Ann

Sketchy reports say the sailors took action and tried to warn the power boat. The J105 was a club boat. I suspect the charter was on Autopilot. CG is investigating.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Photos I saw shared in a Facebook sailing group today.
Photos show the damage to both boats.

[danielamartindm]

Gee, I wonder which was the stand-on vessel. (eye roll)

[StuM]

Originally Posted by danielamartindm

Gee, I wonder which was the stand-on vessel. (eye roll)

Law of tonnage applies. The powerboat had right of way because it was bigger.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by StuM

Law of tonnage applies. The powerboat had right of way because it was bigger.

Oh come on folks. Stand on ‘cause he was fishin’

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by StuM

Law of tonnage applies. The powerboat had right of way because it was bigger.

....and that's GROSS!


[pause]




and that's the Gross Tonnage Rule!

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Oh come on folks. Stand on ‘cause he was fishin’

If he had been fishing, it must have been for jetfish!

[Jim Cate]

As usual, it is better to have been the hitter than the hittee, and that the pointy end is stronger than the middle of a boat.

That's a real owie on the poor J boat!

Jim

[Steadman Uhlich]

Saw this today...

Photos and a first hand account from one of the people on the motorboat that collided with the sailboat.

The posted quote below was originally posted on a SeaRay forum. Most of the comments after the post suggested that the sailboat was motoring or partly at fault or could have been at fault, etc.
________________

winch1995 said:

“Yesterday, I was passenger on a 34' fishing charter out the eastern shore MD below the bridge. We had fished all morning and by noon we headed in. It was brand new dead rise boat, first trip out. 6 passengers plus the Captain.

We were underway for about 10 minutes, and I estimate our speed was around 30 knots.

Visibility was unlimited.

Most of the passengers were hanging out enjoying the ride, and no one was really paying attention the situation on the water.

I was on a port side bench seat, looking toward the stern. Suddenly, a guy yells "WATCH OUT!!!". I spun around to look forward and all I saw was white sail through the windshield.
Then impact. We t-boned a 30' sailboat with 2 guys in the cockpit. We were thrown to the deck. Now we are on top of the sailboat as you can see by the picture below.

Our captain was kind of dazed, so being an experienced boater, I first told everyone to grab a life vest. We did a head count and injury check and nothing serious beyond cuts, scrapes, and bruises. I could not tell what was happening on the sail boat. Anyway, I turned on the marine radio and Mayday'ed. CG answers and I give GPS coordinates. The guys in the sailboat are shaken up but ok (everyone was shaken up but no panic).

So now we are sitting up on top of the sail boat, with our stern precariously close to being swamped. I found the bilge pump switch and turned it on to "auto" but it did not appear to be working. Switch to manual mode and it started pumping water overboard. The switch set up required that you hold the switch down for the pump to work.

Now I'm at the helm holding this fricking switch down, dangerously close to swamping, and I'm thinking if we swamp, I'm gonna be trapped in the cockpit with no way out. It was kind of dicey at that point.

CG arrives about 15 minutes later and transfers the sail boaters to another boat, then they start to transfer the 6 passengers from the charter to another boat. I have to admit that the CG did an awesome job. Once we were all safely transferred, the CG actually went back to the charter boat and retrieved our coolers!!

DNR, Marine Police, Fire Boats, Tow Boats, we had 'em all.

I was kind of surprised that only 1 boater offered assistance.

So, as far as I know, no serious injuries, but we were so lucky in that respect. It could have been a whole lot worse.

For the life of me, I cannot understand how this happened. Broad daylight, Captain was not drinking, etc. One guy said that he thought the sail boat changed tack.

I guess my big lesson is this: Stay far away from all other boats because you don't know what they might do.

Sharing this story reluctantly since the Captain is a good guy, but it's all over the news anyway. As a Captain of your vessel, be alert at all times. Don't put yourself in a situation where you are too close to other boats. As a passenger, be a second set of eyes for the Captain. Give wide berth to other vessels.

Stuff happens fast.

I have this anxiety right now about boating, but I'm gonna go down to my 27' Sun Dancer and do some maintenance work. I'm sure I'll get over it but I'll not forget yesterday.”

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Steadman Uhlich

Saw this today...

Photos and a first hand account from one of the people on the motorboat that collided with the sailboat.

The posted quote below was originally posted on a SeaRay forum. Most of the comments after the post suggested that the sailboat was motoring or partly at fault or could have been at fault, etc.
________________

winch1995 said:

“Yesterday, I was passenger on a 34' fishing charter out the eastern shore MD below the bridge. We had fished all morning and by noon we headed in. It was brand new dead rise boat, first trip out. 6 passengers plus the Captain.

We were underway for about 10 minutes, and I estimate our speed was around 30 knots.

Visibility was unlimited.

Most of the passengers were hanging out enjoying the ride, and no one was really paying attention the situation on the water.

I was on a port side bench seat, looking toward the stern. Suddenly, a guy yells "WATCH OUT!!!". I spun around to look forward and all I saw was white sail through the windshield.
Then impact. We t-boned a 30' sailboat with 2 guys in the cockpit. We were thrown to the deck. Now we are on top of the sailboat as you can see by the picture below.

Our captain was kind of dazed, so being an experienced boater, I first told everyone to grab a life vest. We did a head count and injury check and nothing serious beyond cuts, scrapes, and bruises. I could not tell what was happening on the sail boat. Anyway, I turned on the marine radio and Mayday'ed. CG answers and I give GPS coordinates. The guys in the sailboat are shaken up but ok (everyone was shaken up but no panic).

So now we are sitting up on top of the sail boat, with our stern precariously close to being swamped. I found the bilge pump switch and turned it on to "auto" but it did not appear to be working. Switch to manual mode and it started pumping water overboard. The switch set up required that you hold the switch down for the pump to work.

Now I'm at the helm holding this fricking switch down, dangerously close to swamping, and I'm thinking if we swamp, I'm gonna be trapped in the cockpit with no way out. It was kind of dicey at that point.

CG arrives about 15 minutes later and transfers the sail boaters to another boat, then they start to transfer the 6 passengers from the charter to another boat. I have to admit that the CG did an awesome job. Once we were all safely transferred, the CG actually went back to the charter boat and retrieved our coolers!!

DNR, Marine Police, Fire Boats, Tow Boats, we had 'em all.

I was kind of surprised that only 1 boater offered assistance.

So, as far as I know, no serious injuries, but we were so lucky in that respect. It could have been a whole lot worse.

For the life of me, I cannot understand how this happened. Broad daylight, Captain was not drinking, etc. One guy said that he thought the sail boat changed tack.

I guess my big lesson is this: Stay far away from all other boats because you don't know what they might do.

Sharing this story reluctantly since the Captain is a good guy, but it's all over the news anyway. As a Captain of your vessel, be alert at all times. Don't put yourself in a situation where you are too close to other boats. As a passenger, be a second set of eyes for the Captain. Give wide berth to other vessels.

Stuff happens fast.

I have this anxiety right now about boating, but I'm gonna go down to my 27' Sun Dancer and do some maintenance work. I'm sure I'll get over it but I'll not forget yesterday.”

I'm surprised a charter boat with an professional Captain had the radio off as well as the bilge pump off (rather than auto).

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Amazing no one got hurt

That should buff out.

[StuM]

Original post deleted, but the comments are amusing


Please delete | Club Sea Ray

[bill352]

Originally Posted by Steadman Uhlich

Saw this today...

Photos and a first hand account from one of the people on the motorboat that collided with the sailboat.

The posted quote below was originally posted on a SeaRay forum. Most of the comments after the post suggested that the sailboat was motoring or partly at fault or could have been at fault, etc.

My favorite comment from the thread:


"The vast majority of members are lake or river boaters who are not required to operate by the navigation rules and likely don't even know what "colregs" refers to."


"...not required to operate by the navigation rules...!!!"


Y'all be careful out there.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by bill352

My favorite comment from the thread:


"The vast majority of members are lake or river boaters who are not required to operate by the navigation rules and likely don't even know what "colregs" refers to."


"...not required to operate by the navigation rules...!!!"


Y'all be careful out there.

I went to the power boat site and read through about the first thirty or so posts. It is a lot of the usual power boat - sail boat ranting and speculation. It gets real interesting at about Post 25. I look forward to the official CG report. So fortunate the boats were the only casualties.

[thinwater]

I've always thought the power/sail animosity thing was like driving cars in traffic; 98% don't have a problem and 2% get rage over nothing.