Sailboat sunk in Delaware Bay

[Kettlewell]

There is also sometimes the desire to keep it to one's self. Why use a public means when one can use a private one?

With the boat badly damaged and taking on water I would want everyone within VHF range alerted to my situation, on the off chance someone might be nearby who could get there before we sank. But, as several have pointed out the mast may have been down. Still I would grab the handheld VHFs and give it a try first, then try the cellphone.

[malbert73]

My personal wild guess is they collided with a large (tanker?) barge being pushed by a tug. At night the barge lights can be difficult to see ahead of the much more well lit tugboat. I’ve seen these all the time in my transits.
Couple that with fatigue and/or fog. I’m assuming they were dismasted in the collision which would happen with the large overhanging bow of a ship or barge. The pictures show the dismasted boat being towed in, and likely it foundered once it slowed down in the harbor…

All wild guesses. A good cautionary tale. I’m not judging as I’ve hit unlit buoys twice on DE bay over the years, and have developed extreme respect for the challenges of that particularly unlikeable body of water.

[Kettlewell]

All wild guesses. A good cautionary tale. I’m not judging as I’ve hit unlit buoys twice on DE bay over the years, and have developed extreme respect for the challenges of that particularly unlikeable body of water.

Yep, we're all making educated guesses. Someone mentioned running up the channel after dark to avoid crab pots, and in general I have tried to avoid running the Delaware after dark for this very reason. Even so, I would rather take the chance on crab pots than running into a barge in the fog and dark. I stay well out of the channel as much as possible.

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Yep, we're all making educated guesses. Someone mentioned running up the channel after dark to avoid crab pots, and in general I have tried to avoid running the Delaware after dark for this very reason. Even so, I would rather take the chance on crab pots than running into a barge in the fog and dark. I stay well out of the channel as much as possible.

That was me. I won’t run it in fog AND dark. Fog in daylight, stay outside channel and see pots and debris. Dark and clear, you can see the ships miles away- safer to run in channel. Fog/rain at night- I’ll stay out and wait for daytime tide cycle

[Tin Tin]

A few years ago a Leopard 48 cat was sailing just outside the channel near the Salem power station (NJ side), hit a series of underwater concrete structures, a few holes in the boat and managed to limp back to Georgetown up the Sassafras - we saw the damage - quite substantial amazed they made it back.


When we were day sailing down the Delaware river from Philly we had AIS, and a tanker called us up on the radio directly and said he was departing and coming into the channel and asked for us to keep clear, which we did. The only other time in 5 years we were called up was from fishing trawlers at night down the coast near Georgia, although we had difficulty understanding the dialect. Oh and a couple of times by border security near NY and the Turks and Caicos.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Tin Tin

A few years ago a Leopard 48 cat was sailing just outside the channel near the Salem power station (NJ side), hit a series of underwater concrete structures, a few holes in the boat and managed to limp back to Georgetown up the Sassafras - we saw the damage - quite substantial amazed they made it back.


When we were day sailing down the Delaware river from Philly we had AIS, and a tanker called us up on the radio directly and said he was departing and coming into the channel and asked for us to keep clear, which we did. The only other time in 5 years we were called up was from fishing trawlers at night down the coast near Georgia, although we had difficulty understanding the dialect. Oh and a couple of times by border security near NY and the Turks and Caicos.

They must have REALLY cut that corner.

I (and everyone else that isn’t a large ship) cuts that corner pretty tight. See the chart and the Google satellite view which shows boats cutting outside the channel there.

Hard to imagine they took an even more risky cut than everyone else, but they must have to hit something since virtually all traffic goes outside the channel there.

[CaptTom]

Of course it's not fair to jump to conclusions, but when I read this story I couldn't help thinking how glad I am that I have (and use!) AIS. There's also the little matter of having the VHF on underway, something you unfortunately don't always see.

I don't want to blame the victim here. It's quite possible that the vessel which collided with them wasn't maintaining an adequate watch, either. We've all seen that. But I think one good lesson we all can take from events like this is that technology can help with situational awareness. AIS, radar and VHF, properly used, each might have helped prevent this. Given alert watchstanders and modern electronics, things like this just shouldn't happen.

[Kettlewell]

I don't want to blame the victim here. It's quite possible that the vessel which collided with them wasn't maintaining an adequate watch, either.

My guess would be a fishing vessel. Commercial fishing boats are often plowing along with nobody paying any attention. Hopefully we can learn more about this incident. Bottom line is that those of us in pleasure craft have to stay out of the way of almost everyone else for our own good.

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by HeywoodJ

I wonder if the tanker captain reported being struck by a sailing vessel? Or being constrained? I hope we eventually get to see the actual report rather than CF speculation.

Rule 27, restricted inability to maneuver, applies to particular kinds of vessels such as dredges.
Rule 28, constrained by draft, is international only and does not apply in inland waters.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

Rule 27, restricted inability to maneuver, applies to particular kinds of vessels such as dredges.
Rule 28, constrained by draft, is international only and does not apply in inland waters.

Rule 9 still applies here though. The important bit being 9(b): A vessel of less than 20 meters in length or a sailing vessel shall not impede the passage of a vessel that can safely navigate only within a narrow channel or fairway.

[psk125]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

@love2boat,

There is also sometimes the desire to keep it to one's self. Why use a public means when one can use a private one? But psk125 is right, once the stick is in the water, that antenna is finished. That may not have happened till it ran into the dock, though, but someone just did what they thought was best at the time, or was asked by the skipper to do it.

Ann

One of the photos in the linked articles shows the boat afloat, under tow in daylight, and dismasted. Seems like dismasting happened early on or at the time of the collision. Other reports indicate a tanker as the other vessel.

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by Chotu

They must have REALLY cut that corner.



I (and everyone else that isn’t a large ship) cuts that corner pretty tight. See the chart and the Google satellite view which shows boats cutting outside the channel there.



Hard to imagine they took an even more risky cut than everyone else, but they must have to hit something since virtually all traffic goes outside the channel there.

I suspect there was a slight error in the details. The New Jersey side is not a problem, but the Delaware side is deadly. Something like a mile or two of submerged breakwater coming south out of Reedy Island. People hit it all the time. The chart is perfectly clear, but at the same time exceptionally unnoteworthy. It is shown on the chart snippet that you included in your post.

[Kettlewell]

The New Jersey side is not a problem, but the Delaware side is deadly. Something like a mile or two of submerged breakwater coming south out of Reedy Island. People hit it all the time. The chart is perfectly clear, but at the same time exceptionally unnoteworthy. It is shown on the chart snippet that you included in your post.

Yep, that Reedy Island breakwater is nasty, but if someone was in really close on the NJ side there is the Hope Creek Jetty and also a bunch of sunken barges or something near the power plant. These things are much better shown on the old raster NOAA charts than on some of the digital charts I have seen.

[Love2 boat]

I will say it one more time from someone that has done a trip from NJ to FL and back. My guess is this sailboat did not have a working VHF. I have multiple times announced my intentions of passing and have been completely ignored by sailors. Perhaps they were warned but did not have a radio and that is why they used a cell phone to call for help.
Ignorance is bliss until it is not...

[malbert73]

The latest update is not helpful

https://www.capegazette.com/article/...pegasus/265082

Don’t know how it can be a underwater obstruction given the damage.

In other updates, someone on sail net looked at historic weather and it reported “light fog” the night the accident happened. Apparently also light winds, so we can imagine the sailboat likely was motoring. With fog, and the motor running, sight and hearing would be “off” so you’d need radar and AIS for collision avoidance. And stay out of channel