Sailing boat overrun by motoryacht, deadly accident

[sailormed]

https://www.lanazione.it/grosseto/cr...cole-1.7916894

Above link is a video in italian (which I do not speak), about an accident yesterday afternoon of the coast of Argentario (Porto Ercole), north of Rome.
A big motoryacht ran over a sailing boat under sail. Result: 2 dead, 1 missing, 1 in hospital with lifelong disabilities. Motoryacht under command of 2 persons.
Investigation ongoing. I have no other informations.

[sailormed]

The motoryacht involved in the accident.

[boatman61]

They are a problem in the Med.. had close encounters a few times with the 'Entitled'..

[JPA Cate]

Time for a couple of manslaughter convictions, at the very least.

Ann

[Rumrace]

Years ago I watched a drunk captain hit the Breakwall at Michigan City Indiana. Was a 390 Express and I’d guess hit the wall at 30 knots. Was watching the fireworks in Chicago
Captain was jailed. 2 Dead 1 Cripple Indiana gave him 10 years for two counts of manslaughter. His insurance company bailed on the boat but had two cover injuries and 11 other boats damaged by debris

[Greatest Lakes]

That michigan city breakwater is a common one, particularly the last couple years when the lake was high.

[Rumrace]

Sad to hear. This was 20 years ago. I’d just bought a SeaRay lightly used and was out for my second time for a moonlight putt before I headed home to Honey Harbour Ontario. We were like 3 miles out we had putted over to the dunes and back. At the time the 390 Express was their biggest boat. I’d bought a 310 and just inside the Breakwall a 310 got written off by debris and I was temporary in that slip row. We got put at the gas pump and had the state police interview us the next day.
3 people died in boats weekend past. A small power boat ran into a huge anchored yacht was carried off looking grim.
Last summer we saw in Toronto harbour a rental boat pile on the rocks killing 2.
Bad economic times are good for boating safety it seems. My last SeaRay had 2 train engines. Can sure do some damage out of control.

[Lake-Effect]

Hopefully some will connect the occurrences and sentiments in this thread with the colregs etiquette thread, and my objections to powerboats running so close to sailboats.

(They can run into breakwalls as often as they like, as far as I care)

[Rumrace]

Bad boaters show up in any craft. The percentage of bad sailors may be greater than power boating. Sailboats do dumb ass stuff in front of power boats as if they understand the inner workings of a sailboat. In the same situation two power boaters signal intent Sailor argue with each other in the same situation. Power boaters call our sheets ropes I know I still do.
Two sailors were killed anchored out in the middle of midland bay. They were killed by a drunk in a 28’ Cruisers Inc. around 1:30 am.
My first thought was why would some dummy anchor in the middle of the bay with a ditched mast light. Yup there shouldn’t be drunks on the water but fewer targets would help. We were tied up at Midland Docks as the carnage arrived.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Rumrace

Bad boaters show up in any craft. The percentage of bad sailors may be greater than power boating.

Bad sailors usually cause arguments and gelcoat repairs. Bad powerboaters cause greater damage and sometimes injuries or deaths.

Sailboats do dumb ass stuff in front of power boats

... and it's only a problem when the powerboat is too fast and too close.

Two sailors were killed anchored out in the middle of midland bay. They were killed by a drunk in a 28’ Cruisers Inc. around 1:30 am.
My first thought was why would some dummy anchor in the middle of the bay with a ditched mast light. Yup there shouldn’t be drunks on the water but fewer targets would help. We were tied up at Midland Docks as the carnage arrived.

From small powerboats, masthead anchor lights look like a star or something on shore. If I need to anchor where small power boat traffic is possible, I'll light up the boat like a parade float.

[PJS]

my objections to powerboats running so close to sailboats.

(They can run into breakwalls as often as they like, as far as I care)[/QUOTE]



Ah, there it is... I knew someone would identify the issue. It MUST be those damned POWER BOATS!

Couldn't be the fact that it's a Captain with poor judgement, or a mechanical issue or ego's (no one willing to give way).

It's funny how often I hear people who are sailors on this forum bash/demonize power boats but say NOTHING in kind about sail boats?? I have witnessed as many dumb ass Captains of sail boats as I have with power boats.

[ftamburrano]

Argentario (Grosseto), 25 July 2022 - The accident at the Argentario is a tragedy. Saturday afternoon a motorboat with four Danish tourists , probably navigating under automatic tiller, has overrun a 56 feet sailboat with six people onboard. In the impact the former hit the cockpit zone where sitting six people, among which a former Italian champion lady. The sailboat opened-up on the back, but did not sink. Died Andrea Giorgio Coen, 59 anni Rome resident. Anna Claudia Cartoni, 60 y old, roman disappeared and was not found yet, despite extensive searches during the subsequent night and today, still going on, which will continued with special robots under water. The man was hit by the propeller and wound: it was possible to recover the body only in a shipyard, I was told.[IMG]D:\francescotamburrano\immagini\immagini catturate\incidente argentario.jpg[/IMG]

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by PJS

Ah, there it is... I knew someone would identify the issue. It MUST be those damned POWER BOATS!

Couldn't be the fact that it's a Captain with poor judgement, or a mechanical issue or ego's (no one willing to give way).

I have no problems with the vast majority of powerboaters. A few are friends.

But a car is still more dangerous than a bike. A gun is still more dangerous than a knife. What would have happened if the thread's title situation was reversed: a 56 ft sailboat "runs over" a 70 ft motor yacht...spilled drinks? Bent pulpit?

My only point is that it seems that some powerboaters think nothing of running fast and close to sailboats. Then there's all that colreg armwaving and lawyering because a sailboat acts like a sailboat, instead of bowing down and yielding to the mightier powerboat.

[waterman46]

There will always be ignorant, inattentive and malicious boaters out there. Be observant and even if you are the stand-on vessel, plan your escape route for every encounter and take action as soon as the need arises.

Not excusing the power yacht skipper, It would be very interesting to know if such avoidance had been attempted by the sailboat in this case.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Hopefully some will connect the occurrences and sentiments in this thread with the colregs etiquette thread, and my objections to powerboats running so close to sailboats.

(They can run into breakwalls as often as they like, as far as I care)

It is really rare, this modern age, that mistakes or disagreements over the COLREGs "inside baseball" technicalities -- stand-on, give-way, motoring-cone, inland-vs-int'l, etc etc etc -- result in fatalities.


The fatal collisions, without exception, involve failures at watch keeping.