Almost run over.

[Captain Bill]

Saturday we were going to Chub from Nassau and were almost run over by a megayacht with no one at the helm. The boat's name is Andiamo and can be seen at this web site: Andiamo Yacht - Azimut Yachts Motor Yacht | superyachts.com

The boat was on a slightly different course coming from about 10 degrees off of the port stern. It was not transmitting any AIS so I was calling it in the blind since all I could see was the bow. I made 4 calls starting when it was about a half a mile away. I was basically yelling into the mike as they got close trying to get someone on the bridges attention. At about 200 yards I started blowing my 123 db horns as well. Seas were 5-8 feet and we were sailing with 1 reef in and the jib. I started a 90 degree turn to starboard as a port turn would have put us across his bow broadside. I started the port engine and went immediately to full throttle to help the turn. We managed to get about 50 feet of separation before they passed our stern. We were only about 45 degrees through the turn. At that point I was continuously sounding the horns. Still no response. I got the name off of the side of the boat as they passed and made 4 more radio calls to the boat by name and still got no response. I then made a securite call advising all boaters that there was a 120 ft megayacht named Andiamo with no one at the helm headed in the general direction of Chub. The boat was about 1/2 mile away by then. The Securite call got a response which was "This is Andiamo, are you talking about us?" My response was "Yes". They replied "What's the problem? To Which I replied "You almost ran over me" . His reply "I'm sorry the captain's not here right now and there's no one at the helm." I replied they needed to get someone at the helm before they killed somebody. They said they would have the captain call me when he returned. About 20 minutes later the captain put out a radio call to another boat that they had passed about 15 minutes before almost running us down. He wondered why they had a problem with their passing since it was .7 nm separation. I broke into the conversation and explained it was us, not the boat that he was talking to had the problem and that the only reason we had 50 feet of separation was because I took evasive action. He said he didn't see us and he had two people in the wheel house. I asked if anyone heard my horn, no they hadn't. I don't know how they could have missed 50 foot tall white sails passing 50 feet off their beam if they had been looking out the windows, so clearly they weren't keeping the required watch by sight. Now I'll admit the noisy ends of my 123 db horns were at all times pointed away from them, but they're pretty noisy. The guy who first answered the radio seemed oblivious. The captain wasn't much better. The yacht is for charter and boasts a professional crew of 4, of which at least two don't know how to stand an watch and possibly didn't know how to turn the boat or pay attention to the radio. The advertisement boasts that it's air conditioned throughout. Perhaps it is soundproof as well. In any case the next time someone sings the praises of professional mariners, I'm going to suggest that the perform an anatomically impossible sex act on themselves.

Rant over