Another No-Watch Boat

[atmartin]

Originally Posted by thinwater

How long did I look? First, I had been looking with binoculars. Second, when we jibed, I purposely went DDW for a while, wing and wing, and paced him. NO ONE THERE for several minutes. My cockpit is high enough to look into the other cockpit.

Why the knee jerk defense? This is a relatively crowded waterway, only about 4 miles south of Annapolis, MD. This is NOT a place you go to sleep or keep watch from the salon. Have you never seen a no-watch boat before? Wow.

Didn't mean to defend anyone, I just didn't appreciate how close quarters your encounter was. My mistake; it sounds pretty bad. I've never had anything similar happen, but I've got a lot less miles/hours in such busy waters.

Closest thing we ever had was almost getting run down by another cruiser motoring in the Baja Ha-Ha. They were fully crewed and on deck, but busy fishing!

[Singularity]

Originally Posted by thinwater

Just wow.

In the spirit of ancient Greek comedy (an integral part of society in which social issues were hashed out), modern comedy that addresses the expressed concerns quite precisely:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN99jshaQbY

[JPA Cate]

Hi, guys,

First off, there's really no good excuse for not keeping watch in high activity areas. Even singlehanders can keep it together for that. I personally think an 8-10 min look around is flat out inadequate for busy places. You need to be there, or your off-sider, a trusted crew person, and you need to keep a 360 deg watch. Situations can change really rapidly.

Reasons for failure to do so vary from not giving a hoot, through stupidity, laziness, not having learned the rules, not having understood them if they learned them, through a medical or mechanical emergency below decks, a continuum of blameworthiness, from dreadful to somewhat better.

About a year and a half ago, there was an incident in the Caribbean, where a mo-bo collided with a sailing vessel, resulting in loss of life. The event was mentioned here on CF. It appeared that no one on the mo-bo was paying attention, and the guy on the sailboat didn't try to turn away fast enough. His girlfriend paid with her life, not something I'd want to have to think about in the lonely wee hours of the night.

None of us will ever know why some people don't keep a watch, or why some people are willing to risk their own lives as well as those of others to avoid watch keeping responsibly. It's find with me if some people don't want to read yet another thread about watch keeping. I sure do hope they know how to stand a watch, though.

Someone above wrote that he makes the assumption that whatever the reason someone is not visibly on watch is a "good" one; well, I commend that for a generous and friendly soul. Not all of us are so kindly.

Ann

[hellosailor]

It is certainly possible that a sailor could be using the same 360-degree optical array that is being deployed on the latest USN nuclear submarine periscopes. No one on deck, no one visible, but the boat still can keep a 360-degree visual watch.

Heck, four cameras on the deck or up the mast would do it. What, none of you have dashcams on your mast?? Wasted your money on companions and booze?

But since Jimmy the Greek died, I'm still reluctant to take odds on anything.