Sailboat Dismasted During Race

[David Mellon]

Let's not forget the race organizers, they set up a race in a shipping lane. I'm not saying the captain isn't responsible for the collision. I'm just saying you don't put a bicycle race on a freeway, you don't mix formula one cars with motorcycles and you never mix a sailboat race with freighters. When I crewed a 92' square rigger we had to use the dredged channel in Newport Harbor, CA. We would have sabot racers yelling at us about right of way. As you know a vessel over 65' has right of way. Whether powered by a motor, sails or a slave galley.

[magnetic]

David, this took placed during Cowes Week http://www.aamcowesweek.co.uk/web/code/ ... ction=home; this is the yachting Mecca of the UK, and also happens to be the site of the major shipping lanes leading into Fawley Oil Terminal and Southampton Docks . The event takes place every year - and there are dozens if not hundreds of other smaller events in this area all year round. This collision took place off Egypt Point, adjacent to the lower exclamation mark in the lower left centre of this chart:



Every day there are literally hundreds or even thousands of pleasure craft mingling with several hundred commercial vessels in this area http://www.roundtheisland.org.uk/web/co ... ction=home , and not only are there traffic issues, but also navigation hazards such as the Bramble Bank which regularly catch both types of navigator out. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Solent-Hazards- ... pd_sim_b_3 Unfortunately your quaint 65ft rules don't apply outside the USA, and the rest of the world is subject to the COLREGS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internatio ... ons_at_Sea - under any number of which the tanker was clearly the "stand on" vessel i.e. with right of way.

These challenges are well known, and are overcome by all and sundry, as long as they are alert and well trained; the RYA courses are extremely high standard, such that on her 12th birthday my daughter sailed our Beneteau 343 from our berth in Hamble right across the area shown in this chart - including both traffic zones - and into East Cowes marina with six of her friends on board and without me lifting a finger to help her. One of the key skills is judging distance, as a large vessel at 30 knots backed by 5 knots of incoming tide can come from the horizon to your pulpit in a very short time indeed.

This skipper was an idiot - although, reading between the lines, from the name of his boat he may not have been a local. Either way, as the Marine & Coastguard Agency are now involved http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/press-release ... 4C467D5500 an incident report will no doubt be filed and before too long a full investigation will be posted on the official Marine Accident Investigation Bureau website: http://www.maib.gov.uk/home/index.cfm In passing, I strongly recommend the MAIB "Digests" which make interesting - and often quite scary - reading: http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cf ... D12011.pdf

[kadet]

The yacht involved in the collision is a spectator boat not a competitor. The competitors come through on a down wind spinnaker run well away from the orange ship towards the end of the video. The racing yachts are the ones with the poles up and blue bows and sterns.

And from the looks of the sail handling before the collision they did not appear to be very experienced or were out of control.

[Catigale]

Doesn't the swimmer at 0:23 have right of way??

[c130king]

I took a 5-day live-aboard sailing course out of Hamble Point Marina and sailed all around the Solent in February 2008. In cold windy February we saw probably 100+ boats out there. And we saw lots of ships...my instructor would start getting worried when the ship was still over 10 miles away.

I went back to the Solent in Summer of 2008 and sailed with RickJ on his 26X. We tried to sail around the Isle of Wight...from Cowes we sailed about halfway around (clockwise) and stayed overnight at Ventnor. The next morning the winds were a little too strong out of the South for us so we motored back around the way we came to the North side back in the Solent. There were over 1000+ sailboats out there (I was amazed at how many sails there were).

That is truly a sailing "Mecca" as Magnetic described. Just be sure to cross the shipping channels at 90 degrees and give them plenty of room...they look slow when far away but when they get close they are moving pretty good.

Would love to go back there someday and do some more sailing.

Cheers,
Jim

[magnetic]

Check out Case 25 on page 79 http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cf ... aft_09.pdf

[jschrade]

Doesn't the swimmer at 0:23 have right of way??

Now THAT is funny!



Jim

[pokerrick1]

When I was in San Pedro at Terminal Island (no longer exists), it never ceased to amaze me how commercial Captains and pilots held recreational boaters with disdain and often put them in dangerous positions. Especially guity were the tugboat Captains with their POWERFUL engines and trememdous BACKWASH - - - it's a good idea to stay far away from those guys.

Even in El Segundo (LA Area) where the oil tankers unload, the tug boats who guide them in and out of the pipelines where they discharge their oil, gather around their tanker on the sides and stern while they unload - - - and they are very watchful of the many recreational boats that sail a wide swath around the tanker to see the sight and take pictures. That was one of my favorite day trips when I was at Marina Del Rey - - - sail to and around the tanker (one was almost always there - - - sometimes two) and then back to my dock - - - about a 3+ hour trip - - - for a nap before going to play poker in LA .

Rick