“As much as it may sound cold and heartless, passenger safety and the culture of WSF might have been better served if the yachtie was drowned in his sinking yacht after it was rammed by Chetzemoka.”
Cold and heartless, perhaps, but oh so true.
It’s a sad fact that because of human resistance to common sense, all safety regulations (good, bad & in between) are written in somebody’s blood. Usually a whole bunch of somebodies.
It’s just the way we roll. 
Thanks for pointing that out.
That is the reason the CG and FAA are know as “tombstone agencies” … they don’t do anything until the number of tombstones is too great to ignore.
By Jove I think you’ve finally got it. You can’t make a mountain out of a mole hill.
maybe so but those of us who give two shits certainly have got to try
A few of us “got it” a long time ago and that is why we bother to talk about it. This is a mole hill on the side of a mountain.
Just because the CG and WSF don’t give a shit doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter.
if it is one human caused accident per trillion passenger miles at the WSF it is too high and that the safety culture is lacking…there should be ZERO tolerance for causing accidents whether they involve death, injury or even minor property damage. The responsible parties should at least be demoted within the system if not outright terminated. In any egregious case of dereliction or plain incompetence then licenses need to be taken. IMO, this case should have resulted in the master being demoted to mate with his master’s level endorsement reduced for one full year with three years probation after the one year reduction in grade. Had there been injury or death the the NAP TIME’s operator, that license should have been permanently revoked.
All this just feeds the Norweagon’s argument for unmanned piloting. A computer would have blindly followed the rules and avoided the yacht.
Or used its tractor beam to move the yacht…
Things should run smooth for a while, when the toy boats start crowding the plate again someone will pitch one high and inside and brush em back.
crowding? how was the NAP TIME crowding the CHETZEMOKA that day?
besides, no pitch high and inside…rather a wild pitch right to the crotch of the hitter who wasn’t wearing his cup
btw, that list if BC Ferries incidents you posted is still there…why?
The ferry waited to long to take action.
If someone truly wanted to determine how safe the ferry system is data has to be used in some methodical way. How many encounters with small craft does the WSF have each year?
Very true. And the BC ferry record helps for perspective. Need to have more than two old cranks on a soapbox.
That is another strawman … there is no acceptable number of collisions. A single one is too many regardless of the number of encounters. The more encounters, the more care and attention must be paid and the more the entire bridge team should be involved. Freelancing by a rogue master is not acceptable.
The number of collisions caused by a ferry driver intentionally choosing to ignore bridge team input and COLREGS is 100 percent higher than anyone should ever be willing to accept.
No, the ferry only responded to the inputs of the person in charge. That person expected the yacht to violate COLREGS and give way because the ferry driver chose (note the term - chose - he made a deliberate decision to ignore bridge team input) and violate COLREGS because ??? Is he incompetent? Is WSF so lacking in oversight that masters are allowed to make their own rules of the road depending on their mood?
I seriously wonder how any professional mariner can call for this to be pushed under the rug or argue that the ferry driver was not irresponsible if not operating in a reckless manner, or just as bizarre, make personal attacks against those who question the reasons this collision occurred. Trying to stifle discussion by name calling is certainly less than professional isn’t it?
No, absolutely, don’t sweep it under the rug, if you know of some way of making the WSF system, or any ferry system 100% incident free you should definitely let the world know the secret.
The only drawback I see is that it’s unbelievable as is the idea that data can’t be used to measure safety.
If that is a complete list of the number of BC Ferries incidents since 1969, many of which involved mechanical failure, I have to say that the BC Ferries has a pretty damn impressive safety record overall.
Although it seems like the Washington State Ferries have had more than their share of screw ups and incidents over the last few years, some of which were mechanical, and I sometimes get the impression that WSF officers sometimes think that they have the right of way regardless of the COLREGS — I suspect that an analysis of the data from the last 50 years would probably show that WSF probably has had a pretty good overall safety record over the last 50 years.
what I want to know now is why this thread no longer shows up in the list of current threads? it obviously is not closed but it is hidden when looking at the threads currently being discussed…why?
Of course there is no way to make any system 100 percent incident free short of stopping it from operating.
Where did you get the idea that data can’t be used to measure safety? No one here has made that claim.
The WSF safety history is quite good but that has nothing to do with the reasons for the type of incidents that have occurred. The fact that a yacht was rammed by a ferry driver who acted as if he did not need to follow the rules is a good indication that there is a reason he believed he would get away with it.
Two months after my FOIA request, the Coast Guard finally sent me a digital copy of the collision report. Now if only I had a CD-rom drive…
That recreational “sailors” is not paying attention and/or not knowing the rules of the road is happening in every part of the world. Here is a video posted by the Norwegian Pilot Association of a common occurrence in the summer season.
Familiar??: https://www.facebook.com/Norsk.Losforbund/videos/1563622210314699/
BTW; This is taken on departure from Brevik, one of the ports that the E/V “Yara Birkeland” will soon be trafficking autonomously. How will the “computer Captain” handle the situation you may ask.
