COLREGS Not Under Command

[Jughead]

@requiem

My own take is that being becalmed without a working engine does count as NUC,

I can assure you that no master of a large sailing vessel considers being becalmed as NUC regardless of the state of the engine. This whole concept of a sailing vessel being required by some, as yet unspecified rule, to instantly become a power driven vessel in order to comply with the rules is beyond ridiculous. Stop it now.

@requiem

That a becalming may be more common than other events doesn’t alter the fact that one’s not able to move as might be required

Please, please, please, define the rule requirement to move and the other vessel’s requirement to stand on into a certain collision. Forget any old sailing warship ways of moving a becalmed ship although I agree a good start is to point your ship where you want to go.

@requiem

The case of applying the steering and sailing rules to a vessel that’s “stopped” is particularly problematic, but one should not assume it means one can’t be the give-way vessel, or otherwise required to keep clear.

Stopped is generally safe. The rules say so. Steering and sailing rules apply to the other vessel, who being a seaman, understands a becalmed sailing vessel isn’t going to move anywhere quickly. So can we stop inventing improbable circumstances that put the onus on a vessel obviously unable to move. This whole argument is getting beyond silly.

@Kennebec_Captain

The obligation on the part of free vessels to avoid risk of collision with those incumbered, or at rest, is imperative…

Even KC seems to agree. Do you KC? You never actually say so.