Flex tape won’t fix that! -OSV M/V Thunder

We’ve all done that, especially when going from Corpus up towards Malfunction Junction. But like you said, at some places it’s pretty tough to navigate outside of, especially at the last minute.

These OSV’s aren’t “small crew boats” while the Thunder does have a smaller deck 250’ or so total overall those Jackson boats houses are pretty damn big and she’s a 4400LT vessel.

250 x 60 is small when compared to 600 x 106.

A lot of this is quite simply the officer letting the ECDIS do the driving. The amount of close quarters situations I have observed of other vessels sticking to their track lines in bull headed fashion are staggering. A slight adjustment or turning a mile sooner can open up a situation in most cases, but time after time I watch it happen and shake my head.

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And most ships have their track lines right down the middle of the fairway. Makes far more meeting situations than is necessary.

There are areas of the safety fairway that are wipe open and clear for miles around, there are also areas where the safety fairway is literally the only open water and are pretty much a channel.

I also remember a few PSVs cutting way to close for comfort in front of me and not answering the radio when I tried to call them. I was a tug and tow and there is no way I could have left the safety fairway without the tug or the tow getting wrapped up in something.

Rule 9 does not apply to the safety fairways in the GOM, IMHO. Rule 9 is for narrow channels and fairways. 2nm wide is not narrow. Also, the fairways mark the absence of obstructions, some of which are unlit, underwater or otherwise not plainly visible. I would be reticent to leave the fairway on a deep draft vessel if I wasn’t absolutely familiar with the area.

And that’s why you don’t venture out of fairways!

That is a terrible excuse for your lack of knowledge on Nav rules.

What, hitting a rig that wasn’t on the electronic chart outside of the fairway?

That’s a perfect example of these old abandon rigs and structures littering our navigable waterways. The first time I change the route to cut across from one fairway to another there was some concerns mentioned of the possibility of hitting an unmarked underwater object. However, the crew there saw the light on the structure and failed to do anything about it. And it was on the British admiralty charts (which I always find better than noaa charts). Now if there was no light and the object was submerged and they were only using noaa charts. noaa could be liable. There was a story awhile ago about some Russian bulker that hit a Swedish rock that wasn’t charted when swirling over from paper to ECDIS charts I believe. And I think that Swedish agency was responsible

USCG New Orleans wouldn’t comment on whether or not a collision had taken place. A FOIA request has been submitted for information. The Jackson Offshore DPA has not responded to email queries.

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