Next month in Aug I’ll have 2 years as a rowing dad. My kid rows almost 6 days a week. And freaking early! Starting 6:30 or 7am! Those darn kids row in the cold, dark & rain but never in fog or lightning. The national organization that oversees our small team, USROW, absolutely requires a motorized coach/chase boat with 2 adults on board. I do this 6 days a week when I’m at home. The term, “crash boat” is foriegn to me. No way in hell parents would fork over $2,400 a year if the term, “crashboat” & the possibility of their kids dying was mentioned. This sailing school in Miami was a Mickey Mouse operation compared to a USROW organization where coaches/parents are required to be in a motorized jonboat for the kids to even dip oars in the water. Something criminal on both sides happened here imo.
It’s normally a quiet, dead-end patch of water among those islands N of the McArthur Cswy. (apart from tourist boats grounding on the Monument I. shoals)
But looking at some other clips from more angles, eg start of this vid…
…it would appear that the bridge “box” of the tug was way below the level of the crane cab. From there, any lookout would be completely blind ahead, and probably 30+ degrees P & S. Surely there would have been another lookout……..
It’s been a common term for a safety/rescue boat since world war 2. We always called it a crash boat when I was learning to sail, most people still informally do in the sailing world. But I understand if rowboaters are as afraid of scary words as they are of wind and waves 
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Do you have any basis for that comment? MYC has been around for nearly 100 years, the YSF is well established, and US Sailing, the organization that certifies sailing instructors has been around much longer. I’m not familiar with this club, but I’d be real hesitant to disparage them with zero details out there.
Miami YC has lots of flashy coach boats (never heard the term “crash boat” in any local or international event). However the competence of their operators, in my experience, left me lost for words…
only remotely related to this tragic event the company that owns the tug and barge might as well close up shop. my opinion is that the operator of the truckable will go to jail and be sued separately along with the company
article in august 2025 issue of workboat. “legal talk” Tim Akpinar.
the tug captain got sued separately for pollution off California when he lost power and the tug and tow(fishing boat) ran aground
looking at the video, its obvious the operator could what was in front of him because the deck crane.
one would also have to speculate that he did not have a man on the bow of the barge with a radio
sorry hit reply too early operator could NOT see what was infront of him because of the crane
Side comment: I cant think of more discouraging way to teach children to sail than at OPTI shoe box
The opposite is also true- sailboats that are hardly moving on an almost calm day with multiple passengers do not just “suddenly” appear directly in front of you with no time to react.
They did have a motorized safety vessel because you can see it in one of the videos-it appears he was helping out some other boats…
Yeah, but try and change it and your club is an outlier that can’t race any other club no matter how depressing racing a box is 
Crash boat is a common term, also called a rescue boat. Sometimes they are mark boats too and sometimes not.
On San Francisco Bay where a normal day is 25 to 30 knots of wind boats turn turtle all the time that’s why we always called them crash boats. the yacht club i belonged to we always had at least 3 whalers on the water for youth sailing. you can do a face plant into the sail of a wasp or foiling moth in seconds while on plane
The phrase “right of way” has no place in any discussion of collision rules or procedures, unless you’re in a river.
“ right of way “
Great when 1000t of barge crashes into you.
Indeed.
Or when anything crashes into anyone, for that matter.
Kind of the point.
Thus the change in COLREGS language and “last clear chance”, just to make sure no one confuses stand-on with a hunting license.
I guess you’re talking about Rule 17(b), which was added in the 1972 revision. This goes rather further than the last clear chance doctrine, which is a general common law principle of tort law. 17(b) imposes a positive obligation on the stand-on vessel to take action.
A few thoughts
Shoreside witnesses saw a person on the barge but they were about half way back and not behaving in a manor indicating they were acting as a lookout, when they saw the sailboat they ran toward the stern of the barge waving (I think) at the tug, the tug did try and stop but too late.
yes the structures on the barge sure look like impaired vision/sight lines to me and I would think that should have required a lookout at the front of the barge
What about a sound producing device / horn on the sailboat?
Was there a VHF radio on the sailboat & chase boat? Would the operators have known that commercial vessels should monitor Ch 13?
What was the course of the barge/tug? - if they were turning the sailboat might not have known they were on the intended track
The chase boat was in the process of collecting the becalmed sailboats
I am not familiar with the area but an aerial view looks like an area with probably high recreational vessel use and thus requiring extra diligence. A few years ago I was a guest on a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter that was over 300 ft long, it was traveling along the edge of a large sailing regatta with standard recreational boating, I was very impressed
We also don’t know if the tug had a radio or any knowledge of its use.