"Rules of the Road" does apply to WAFIs

Maritime News Marine Incidents
41

If you put the Navy in charge of a sailboat, then you might get this:

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON – A collision last year between a Naval Academy sailboat and a coal barge being pushed by a tugboat in the Chesapeake Bay could have been avoided by crews on both vessels, the National Transportation Safety Board ruled yesterday.

While saying the tugboat Sun Coast should have stopped when a crew member saw what he believed to be a sailboat on his radar screen, the board criticized academy crew members for not monitoring emergency radio channels.

42

Not sure this is the case in your incident. And not sure how applicable in todays high tech world, but collision avoidance on a large ships with smaller craft in near coastal waters is often difficult, for a couple of reasons. 1. smaller craft are often steering a bunch of variable courses, making it impractical to take any action until close in, at which point the ship may be taking you closer than you like. 2. Smaller craft don’t appreciate the other restrictions - such as taking action to increase a CPA on a smaller craft, could bring them into an unacceptable CPA on a large ship in the area - to the small boat it may look like the ship has all kinds of room, to the officer on board he may rather take the smaller craft closer aboard and keep his distance from other larger vessels. 3. There are other restrictions on the ship the smaller craft may not appreciate. The grounding line for a deep loaded tanker is much deeper than the smaller craft may appreciate limiting there options, even in coastal waters. 4. Often, smaller craft make very poor radar targets, and in a choppy seaway can be difficult to see. They may not know you are there, because you see them, don’t assume they see you.

43

So you are saying that Rule 13 and Rule 18 don’t apply 100 miles offshore, and the cruise ship did not see me on his AIS? That I shouldn’t have stood on under Rule 17 until it was beyond obvious that the cruise ship was not following the rules? There is a reason behind Rule 18–I had to get all hands up at 0230 to gybe, while the cruise ship could have twisted a knob.

My experience at sea is that most ships try to give a CPA of at least one mile at night. I was sailing in from Hawaii to San Francisco and there was a ship “drifting” about 50 miles off the coast and 40 miles miles in front of me. When I got within 15 miles, he called me and asked for a one mile clearance, as he was waiting for a spot in port (probably for days). I gave him his mile, because the wind allowed me to easily change course and I knew that he would have to engage his engine.

There are lots of nice ship drivers, like the aircraft carrier behind me coming into Norfolk who called me and said, “don’t worry about the low CPA, he was going to slow down and turn right before he caught up”.

44

Rules apply -

Maybe - depending on conditions.

not beyond obvious - 17b applies

Nobody out there on the big ships wants to hit you. 99.9 % of the folks driving those ships are highly professional mariners, who take their job very seriously. The point of my post was to try and give you a window into some of the issues into what they may be facing.

45

I keep a 24/7 watch for the 0.1%, and hope you do too. I would like to also point out that as a smaller sailing vessel, I am comfortable taking your stern by a cable’s length, but do not like crossing your bow by less than 3 miles, especially at night.

46

Agree 100 % - Just FYI, I am a lifelong sailor - And have been on the other side of this situation a few times myself.

47

Just follow the ‘B’s in the COLREGS: Part B, Rule 18 B - A sailing vessel underway shall keep out of the way of: a vessel not under command, a vessel restricted in her ability to maneuver, and a vessel engaged in fishing.
Rule 9 B - A vessel of less than 20 meters in length or a sailing vessel shall not impede the passage of a vessel which can navigate only within a narrow channel or fairway.
Rule 17 B - When, from any cause, the vessel required to keep her course and speed finds herself so close that collision cannot be avoided by the action of the give-way vessel alone, she shall take such action as will best aid to avoid collision.

48

I just had to duck a powerboat coming from my port, it was a 90 degree crossing that would have had me nail their green running light. It was the freaking Sea Scouts of all things, looking at just about everything but where they were going :roll_eyes:

49

Which “RoR” applies?:

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50

The one about not running over people in sailboats with your powerboat would be my guess. This happened about 2 hour’s sail from my house and people on the powerboat were all looking behind them.

51

wafi failed to give way to a vessel engaged in fishing

52

The sails are still up and working. The sailor can sail home with his nice catch… and sell it.

53

Only
Non
Reg
Cadets
Find
Sleep in
Possible
Sometimes
Wednesday

54

Nope - not even close. Dragging some lures around is NOT a COLREGS fishing boat. 1001 idiots around here think dropping a line off their Bayliner makes them a trawler and it doesn’t.
Even if they WERE a COLREGS fishing boat, which they are NOT, they were doing about 25 knots coming home from fishing, which would negate that status anyway.
I don’t have time to dig up all the stuff from when that happened, but the powerboat was 100% at fault. The skipper was not looking where he was going and one of his passengers shouted at the last second - too late.

55

(1) Many decades ago, living land-locked, I took to sailing on the busiest inland waterway in Europe, teeming with barges. When introducing novices, everybody in the sailing club was adamant, never to try bow-crossings on commercial vessels, for obvious reasons.

(2) In German, the maritime professional’s term for WAFI translates as “white plague”. As a sailor, I sometimes feel embarrassed by some of my fellow hobbyists’ behavior. The majority of sailors, however, seems to be rather well-trained and responsible in my experience. As in any field, a few idiots will compensate for the vast majority of sensible people.

(3) Every sailing instructor, I ever took a course from, insisted on these informal basic rules beyond colregs:

I) “We are doing this for fun, they are doing this for a living. Respect them.”

II) “Reconsider basic geometry class. Draw a line of sight from the bridge of a large container ship across her foredeck and project your own visibility” (having said that, I still underestimated the extent of reliance on radar on a commercial ship’s bridge)

III) With a GRP hull, you will not even scratch their paint."

(Of course, suction effect, inertia and gear/engine reversal times were also covered)

(4) When I delved into coastal/offshore sailing, I purchased (and diligently read) a two volume standard nautical textbook to get a better technical understanding of big vessels and the mariner’s perspective. That got me hooked.

(6) The maritime museum in Hamburg has a ship simulator open to the public. Should be a mandatory visit for recreational sailors :wink:

56

there is no speed limit related to a vessel engaged in fishing in the col regs
I appreciate its not compliant, it was a joke

57

True but trolling doesn’t count as fishing no matter how fast or slow they’re moving. Plus, they weren’t fishing at the time.

58

fast pair trawling?

59

I noticed a distinct lack of another boat with a trawl connecting the two. 25 knot pair trawling in Annapolis harbor would be QUITE the adventure, you might not get many fish but you for sure would catch something!

60

:rofl: