Anyone have some info on this. All I have seen is a basic article saying the tug escorting a barge ran over a sailboat in SF.
I hate these stories, Hope the tug was displaying markings indicating “a vessel restricted in its ability to maneuver.” Otherwise, the tug capt is hosed.
Probably one of the “beautiful people” who wanted to close down the Golden Gate on weekends for wind surfers and kite boarders. Maybe it was Larry Ellisons “Oracle” catamaran flipping itself over again. Beautiful city inhabited by delusional nitwits.
Problem is the blow boater probably wouldn’t have a clue what those balls and diamonds meant. They’re pretty good about doing whatever they want to do since they own the water.
From what I heard they were towing a dump barge to the dredge site and the wafi went between the tow.
Between the tow! Great, they really know how to make sailboats look professional. Hope the Mate on watch on the tug was on the radio making distress or warning calls before it happened. That’d show he knew what was gonna happen but there was nothing he could do, hopefully clear him.
Yup or dump that break and slow down so they don’t get the wire.
We had a day boater attempt to split the tow in San Diego a few years back, and I couldn’t dump the wire in time (on top of yelling and trying to signal the guy) ended up shaving the dudes bottom off. That was a fun day.
I sailed many a time into and out of the bay. I am glad I am in the engine room. My ass would pucker if I had to deal with all those sailboats while on the bridge. They are everywhere in the bay. Especially on a sunny weekend. Seem they all think they have the right of way as well.
Helping lift the ‘Gene Pool’ numbers… One WAFI at a time.
Saturday was the annual Three Bridge Fiasco, a race sponsored by the Singlehanded Sailing Society. It apparently was the largest race in the US, with 365 boats attending, all single- or doublehanded. Conditions toward the end of the race (apparently when the collision occurred) were a big more like summertime in the Bay than we’d expected, with winds up to 30kts, etc. Given that the boats were short-handed, conditions were unexpectedly blowy and we were all rigged for light air, it got a bit hair-raising.
That said, if the skipper really did try to split the tow…not much excuse for that.
There doesn’t seem to be much info out about this collision. Various rumors in the sailing world suggest that the boat was outside the Golden Gate Bridge and not a participant in the Three Bridge Fiasco race around the bay.
News Flash!
The mainstream news media is reporting that a barge under tow struck and sank a sailboat near the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday around 1500 hours. The two people onboard the yacht were rescued and did not require hospitalization. Given the time, location, and number of crew reported, odds were high that the sailboat involved was a Three Bridge Fiasco entry. Update: Coast Guard Ensign Corrine Gaines tells us that the sailboat was NOT part of the Three Bridge Fiasco.
…article says they were near mile rock (just outside golden gate). if she’s on the same job as a couple of months ago she’s towing dump scows from oakland out to the offsbore disposal site…i was working another boat doing the same thing. i quickly grew to hate the weekend afternoons in the bay. at least when it was sunny, you could see em coming. the fog didn’t seem to deter the buggers.
They are a total pain in the ass in SF . Technically you are not a RAM vessel while towing a barge unless the tow is extremely unwieldy or large . The fact the tug was probably participating in a traffic separation scheme should protect them? Plus what the hell would you do other than sound the danger signal, or perhaps dump some wire if you saw it coming . I’m all for having to take hater safety courses in order to register your boat. Even though all the blowboaters would probably come out with is whay they wanted to hear; “cool, I thought I had right of way all the time.”
I’ve now seen reports on The Pressure Drop sailing forum and the Mojo Sail blog that the tug involved was the Arthur Brusco. Both sources suggest that the AIS track is consistent with the incident.
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You are correct i saw an article confirming that somewhere.
There are a few photos of the collision up on Latitude 38.
Apparently there was also a collision between a small power boat and the ferry San Francisco over the weekend.
Unbelievable, yet believable. Typical WAFI. Cut between a tug and tow in broad daylight.
[QUOTE=dredgeboater;99635]Unbelievable, yet believable. Typical WAFI. Cut between a tug and tow in broad daylight.[/QUOTE]
They were prepared, they had a fender out.
[QUOTE=renoun;99647]They were prepared, they had a fender out.[/QUOTE]
Funny…but sad.
30 years ago, my local waters had a similar incident where 2 families perished. The incident is still discussed at Power Squadron “Safe Boater” courses.
Give it a read: