“Moron Hits Ship” would be a more accurate title for the video.
Yep, I concur.
Apparently he was blinded by the neon pink of his chute and could not see the huge tanker coming his way.
The video comments are great 
[QUOTE=Flyer69;53763]Yep, I concur.
Apparently he was blinded by the neon pink of his chute and could not see the huge tanker coming his way.
The video comments are great :D[/QUOTE]
Apparently he was deafened by his monster ego, and didn’t hear the five short blasts, three of which are heard as the video begins.
It never ceases to amaze me the boneheads who try and cut across a ship’s bow. Unless his situational awareness was totally lacking, he was probably saying “sailboats have the right-of-way, he has to let me by” or something idiotic. He’s very lucky no one was killed on his boat.
I believe the last three words uttered by the sailor were: Sheet, Guy… SHIT!
[QUOTE=salt’n steel;53897]I Unless his situational awareness was totally lacking… He’s very lucky no one was killed on his boat.[/QUOTE]
Being a sailboater (Oh gheesh, don’t think less of me!) I have known since I was a whippersnapper that Yachters have about a 75’ “Situational Awareness” envelope. They don’t see the horizon as far as concerning other boats. Especially commercial traffic. Most yachts have very, and I mean VERY short turning radii. A sailboat can turn around in its own length. The view is that a yacht can simply ‘turn away’ from whatever danger presents leads to myopia by the yachter.
Nevermind that it appears that the only sentence in the ‘Rule of the Road’ that sailboaters read is that sailing vessels have the right of way… Then they stop reading the rest of the book.
Regarding these types of races, the lead boats (Of which this Darwin Award Candidate is amongst) typically closely observe, and attempt to mimic the leaders. The boats racing are usually pretty close capability-wise. So the only way to beat an opponent is to ‘fine tune’ what you are doing in relation to the other guy. The closer they mimic each other, the better chances of catching (and beating) an opponent are. Rarely do sailboat races devolve into everyone going in a different direction, different tack, different philosophys. Once they separate it is very likely that one boat will be heads and tails gone from the pack when they re converge on a race turning mark. These Idiots forget that there are other users of the water that they must be aware of, and navigate around too.
[QUOTE=cappy208;54040]Being a sailboater (Oh gheesh, don’t think less of me!) I have known since I was a whippersnapper that Yachters have about a 75’ “Situational Awareness” envelope. They don’t see the horizon as far as concerning other boats. Especially commercial traffic. Most yachts have very, and I mean VERY short turning radii. A sailboat can turn around in its own length. The view is that a yacht can simply ‘turn away’ from whatever danger presents leads to myopia by the yachter.
Nevermind that it appears that the only sentence in the ‘Rule of the Road’ that sailboaters read is that sailing vessels have the right of way… Then they stop reading the rest of the book.
Regarding these types of races, the lead boats (Of which this Darwin Award Candidate is amongst) typically closely observe, and attempt to mimic the leaders. The boats racing are usually pretty close capability-wise. So the only way to beat an opponent is to ‘fine tune’ what you are doing in relation to the other guy. The closer they mimic each other, the better chances of catching (and beating) an opponent are. Rarely do sailboat races devolve into everyone going in a different direction, different tack, different philosophys. Once they separate it is very likely that one boat will be heads and tails gone from the pack when they re converge on a race turning mark. These Idiots forget that there are other users of the water that they must be aware of, and navigate around too.[/QUOTE]
Just to add a little more data to this old post:
The incident took place just off Cowes in the middle of the Solent, during the Cowes Week racing events. The tanker was making a sharp turn (some large vessels even have to have their bows pushed around by tugs) to get past the Bramble Bank into the Thorne Channel leading to Southampton Water. The area is a special zone controlled by Southampton VTS and all the sailors there know that they must keep clear of commercial shipping – they must never stand on, whether they are racing or not. So it is almost impossible that the racing skipper would have thought that the tanker would keep out of his way because he was under sail.
Although this is my sailing area (my boat lives in Cowes over the winter), I was not present when this happened (I was a few miles away), and didn’t see it, but I am guessing that the racing skipper did not understand the trajectory of the turning tanker. Large vessels like this have to maintain quite a high speed to maintain steerage and it can be really hairy in that spot with large vessels racing by, making sharp turns, etc.
I am guessing that perhaps it was not total idiocy, but probably just a badly miscalculated crossing that caused the accident. I agree with the comment above about sailors often having a poor understanding of how crossing situations develop over time – under the illusion that they can just turn away out of danger they often fail to maneuver early enough.
As to anyone getting killed – did anyone notice that someone went overboard, apparently jumped (!) overboard, just before the impact? I have not heard what happened to that guy, but the waters of the Solent are ice cold and not a very pleasant place to be overboard.
Cappy208: You’re a sailor…? Man, I learn something new everyday.
I guess that guy was used to driving the Saratoga… Ahh the good ole Sara!
[QUOTE=Swampfox;82850]Cappy208: You’re a sailor…? Man, I learn something new everyday.[/QUOTE]
Well… I make my living on Tugs, but I sail (still) for enjoyment. (As time and ‘ye olde battle axe’ permits)
It’s an incentive type deal boss, incentives are important…I learned that in rehab
Nice. Made my day Capt.