Benthic2
Guru
The incident is in the first 90 seconds of the video linked below......
It seems like 90% of collision avoidence is awareness and common sense, but sometimes you need to know the rules and I guess I don't know them well enough.
If you don't want to watch the video there is a large freighter making a turn in the channel and a small sailboat crossing the channel and it is uncomfortably close
It looks like the freighter turned sharper than he needed to just to play chicken with the sailboat because after the sailboat takes evasive action the freighter turns to port. It seems like he could have just gone behind the sailboat and avoided the entire conflict.
The pertinent points that I noticed and that make the issue confusing for me are:
Sailboat vs Powerboat, which I know is an oversimplification but in this case the sailboat is so underpowered it can't move and the freighter is just chugging along.
I thought the term "restricted mobility" usually relates to the working function of the ship, but could it also apply to a sailboat that can't fight the current ?
The freighter gives 5 short blasts but doesn't slow down. It seems odd for him to acknowledge the danger but maintain speed ?? (or was he acknowledging the danger for the little guy and just saying "get out of my way")
It seemed akin to a pedestrian crossing where there was no crosswalk....sure, they may be wrong but it doesn't make them fair game. The freighter really seemed to turn sharper than he needed.
I am sure the freighter captain knows what he's doing. I don't think you can get to his position without that, so the odds are far greater that my confusion is due to my lack of knowledge rather than an error by the captain, but.....I'd love for everyone to play armchair captain and second guess both parties in this.
It seems like 90% of collision avoidence is awareness and common sense, but sometimes you need to know the rules and I guess I don't know them well enough.
If you don't want to watch the video there is a large freighter making a turn in the channel and a small sailboat crossing the channel and it is uncomfortably close
It looks like the freighter turned sharper than he needed to just to play chicken with the sailboat because after the sailboat takes evasive action the freighter turns to port. It seems like he could have just gone behind the sailboat and avoided the entire conflict.
The pertinent points that I noticed and that make the issue confusing for me are:
Sailboat vs Powerboat, which I know is an oversimplification but in this case the sailboat is so underpowered it can't move and the freighter is just chugging along.
I thought the term "restricted mobility" usually relates to the working function of the ship, but could it also apply to a sailboat that can't fight the current ?
The freighter gives 5 short blasts but doesn't slow down. It seems odd for him to acknowledge the danger but maintain speed ?? (or was he acknowledging the danger for the little guy and just saying "get out of my way")
It seemed akin to a pedestrian crossing where there was no crosswalk....sure, they may be wrong but it doesn't make them fair game. The freighter really seemed to turn sharper than he needed.
I am sure the freighter captain knows what he's doing. I don't think you can get to his position without that, so the odds are far greater that my confusion is due to my lack of knowledge rather than an error by the captain, but.....I'd love for everyone to play armchair captain and second guess both parties in this.