Right of way?!

fusto · Post by **fusto** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 11:34 pm

Pretty bizarre story.
Last weekend a little 22' sportfish creamed into the bow of Neptunes Car. A beautiful Santa Cruz 70 race boat that lives and sails out of Seattle.
We've hauled Neptunes Car out at our yard, shes big. Real big.
Not hard to miss. Especially with sails up.

Not sure who's at fault yet.

The guy in the sportfish must have been moving pretty fast though.

Quetzalsailor · Post by **Quetzalsailor** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:40 am

The articles's pictures show that the sails were up. That's pretty suggestive of right of way, though under power and no wind would muddle that.

Chris Campbell · Post by **Chris Campbell** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 5:41 pm

Even if the sailboat were powering with her sails up, the powerboat was approaching from her port side (conversely the sailboat was approaching the powerboat from her port side) - making the sailboat the stand on boat. I don't see how it could be possible that the sailboat would be at fault - but maybe I'm missing something.

Keep us posted on what gets decided!

keelbolts · Post by **keelbolts** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:54 am

I'm not a big fan of government involvement in much of anything so I'm not a proponent of boat licenses, but for years I've been amazed that all you have to have to get in your 50 foot, bazillion hp boat and zip across the water is a big enough wallet. No intelligence. No experience. No knowledge. Sailors have to, at least, be smart enough to make their boat move. Any idiot can make a powerboat move. Looks like one of those was driving the little power boat in this situation. We don't know if he's even read the colregs. We don't know if he can read...

I'm glad everyone is OK.

David · Post by **David** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:04 pm

To live by the rules of the road is to possibly get center-punched by the rules of the road.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:59 am

The boat on the right has right of way with a few exceptions. The other boat is not under command, limited in its ability to maneuver or engaged in fishing operations. Can't see how any of these with the exception of not under command might apply (which might be an argument for hitting something so big).

Similar to David's comment is the old saying; "He was right, dead right, as he sailed along, and now he's dead, as if he were wrong."

Keelbolts, there are requirements for buying a powerboat. Your IQ must be inversely proportional to the HP rating of the engine plus the maximum hull speed or mathematically stated; 1/(HP+HS)=IQ ;)

Ronin120 · Post by **Ronin120** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 4:05 pm

Allen has his COLREGS down. Looks like the powerboat was at fault.

And more unfortunately according to Allen's power-boat IQ requirements formula, I've got an IQ of .002247. :-P

Cheers

jollyboat · Post by **jollyboat** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 9:36 am

I have no idea what the circumstances were in concern to this accident, however, in my schooling to become a licensed captain, we learned that rule number one is to avoid collision at all times regardless of who is the stand on vessel. Given the limited information, and by the looks of the picture, the power boat is at "fault" in this case. I hope no one was hurt in this crash - I cant see how somebody is not pretty banged up eitherway. This took a lot of force. I must admit that I am always surprised by some of my guests who I take aboard 466 who cant understand why I give way to certain boats even when I am in the right - I always say the same thing. "The rules do not matter in this case, my job is to be certain that we do not have a collision".

fusto · Post by **fusto** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 11:03 am

Additional photos of the carnage.

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:42 pm

Carnage is about the right word for it. Holy mackerel.

And.... wow, mile high cradle!

kendall · Post by **kendall** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:27 am

Would like to see the bow of that power boat, looks like the Sail took it right dead on the nose, and the power boat slid down untill she dug in.

Ken.

Idon84 · Post by **Idon84** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:42 pm

Just found this post. I've been in numerous races with this boat. She is well driven and can handle any crazy start that is thrown her way. My guess... The powerboat was mesmerized by the size & speed and ignored the "rules of the road." I know I was mesmerized once by her.

On time off Gig Harbor for the Islands Race, wind was blowing about 15 gusting to 20. There were 60+ boats entered in the race and even though you are suppose to stay off the course until your start, the area we were sailing in was quite small. I remember being quite scared being so close to such a huge boat that was weaving in and out of the boats obviously doing at least a knot over everyone else. I was on a 40 footer known for being an aggressive starter and got to come within a few feet on several occasions during the starts. She knew exactly where to go and who was in the right of way. I was quite(EXTREMELY) impressed with her crews (12 minimum) ability to move her like a dinghy.

Powerboat was probably not paying any attention. Maybe one of those auto pilot people we have around the sound!

CharlieJ · Post by **CharlieJ** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:13 pm

how about this one? Maltese Falcon ( 289 feet) T-boned in SF bay by a Nordica 40

Here's the thread on CSBB-

http://www.cs-bb.com/forums/CSBB/index.cgi?read=133578

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:22 pm

Gawd, how embarrassing (assuming what is written is correct and the 40-footer was running parallel and then just tacked into Maltese Falcon).

R.

By the way, here is the direct link to that series of photos/comments:

http://lyonsimaging.smugmug.com/gallery ... #386640349

Idon84 · Post by **Idon84** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:05 am

WHOAAA!