And the Court of Inquiry Finds....

[Christian Williams]

Video: [url]https://youtu.be/aXrTvVh4NOs

Story: https://gcaptain.com/?s=historic schooner

I think the investigators will have a short work day.

"Starboard tack! Attention, we are honking our horn!"

 

[bgary]

it is positively astounding that nobody was killed in that mess.

 

[Christian Williams]

It looks like the helm command was misinterpreted or wrong. Nobody would intentionally turn to starboard in this scenario.

 

[alcodiesel]

Youch! I feel the pain. There is a lot of traffic in our harbor which includes aircraft carriers and submarines which the Navy is very touchy about if one gets too close. (don't ask me how I know)
I can see how under the pressure of a close encounter one can more easily make a mistake or bad call. Therefore I avoid close encounters like the plague. Give the big guys a w i d e berth.
I've been on the bridge of a ship with sailboats around- frankly they scared the heck out of us!

 

[nquigley]

Appalling seamanship by the schooner's captain (and crew). COLREGS rule #1 !!
How can they have continued to stand-on so long? (until they essentially had no options).
Regardless whether the ship was navigating a narrow channel or was free to alter course, the yacht could have easily borne away a few degrees toward the shore at the beginning of the video, onto a parallel course with the ship, then resumed course a few minutes right after the ship passed.
Luckily, no one was killed!!

 

[toddster]

Anybody know how to say "Hard to Port! " in German? 'Cause it sounded like that's what was shouted. But crew (tourists?) put the tiller to port instead.

You know this is just what is happening any time you let "a friend" take the helm while you go below to make a sandwich...

 

[Geoff W.]

Anybody know how to say "Hard to Port! " in German? 'Cause it sounded like that's what was shouted. But crew (tourists?) put the tiller to port instead.

You know this is just what is happening any time you let "a friend" take the helm while you go below to make a sandwich...

Good reminder to practice our "urgent" skipper calls. I do my best to keep my cool, but sometimes a big puff starts knocking us over while I'm letting others take over and I don't have the mental fortitude to say, "take the green line off the starboard winch and let the mainsail ease out all the way!" and it comes out as "BLOW THE SHEET"!! The urgency in my voice just makes people start scrambling for anything that looks like something to do, almost all of which is the wrong thing.

 

[Tin Kicker]

I heard that the German accident happened when the sailboat blew a tack when they wanted to. We see people do stupid runs at big ships in the Chesapeake.

 

[Kenneth K]

Couldn't make out a word that was said. Except for "UH-OHHH......"

 

[gabriel]

It looks like the helm command was misinterpreted or wrong. Nobody would intentionally turn to starboard in this scenario.

You never know, maybe the Kapitän had the idea of converting it into a catamaran.

 

[supersailor]

About 2 or three years ago, a Seattle ferry with an apprentice helms lady was approaching a boat under sail. The skipper ordered a turn to port. The helms lady executed a turn to starboard, realized her error and turned to port running over the sailboat, turning it into splinters.

Even the big guys make major mistakes.

 

[Teranodon]

Anybody know how to say "Hard to Port! " in German? ...

Whenever I am crewing and find that I have to communicate a very urgent course change to the person at the helm, I always say "Go left!" or "Go right!". This means that I take responsibility for choosing the direction, having decided that there is not enough time for the helmsman to asses the situation. Also, I don't want to take any chance that "port" or "starboard" will be misinterpreted.

 

[Tin Kicker]

My other half and I regularly talk about how differently our brains are wired. I can't remember names to save my life, while she and my daughter are spatially challenged. (Glad they don't come here or they would've seen spell-check change this to "specially challenged." LOL) I "see" everything in 3D while they have to take time and actively think to simply get left and right correct. The fly bonnet on my daughter's horse is the best example I can think of where somebody has worked to overcome the issue for when instructions of left and right are yelled out.


Spatial and perception differences are well documented:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4304985/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14607168
We see this all the time in accident investigations.

Or the German sailboat could have simply blown the tack from something basic, like a snagged sheet at the wrong instant or a person grabbing the wrong line.

 

[supersailor]

I like it. Perhaps on each side of the back of the cabin for beginners. For some, adding arrows would be quite helpful.

 

[Loren Beach]

I like it. Perhaps on each side of the back of the cabin for beginners. For some, adding arrows would be quite helpful.

We have had a visiting crew person for an evening sail that we all later agreed might have steered more accurately if he had been shot with arrows....... !

 

[toddster]

Throw a tiller into the mix and some people's brains just implode.

Associated phenomenon: I've noticed that when approaching a group of people on the bike path, if you shout the traditional "On your left!" each person turns and jumps in a random direction, spreading out the group and blocking whatever passage may have previously been available.

 

[Christian Williams]

Yes, and I have given up the traditional directive to the helmsman "leave the buoy to starboard" (or port).

"Huh?"

The phrase seems backwards to people, or confusing, or highly technical. And I guess if it seems so, it is.

 

[supersailor]

Just think. These same people are clogging your hiways. No wonder it's so bloody out there!

 

[Tin Kicker]

. . . . . deleted