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And the Court of Inquiry Finds....

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
It looks like the helm command was misinterpreted or wrong. Nobody would intentionally turn to starboard in this scenario.
 

alcodiesel

Bill McLean
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

Sustaining Member
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

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
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...
 
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Geoff W.

Makes Up For It With Enthusiasm
Blogs Author
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

Sustaining Member
Moderator
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

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
Couldn't make out a word that was said. Except for "UH-OHHH......"
 
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supersailor

Contributing Partner
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.
 
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Teranodon

Member III
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

Sustaining Member
Moderator
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.
37421.jpg

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.
 
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supersailor

Contributing Partner
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

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
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....... !
:rolleyes:
 
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toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
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

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
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.
 
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