The Charity
Aviation
Maritime
Approaching port in my yacht with one other person on board, wind East force 4, we observed a ferry outbound in the buoyed channel. I was under full sail, directly downwind, with the genoa goose-winged out. We were on starboard tack, doing 5 knots speed over ground.
By the time the ferry left the end of the channel, the distance between us was, I estimate, 2 miles. My course was 270T, his appeared to be the reciprocal. (I have no radar or AIS capability on board). We watched intently for him to alter course. At one stage he appeared to alter slightly to starboard, as if to pass behind us and on our port side, but within a few seconds resumed a course directly towards us, on a steady bearing. By this time I was very concerned, and called him twice on VHF Ch 16 (using “XXXX company Ferry just departed (name of port)”), there was no reply to either call.
With the range now less than 1 mile, I elected to get out of the way. A rapid change to starboard was out of the question with the genoa poled out – I therefore gybed the yacht and altered course 90 deg to port, onto 180 degrees. T. When I did this I believe the ferry altered slightly to port, and she passed about 200m. on our starboard side.
Lessons Learned:
We sent a copy of the report to the manager of the ferry. He responded, in summary, as follows:
In commenting on this report, we are conscious that we are doing so from the comfort and safety of the CHIRP office and not from the cockpit of a yacht or the bridge of a ferry!
Often CHIRP receives reports in which the perception of the situation from the cockpit of a yacht is different from that from the bridge of a commercial vessel. In this case, the yachtsman believes he has right of way but becomes understandably anxious as the ferry comes towards him. On the bridge of the ferry, the navigator is constrained by the shoal area from altering course to starboard and may be reluctant to alter course to port in case the yacht alters to starboard (which she might do if she was using its motor as well as sails.) Perhaps the navigator of the ferry keeps on, hoping that the yacht will get out of the way, which in this case she does.
It is useful in such cases to remind ourselves of the relevant International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (the ColRegs).
Rule 18 (d) says:
“(i) Any vessel other than a vessel not under command or restricted in her ability to manoeuvre shall, if the circumstances of the case admit, avoid impeding the safe passage of a vessel constrained by her draught, exhibiting the signals in Rule 28.” (These signals are three red lights in a vertical line, or a black cylinder.)
“(ii) A vessel constrained by her draught shall navigate with particular caution having regards to her special condition.”
If this were a case in an Admiralty Court (which it is not!) and if the Editor were a judge (which he is not), he would interpret the application of the ColRegs to this report as follows:
The yacht acted prudently in taking action to avoid a collision. As he points out in the lessons learned, consideration needs to be given to the safety of running with the genoa poled out if the single crew member, perhaps inexperienced, may have to bring the pole in quickly. Had the wind been stronger, there may also have been a reluctance to gybe. In such a situation (and referring back to the Editorial), ask yourself well beforehand “what if I need to alter course quickly…..”