Metabarca
Well-known member
picked up off the net:
While leaving Noumea in a 3,000t container ship with a pilot aboard en route to the Havannah Passage exit through the reef, we passed through the narrow "Canal Woodin". In a narrow part of this restricted passage we observed the lights of a sailing yacht glowing through her spinnaker as she approached in the dark night.
Initially her bearing was 2 points on the port bow but her course took her uncomfortably close across our bow. Glimpses during the incident showed her to be about 50ft. long and expensive looking. When safely across and now on our starboard bow, her lights suddenly altered to a single bright red! She had gone about and was coming back across our bow so close I was sure we would hit her. We went hard over and the yacht disappeared under our bow. Only the top of her mast could be seen as I waited for the crunch. She cleared but her skipper reported to have missed us by under five metres. (She would not have seen our bulbous bow which sticks out about that much).
The pilot remonstrated with her, in French, on the VHF. The skipper's indignant reply was that he had done 'THE COURSE' and knew he should pass port to port so he had to go back across our bow as he had found himself on our starboard side.
<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html>http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html</A>
While leaving Noumea in a 3,000t container ship with a pilot aboard en route to the Havannah Passage exit through the reef, we passed through the narrow "Canal Woodin". In a narrow part of this restricted passage we observed the lights of a sailing yacht glowing through her spinnaker as she approached in the dark night.
Initially her bearing was 2 points on the port bow but her course took her uncomfortably close across our bow. Glimpses during the incident showed her to be about 50ft. long and expensive looking. When safely across and now on our starboard bow, her lights suddenly altered to a single bright red! She had gone about and was coming back across our bow so close I was sure we would hit her. We went hard over and the yacht disappeared under our bow. Only the top of her mast could be seen as I waited for the crunch. She cleared but her skipper reported to have missed us by under five metres. (She would not have seen our bulbous bow which sticks out about that much).
The pilot remonstrated with her, in French, on the VHF. The skipper's indignant reply was that he had done 'THE COURSE' and knew he should pass port to port so he had to go back across our bow as he had found himself on our starboard side.
<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html>http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html</A>
