jfm
Well-Known Member
totally agree. Blame both sides but imho much more blame on ferry than doral. If someone had died ferry skipper would find himself knowing a manslaughter lawyer quite closely; doral skipper wouldn’t. .
Another OOPS with ferry
- Thread starter andy59
- Start date
Blue Sunray
Well-Known Member
+1 Good summary.
BruceK
Well-Known Member
I must admit the Doral does sound a bit iffy, no radio, no certs etc, however, purely on the lookout front it is remarkably easy to miss. I say this based on an instance I once had last year. The Sea was a bit choppy and so I suppose that would explain why I was the only leisure boat out at the time. I was leaving port and 20 min / 10 nm into my journey with the land to my stern making 20 odd knts. Passing some overfalls from the Menai Strait I backed off the throttles to displacement speeds having seen no boats the entire trip. The wife suddenly starts jumping up and down excitedly and this old girl passes not a 100 yards behind us making some surprising speed. They had been approaching off the starboard stern quarter in my blind spot making considerable more speed than we were to have rounded the Great Orme and caught us up within that short space of time and distance between the fairway and the strait. 100 yards and not having seen it visually despite it's size was a real eye opener. I have 180 degree vision off the bow and maybe 45 off the stern. They had been in my blind spot for at least 10 minutes.
edit: it was with a bit of sattisfaction that the next day the local rags were flooded with stories of 400 paying guests chunking their hearts out from seasickness and the line apologising for running the tour in poor water. Maybe they were running as hard as they could for the calm waters of the Strait?
one of the rags : https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hundreds-seasick-passengers-spend-six-11147140
edit: it was with a bit of sattisfaction that the next day the local rags were flooded with stories of 400 paying guests chunking their hearts out from seasickness and the line apologising for running the tour in poor water. Maybe they were running as hard as they could for the calm waters of the Strait?
one of the rags : https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hundreds-seasick-passengers-spend-six-11147140
Last edited:
Mr Googler
Well-Known Member
Is that Waverley?
Used to stop me fishing off Yarmouth pier as a youngster.....bloody liberty.
Used to stop me fishing off Yarmouth pier as a youngster.....bloody liberty.
BruceK
Well-Known Member
Balmoral. Caused me to run the gauntlet over Cribbins in the Swellies the bully.
BruceK
Well-Known Member
Actually, you're right. Wrong photo. That is the Waverly
scottie
Well-Known Member
You can hear the Waverley for miles paddles are noisy
We followed the Balmoral into a fog bank a few minutes later she came flying out the other way a bit hairy as we don’t really do fog on the Clyde
Kawasaki
Well-Known Member
Knob
Anyway
Apart from that
The PADDLE boat pictured is due on the Strait later this year but it has been before but conditions did not allow
Yes The Balmoral (its got things at the back to push it Bruce not things at the side by the by) does pick its skirts up
Followed Her once through the bridges and towards Caernarfon
She was making 15 kts with a bit of tide
Emrys (the pilot who runs the day trip boat out of the river Seiont) helms Her through the Menai
Brilliant Local expert
Going 'west' He will go the 'wrong' side of the South Cardinal in the Swellies
She struggles to make the port hand turn at Prices Point
Not at 'LAT' though
Guffaw Guffaw
:encouragement:
Kawasaki
Well-Known Member
BruceK
Well-Known Member
Knob
Anyway
Apart from that
The PADDLE boat pictured is due on the Strait later this year but it has been before but conditions did not allow
Yes The Balmoral (its got things at the back to push it Bruce not things at the side by the by) does pick its skirts up
Followed Her once through the bridges and towards Caernarfon
She was making 15 kts with a bit of tide
Emrys (the pilot who runs the day trip boat out of the river Seiont) helms Her through the Menai
Brilliant Local expert
Going 'west' He will go the 'wrong' side of the South Cardinal in the Swellies
She struggles to make the port hand turn at Prices Point
Not at 'LAT' though
Guffaw Guffaw
Listen you old pirate. Be nice to me or you can pay your own parking fines you reprobate!
MapisM
Well-Known Member
Well, actually the video in that webpage doesn't seem too bad.
There's even some stuff on the tables which is not moving at all, and I don't think all of that was screwed in place...
As I understand, in the Viking Sky they had the whole tables, chairs etc. flying around!
BruceK
Well-Known Member
Thats the English holiday maker for you. We were out to anchor for the night. As I said. Slightly choppy
We were out to anchor for the night. As I said. Slightly choppy 
Fishtigua
Well-Known Member
Had one pax medivaced off the Brittania at lunchtime and, as Guernsey is looking too rough for them to anchor, they've buggered off.
[2068]
...
That area is very busy with large commercial traffic - that’s what I generally do, either run slightly outside of the big channel, or cross at 90’ or so.
[165042]
...
Don't agree with that at all. The Doral skipper bobbing around at 6 knots should always be looking around him and specifically aware of commercial vessels. As a skipper you have a duty of safety to your passengers - having a few beers at lunch and then clearly not paying attention with friends and family on board isn't good boating IMO.
[2068]
...
It's not good boating, but I can understand how it could happen from the Doral skipper's point of view. You are used to doing 20kts+, and the trouble is invariably in front of, or to one side of you. Being mown down from behind is something that doesn't generally happen to a planing motorboat.
As an example, how many skippers on here regularly have a good look behind them to make sure they are not about to be mown down by something doing 40-50kts?
I'd agree that slowing down to 6kts should have also triggered a lot more looking behind, because the risk of commercial traffic in that area is a known one.
CLB
Well-Known Member
There speaks a sailor. I could have the waveley in the cockpit of my twin engined mobo and still not hear it!
[165042]
...
I always look around whenever I'm at the helm - whether it's 6 knots in a channel or on plane at 25+. The Solent is full of fast craft, PWCs, ferries etc. You'd have to be pretty incompetent to not see a ferry approaching given the speed differential were only a few knots.
BruceK
Well-Known Member
Such hubris, it's amusing. Ferry crew just as incompetent then?
[165042]
...
No just simple competence. I guess you don't use your mirrors when driving and sit in the middle lane as well oblivious to the world around you?
The Doral owner had no boating qualifications and no VHF - that demonstrates hubris.
Ferry crew could have done more as hinted at by the MAIB but not incompetent.
The Doral owner had no boating qualifications and no VHF - that demonstrates hubris.
Ferry crew could have done more as hinted at by the MAIB but not incompetent.