Collision, Ever had one?

[Uricanejack]

Some one mentioned this on the other collision thread.
It got me thinking.

I've had 2.

I've never had a coliision with a Tanker,

Collision No 1

Took my girfriend out for an afternoon sail on a Call 20 in Engish Bay on a rather windy saturday afternoon. Lots of growth on bottom. Only had a reefed main up.
Close hauled on Port tack going to windward. Other Vessel a 27 aproaching fast down wind.
Decided to go about. ended up in iorns bow would not come through the wind. Bore of and tried again same result.
Other crew saw us at last minute and tried to avoid by passing down our starboard side.
His fore deck hand tried to fend off withe his welly.
I yelled just let em hit. Which we did fortunatly a glancing blow.
We both yelled Sorry.
Never saw or head from them again.

Put the no 2 gib up next time we came around ok.
Liffted the boat and scraped several hundre pounds of mussels of, she sailed much better after that.

Collision No 2
At the end of a hot sunny day teaching sailing to a group of kids. same call 20.
We sneaked up close behind one of the other boats which my pall was instructing on. compleatly ignered or responasbilities under rule 13 and several other's. as we crossed within a foot or 2 astern we unloaded our carfull hidden buckets of water. and eggs.
about 3/4 of an hour later all soaked and egged interaction between vessel and the enthusaim for revenge ressullted in a collision.
Fun till someone looses an eye or you've got to explain the scratch in the gell coat.

I was totaly to blame for both.

Have you ever had a collision?

 

[Malcb]

Yep

Left Chi Marina waiting pontoon at about 0315 to go down through the Ichenor Moorings on the way to Brighton.
Like an idiot, I thought that I would be able to rely on my local knowledge and my chart plotter. How dim could I be, the moored boats aren't marked on a chart plotter.

Anyway dark clouds obscured any lights that I could use and although I had a torch, I didn't have access to my fantastic spotlight and I hadn't switched my radar on. So basically I was blind.

I then managed to miss the main channel.

When I realised that I had missed the main channel, I tried to get back into it, using the torch.

The tide was on the ebb at about 2 knots.

So at very low engine revs I managed to spot, using the torch, where the main channel was.

Unfortunately as I was going between two moorings, well I thought that there were two. I drifted onto the mooring buoy of one of the boats. Now normally I would have just have hit the mooring buoy as the yacht was downstream of the buoy. Unfortunately another yacht had also moored onto the buoy. Without permission I suspect.

As I bounced off the main mooring buoy, I was only going at about 1.5 knots, I collided with the bow of the 'Extra' moored boat. His bow mounted my rubbing strake and his anchor roller took out one of my stanchions and bent the next one.

The owner popped his head up and said that if it happened 15 minutes later he wouldn't have been there.

So I did no damage to his boat, but it cost me £100 to sort mine out.

My fault, I should have had my radar on to see the channel properly, and also had my 'good' spotlight available.

But you learn.

 

[armchairsailor]

I'll watch out if I'm ever in English Bay and see a cal 20 about! Surprised you didn't collide with one of the tankers that always seem to hang about there...

 

[Norman_E]

A couple of years ago I was pulling up the anchor in a small bay with several other yachts anchored with lines ashore. The chain jumped off the gypsy and all 70 metres went out, only saved from loss by the rope that attached the end of the chain to a strongpoint. Whilst I was hauling it back in the boat drifted slowly back and the pushpit hit the bow roller fitting of another yacht. No damage to that but the pushpit was a bit bent.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Sailing an OOD34 up the Hamble to Swanwick, full sail, light evening breeze pretty much on the nose. Got to the Warsash side of the channel, tacked just as the wind swung hard left so effectively didn't tack, just slowly changed course - not quickly enough - to the detriment of the bulwarks of the classic motor cruiser that was moored ahead of me.

Chummy leaps on deck "She survived Dunkirk without a scrape, and now you go and do this to her."

 

[blueglass]

anchored in a Greek bay one windy night a 40 ft cat dragged anchor and rammed into us with surprising force. 4,000 euros of guardrail and GRP repairs - and that was just mine - his was worse!

 

[phanakapan]

Rafted up on a mid- stream pontoon in Yarmouth; we were number 2 in the raft, either side of us there were 3 or 4 boats rafted, so we were in a 'hole'. Got ready to leave, got the bow well out using reverse on a spring, well fendered aft; all seemed clear to go, so slipped the spring and went for it, with a fair amount of welly to ensure clean get-away. Just at that moment, a previously unseen boat sailed round the corner (we should have been looking more carefully)- I throttled back, dithered, to miss it- and of course we were pushed back in towards the raft. I judged we could still just clear the outside boat, it was close though; so close that my partner who was standing near to the bow pushed off the boat- so swinging the stern in. Our sticking up metal-pole danbouy right on our aft starboard quarter managed to slide into the open jaws of their pulpit, crunching up a little teak seat thing- and two of my fingers as I stupidly tried to disentangle us. The people on the boat (a French one iirc) shot out of the companionway to see what was going on- and started shouting when they saw me giving them a 'V' sign..... actually I was waving my two bloody mangled fingers in the air and shouting that I would come back and sort out insurance etc when I had parked the boat again! Managed to stick her back somewhere sensible, water taxi and ambulance to hospital, thankfully fingers only crushed and bleeding not seriously broken, or I would have never played the violin again. ( no joke- I was a violin teacher at the time!) French people were very nice and understanding , no payment asked for.
Biggest lessons learnt- to remember that boats pivot around, if you push out the bow the stern will swing in, so resist the temptation to alter course if you are close to, but parallel to, something; and NEVER put any part of your body in between to big hard boats!

 

[prv]

Not been in charge or on the helm during a collision - yet! I've had a couple of robust arrivals against pontoons, but I don't think that's what this thread is about.

While racing in the Baltic, we hit another competitor. Can't remember the exact situation, except that it was largely caused by a riding turn on the jib sheet at a crucial moment, and the bow swung round with the jib backed. I was at the mast getting ready to hoist the spinnaker on the next leg, so nowt to do with me, guv!

Our overhanging bow roller scraped down their gunwale, taking out big chunks of teak capping rail, a certain amount of fibreglass, and several stanchions. A graphic illustration of why the race instructions required anchors to be stowed below - we'd probably have ripped their hull open if it had been on the bow.

Fortunately, the "victim" crew didn't actually own their boat - it was part of our club fleet of ten identical boats (some will thus know who we were ) and they were guests at our regatta from a nearby German club. We retired as in the wrong, they retired as their skipper didn't want to sail with no guardrails on one side, and the club shipwrights got straight to work on their boat. Excellent bunch of guys, they had the boat repaired (albeit with some mismatched stanchion fittings and unfinished timber) ready for the next day's races.

I've also been on board (this time below making tea) when a brand-new yacht collided with one of the big steel channel buoys in the western Solent. The owner had set the buoy as a waypoint, and engaged "steer to waypoint" on his all-singing-all-dancing autopilot system, and steer to waypoint it jolly well did . He noticed the buoy at the very last second, disengaged the pilot and started hauling the wheel over, but only in time to convert a head-on collision into a glancing blow. Big streak of embarrassing red paint down the side, and some scratches that needed minor filling and polishing, but fortunately no serious damage.

Pete

 

[Ripster]

NOt sure if this counts, but its the nearest I have been to a potentially nasty bang.

First light on a river pontoon mooring with about a 2kn ebb in flow. I am tightly hemmed in, yachts fore and aft. Get ready to spring off the stern and head with the current up river before going about and heading off out to Sea. All started well, the bow came out via astern thrust nicely even despite the current trying to hold it in. Thought I had sufficient clearance, so gave SWMBO the nod to release us. As soon as she let go, I put on plenty of power to get us in forward motion and out of the way, but the prop didn't seem to bite quick enough and we immediately started to drift quickly at about 45 degs towards the yacht in front. I should have resigned at that point and fended up to gently bounce against their stern with my rear quarter and suffer only from embarrasment, but instead in a fit of panic, I gave it full opposite rudder and forward power and preyed that the stern would come out enough to clear - it did, just - I mean just, inches to spare. If I'd have hit with that force and power, much damage would have been caused. In hindsight, I should have sprung off the bow in astern against the current which would have given better control all round. Oh well, Capt numpty learns another lesson.

 

[Resolution]

"Have you ever had a collision?"

Does the pope have a balcony? I raced Sigma 33s for several years. Nuff said.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Only during Cambridge Bumps - where you do it deliberately! In fact, our coach complimented me that I was able to steer sufficiently accurately to hit the rudders of the boats we bumped - mostly, people bump the first outrigger.

A lot of boats do get damaged during bumping races - mostly from getting into the bank ASAP after a bump, though. I've seen two or three with the bow cocked up on the bank, and a bend in front of the bow oar!

 

[Poignard]

I made a mess of leaving my berth and scratched the painted rubbing strake of the adjacent wooden boat.

I was mortified and wrote to her owner offering to pay for the damage. He was a real gentleman and told me not to worry about it as it would be easy for him to fill and paint over the scratch (the joys of a wooden boat!) during the next winter lay-up. I hope the bottle of Scotch I left in his cockpit was adequate recompense.

 

[stevebrassett]

I haven't collided with another boat, but did hit a cardinal mark once. No wind - 3 knots of tide, and I realised with increasing dread that I wasn't able to avoid it. Luckily we struck it a glancing blow, and it was made of plastic, so no damage to us or it. A good lesson on how quickly bad things can creep up on you.

 

[bbg]

More than I care to (or can) remember. Never lost a protest, though. Including one when we, as starboard tack boat, T-boned and dismasted a port tacker.

And another where we, as port tack boat, were T-boned and nearly sunk by a maxi on starboard. Yes, we were on port tack and won the protest.

 

[Iain C]

I've had a few when racing...including this wonderful collection of start line carnage at the 18ft skiff Mark Foy in 2009.

I'm steering the plain silver boat with Helly Hansen on the main, right in the middle of the pile up at 2:17 with my bowman and sheet hand in and out on the trapezes like yo-yos...yet somehow, somehow we managed to miss everything!

 

[30boat]

4 times in my life.The first time was in 1976 when I was crewing for the Brazilian boat in the world quarter ton cup in Corpus Christy.We made a neat hole on the counter of the Japanese boat.I wasn't helming.
Second time ,a 40 footer Jeanneau hit my boat straight on the stem fitting .We didn't suffer any damage but managed to rip off a number of stanchions on the other boat as we slid by.
Third time ,arriving in Porto Santo late at night and despite the whole crew looking forward we managed to hit a big steel mooring buoy head on.It's light was not working properly because when we hit it came on as a faint glow.The tip of the bow was crushed and the babystay prevented the mast from falling backwards.We rebuilt the stem at the local yard for the 500 nm beat home.
Fourth time ,in 2010, I was again sailing to Porto Santo when at precisely midnight the boat hit a large black ship.I was singlehanding on that trip and was below for 15mn for a bit of rest.The ship had no navigation lights and was barely making headway.My boat was capsized to well over 90º and the starboard windows were submersed for a few seconds .It was a windy ,wet and dark night so I just lowered the main and rolled the genoa before putting out a pan pan call.The next morning I saw that the impact had cracked the topsides down to the first stringer and the portside deck was broken in three places.The chart table bulkhead had been displaced and the contents of the lockers were in a mess on the sole.The mast was still standing but the port spreader had been ripped off.20 hours later I was back at the yard where the boat was lifted for repairs.Needless to say it ruined my holydays.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Have you ever had a collision?

Numerous!

1/ followed a french lifeboat into a port of refuge when I was ill, and we didnt have a pilot / chart for the port. SWMBO on the wheel did a splendid job until we arrived in harbour when she rammed the lifeboat
2/ gearbox failed and SWMBO rammed the piles in Bilbao
3/ a small fishing boat tried to cut us up fighting for the lock in swansea, and swmbo rammed him. You should have seen his face!

( there's a theme developing here!)

4/ fixated on getting to the outer lock of penarth marina before it closed, I failed to see that the lifting bridge in between was still down until the last minute. Hit at 3 knots
5/ disagreement over who had mark room in a race. I was right in this case.
6/ lost outboard power in my first boat against a prevaling wind and tide and was left sideways on straddling three boats on side by side moorings.
7/ mistimed a turn and mounted a pontoon as far as the bilge keel on a hunter 26. Had only drunk two pints!
8/ someone moved a rock just off newton ferrars and I hit it

I may well think of another 8 over night.

 

[ronmarson]

Coming out of Newtown Creek first thing in the morning. Waving and smiling to the families eating breakfast in the cockpits of the row of moored yots. Didn't see the BIG red marker until I heard the crash. Well it's only about 8 ft. tall.
Stopped waving and smiling and started concentrating.
I carried the red scrape on the hull for a long time.
Capt.RoN

 

[cryan]

Not on a leisure boat but whilst on a container ship we were struck by an oil rig in Cape Town harbour. It was moored up and dragged its anchors. Caused a lot of damage including a twenty foot gash in our bow. Five weeks alongside in Cape Town with not a lot to do until the underwater welders finished we spent all our evenings and many of our days up the road. I withdrew so much cash subs from my pay that I ended the month owing the company money! Converted the lot to alcohol and good times!
Whilst on tugs I had a few contacts with warships. Some warship skippers seem to take extreme pride and enjoyment in ship handling and close quarters manoeuvres, some seem to take extreme pride and enjoyment in trying to sink dockyard tugs!

 

[Stemar]

Out of Portsmouth, turn right through the Inner Swashway then bear away and set the tiller pilot head to wind to hoist the main. Which snags. Go forward and untangle things to see a yellow buoy approaching at ramming speed. Get back to the cockpit 1 second too late to avoid a loud clang.

I've always had a yellow streak. Now the boat's got one too.