Collision in the Chanel du Four

I must admit all it happened so quickly - I spent more time looking for someone on his deck than I did looking for his damage - Judging by my damage which was confined to the pulpit and internal cupboards being pushed out by the flexing of the hull - I think his would have been similar - my main concern was obviously my fore stay which luckily was not touched. His fore stay must have been OK as he kept on sailing!
I came out of it rather well under the circumstances - total repair costs were on £1000.00 with nearly all being covered by insurance.
 
I must admit all it happened so quickly - I spent more time looking for someone on his deck than I did looking for his damage - Judging by my damage which was confined to the pulpit and internal cupboards being pushed out by the flexing of the hull - I think his would have been similar - my main concern was obviously my fore stay which luckily was not touched. His fore stay must have been OK as he kept on sailing!
I came out of it rather well under the circumstances - total repair costs were on £1000.00 with nearly all being covered by insurance.

How fast were you going? And the other boat?

Has your boat been inspected by a surveyor / insurance co. assessor to ensure there isn't more extensive hidden damage?
 
We were doing 5 kts through the water and I have no idea how fast the other boat was going but lets assume the closing speed was about 10 kts. Yes I have stripped out the interior and there is no damage at all to the hull or any stringers. Thanks for the concern.
 
Gentlemen - what a baptism of fire - I never thought for one moment that I would solicit such a wide response to my posting. I am now in a position that in the very unlikely event that should the same situation ever occur again I will know exactly what to do - thanks to the advice provided by all of you. I should mention that I explained everything to Pantaenius my insurance company and they have agreed to pay for all the repairs less my deductible which is further reduced by being a member of the CA. One of you mentioned that it would be sad day if we all had to have large numbers on our boats for identification - well what about sail numbers - most of us have a sail number and i very purposefully turned when heaving to in the hope that he would have read my sail number and contacted via the RYA registration. Obviously not.

Thank you all for your advice and observations.

Glad it all ended well.
 
He is here - No I do not regret starting this at all - it has been a learning curve for me!! I just want to clarify that i was hit head on but on the Stbd side of the bow if that makes any sense? I admit again that my fault lies by not being 100% on the ball with the look out. My crew was resting on his 3 hours off and we had been sailing all night crossing from Plymouth. No other excuses to be made!

I enjoy an overnight trip, one of the things to worry about though is fatigue when you are tired after a long night its easy to let your vigilance lapse.
Fortunatly for me I got away with my mistakes being only a near miss. You learn from them and move on.
 

Other threads that may be of interest

Top