Condor ferry crew to stand trial for death of French fisherman

Roberto said:
From the report:


How come there is this difference ?
Is it because the distress position was so close to the coast, so it's easier to intervene and is given a higher priority vs signals from the high seas ?
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Presumably the EPIRB had a built in GPS and so satellite passes were irrelevant.

Hopefully all EPIRBs are given equal priority!
 
marklucas said:
Presumably the EPIRB had a built in GPS and so satellite passes were irrelevant.

Hopefully all EPIRBs are given equal priority!
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I'm pretty sure it had a built-in gps, with a non-gps epirb it would be next to technically impossible to have a position to that precision in 20 minutes.

I remember another discussion related to gps-Epirbs activated in the high seas, where rescue operations are obviously a lot more complex, where (possibly chanelyacht?) said they immediately have the mayday position but often wait to have a second verification, in the meantime make the necessary checks with the CG66 contact person on land, etc.

In this case, possibly because so near to land? the whole procedure seemed a lot quicker.
 
A bit of a shocking result. If they were guilty then they should spend some time in prison - and Condor themselves should be held at least partly responsible.

This hardly does anything to deter this happening again
 
I wonder what Condors policy was on speed in fog?While these two were clearly guilty of criminal negligence and deserve whatever they get,little has been said about the corporate side.I suspect there will be standing orders somewhere that vaguely require good seamanship and correct speed for the conditions,but a corporate culture that subtley leans on staff to not let the schedule slip or performance to drop.Anyone falling below the "standard"finds themselves on the wrong end of an uncomfortable interview,so risks get taken out in the real world.
 
Has anyone since been on or near a Condor Ferry in fog to see if practices are any different since the incident?
Does anyone know if a Condor Ferry has arrived/departed late due to fog?

Just curious.
 
Talulah said:
Has anyone since been on or near a Condor Ferry in fog to see if practices are any different since the incident?
Does anyone know if a Condor Ferry has arrived/departed late due to fog?

Just curious.
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I have been sailing in close proximity to them in thick fog twice this summer - They now use their fog horn ! Hopefully they also keep a good look out.
 
Seajet said:
As someone who has radar I reckon only a buffoon would rely on a bog standard commercial set to spot yachts or anything else at high speed in fog !
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What's wrong with a bog standard commercial radar?
Since radar waves travel at near lightspeed, I can't see how the vessel's speed is a factor in the performance of the radar.
With the lookout that Condor was keeping (or rather, not keeping) I reckon they could have collided at any speed.
 
Nothing to do with how fast the radio waves are, more the discrimination of the set; and it would certainly require a dedicated officer with eyes glued to it, even if the set was good enough.

I do agree with comments re schedules being the likely culprit and Condor should have been fined megabucks; £20,000 compensation to the families is an insult too.
 
Cruiser2B said:
What's wrong with a bog standard commercial radar?
Since radar waves travel at near lightspeed, I can't see how the vessel's speed is a factor in the performance of the radar.
With the lookout that Condor was keeping (or rather, not keeping) I reckon they could have collided at any speed.
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Its nothing to do with the speed of the radio waves, its more to do with the reaction time of the person monitoring the radar. They have to notice the target and assess it as a threat or not and then make the right decision. If the target is travelling down the screen at 37 knots (more or less the reciprocal of your speed) then you are severely reducing the time to evaluate the situation. Slowing down gives you more time to work out what is happening on the screen.
 
During my time in the coasting trade moat skippers used the radar as look out so they could maintain top speed in open wáter,say on a trip from Ámsterdam to Falmouth.The owners and agents expected ships to arrive as per Schedule .The idea of slowing down because of fog was limited in places like the solent .
 
No doubt a Standard Operating Procedure with the company, largely to cover themselves; ever tried telling the direction of something approaching and hooting at 37 knots ?!

Reminds me a little of " I was only following orders "...:rolleyes:
 
They did slow down in fog in the months after the accident but speeds seem to have crept up a bit since.

One thing that doesn't seem to have changed much is the arrogance of some of the skippers and their attitude towards other vessels. I often hear stories about near misses and people being bullied out of their way, it's even happened to me.

Just the other day one of my friends, a commercial fisherman said that a condor vessel passed across his bows at 35knots and 20 metres away! Then complained on the radio to vts that they had right of way despite approaching from the FV's port side
 
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