Crossing racing fleet

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DavidTav

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On Sunday I had a very nice sail to the Bench Head and back to Osea. However, near West Mersea there was a very large racing fleet. We were all on port tack and all of the racing boats were the windward boats, but it was quickly apparent that none were about to give way. I managed to pass this fleet only by starting the engine and darting through a gap. However I could see two very near misses between two other cruising boats and this same fleet. Does anyone else have these problems?
 
quite often - it was very good of you to take action and keep clear. I am sure the racing fleet would have appreciated it.
 
Well nobody waved or made any acknowledgement. I agree with you in principle though.
 
They weren't racing dinghies, it was a racing fleet comprising of large sailing craft.
 
DavidTav said:
but it was quickly apparent that none were about to give way.
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It is quite normal for racers to view 'giving way' in terms of inches missed rather than boat lengths when you are cruising. It may be that if you had stood on that they would have given way - if you have the nerve.

Agree though that when there is a gaggle of racers it is best all round to try to avoid the main pack.
 
Whilst I understand your action, I can't say I would have done the same.

The fact that a boat is racing does not bestow any additional rights - racers have to obey the rules of the road just like anyone else.
You have as much right to be there as them.

If I can avoid racers I will, but if I can't: tough.

'I'm racing' does not mean you own the river/sea
 
quite right - racers hope that you can / will take avoiding action - even if it means starting the engine. Having raced a little, I very much appreciate it when the cruiser takes avoiding action - but never assume that they will.
 
As one of the racers on Sunday in the Dabchicks Sailing Club Regatta, which kicks off Mersea Week (although we didn't see you) - Many thanks for avoiding us! And as a racer and a cruiser, if a cruiser avoids us when we are racing, we always give them a wave of thanks and a 'thumbs up'.

Please carry on avoiding racers and don't be put off by the small minority who don't show their appreciation.
 
Having raced Dinghies competitively for close on 35 years, I have been cruising now for the past 12 years and am VERY much in agreement with GUAPA on this one.

Whilst I will never intentionally get in the way of a racing fleet, if they all suddenly tack to lay a mark...sorry guys, I was here before you, and if I happen to be the right of way boat, guess what...YOU will have to get out of MY way!

This is not a case of being bloody minded, BUT all because you are racing DOES NOT bestow the freedom of the river on you!
 
Cobra said:
Whilst I will never intentionally get in the way of a racing fleet, if they all suddenly tack to lay a mark...sorry guys, I was here before you, and if I happen to be the right of way boat, guess what...YOU will have to get out of MY way!

This is not a case of being bloody minded, BUT all because you are racing DOES NOT bestow the freedom of the river on you!
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It could be argued that by giving way to some racing when you are stand on vessel you are giving them an advantage over their competition.

I too am of the 'avoid if I can, COLREGS apply if I can't' way of thinking.
 
Thanks for all the comments on this. I must admit that I have been pondering about my decision to start the engine since Sunday and although I still think it is the pragmatic thing to have done, I am also aware that it altered my status as stand on vessel. It is normally fairly easy to avoid the racing boats as usually two or three boats might be fairly close and then there might be a large gap, however this was not the case on Sunday.
 
DavidTav said:
On Sunday I had a very nice sail to the Bench Head and back to Osea. However, near West Mersea there was a very large racing fleet. We were all on port tack and all of the racing boats were the windward boats, but it was quickly apparent that none were about to give way. I managed to pass this fleet only by starting the engine and darting through a gap. However I could see two very near misses between two other cruising boats and this same fleet. Does anyone else have these problems?
Click to expand...

I was out there too, crossing over to West Mersea from Bradwell. I still take part in the occasional race and like most other sailors I understood their situation and altered my course to avoid them.

It didn't really bother me or cause any real inconvenience, my freinds who where with me at the time enjoyed watching the cruisers tack round the markers!
 
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racing fleets

I am am for getting out of the way

I spent years racing yachts out of West Mersea



If you want to be bloody minded and trust thier ability to miss you at the last minute then hold your course and keep your fingers crossed that they are watching you as carefully as their rival three meters to windward of them

But don't shout at them for coming what you consider to be too close - because for them and for me when I was in my twenties too close is only if you hit another boat

We did one match racing weekend - very frightening when its your own boat - or even worse when some hotshot from Burnham is sailing your boat.

The good thing is they will be insured and your boat will be repaired after the collision that will inevitably occur of you consistantly sail through racing fleets

You will have the pleasure of knowing that you were in the right


and

and if you want your boat off the water for a month or two in mid season, love spending time with damage asessors and yacht surveyors, love sending emails to insurance companies etc etc

then hold your course and force them to take avoiding action or hit you


or you could bare away by five dregrees and watch some very expensive boats with perfectly tuned rigs and set sails go whizzing past


oh hang on.. you said it was the Dabchicks regatta

forget what I said about perfectly tuned boats then

Dylan


keepturningleft
 
dylanwinter said:
for them and for me when I was in my twenties too close is only if you hit another boat
Click to expand...

I can live with that, it's my definition of too close too.

However, Guapa is to your average yacht what the Panzer MkIV is to cars. You might leave a mark on my gelcoat, but I very much doubt you'll ever sail your boat again.

[/smug]
 
Avoiding action

You guys should have seen the large motor cruiser that pushed its way through a crowd of racers at the windward mark at Burnham yesterday evening. Admittedly my perspective from Jessie's mooring could have been misleading but if ever I saw a case of "I'm bigger and more expensive than you lot so get out of my way" it was then.

Michael
 
I'm with Guapa on this one too. I get rather pissed off, if someone racing expects me to toss the col regs out the window because it might spoil their fun. They are spoiling my fun if I have the additional stress of close quarters and start playing dodgem in contradictions to the Col Regs, because they somhow feel that their enjoyment of the water (if they call it that) is more important that mine.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but as I'm still learning the ropes (or is that strings ?) I still have to plan a course change carefully when under sail, starting the engine takes some time as I have to climb onto the aft deck and pull the starter cord until it likes the way I've pulled it and fires up, after which I have to return to the cockpit and take control of the tiller to steer away, but if I find myself with a racing fleet coming at me in contravention of colregs and can't act quickly enough to get out of the way, then I risk sinking by being rammed at sea by one of these boats, and it's all my fault ?.
Sorry to say that isn't what I thought good seamanship was all about. I'll get out of the way where I can but to say it's tough if I don't do it fast enough is beyond a joke, and with my old plywood boat, being rammed by some lunatic just because he's racing, in breach of colregs, which would inevitably result in my boat sinking, endangering myself and crew, is criminal in my book. It wouldn't mean a spell of a few months ashore fighting for insurance payout, it would mean endangering my life, and the life of anyone else aboard at the time.
I'm in agreement with Guapa and Pyro, don't expect me to get out of the way if you decide to sail by your own rules, and I wonder how the courts would view endangering the lives of others by ignoring colregs.
Anyone got some auto inflate life jackets going spare ?, sounds like I'm going to need to trade up my manual inflate ones before sailing into the dangerous waters further South.
 
Dave

Unless I've missed the point here I think most of us have said that if we have to we will sail through a racing fleet obeying the rules as we go.

The thing to remember is that a racing sailor may pass a lot closer and leave much less 'clearance' between boats than a cruising sailor may or be used to. As ultimately everyone is responsible for avoiding a collision, at some stage as 'stand on' vessel you may feel you need to take action to avoid an accident.

That is why when I can I will deconflict my boat from a racing fleet by taking a line away from what I guess to be the race course. This doesn't always work and I can recall one time returning to Brightlingsea on starboard tack with a racing fleet on port heading towards me more or less spread across the river! My initial shout of 'Starboard' was met by frantic waving from the bow of the nearest boat. They did miss me but not by much. I wrote to the organising club and received an apology. I later found out it was the novice helm race too! :eek:
 
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