'Decision-Tree' approach to COLREGS

Krusty

Krusty

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Clearing out old files, I came across a sheet I drew up for trainees with problems applying the COLREGS. For many, it broke the mental log-jam.

I post it FWIW. Some might find it (or at least the decision-tree approach) of some use.
For those who might find flaws in it and enjoy an argument, by all means carry on, but I shall not take part; since it is history.

scan0001-1.jpg
 
Piotaskipper said:
Clearing out old files, I came across a sheet I drew up for trainees with problems applying the COLREGS. For many, it broke the mental log-jam.

I post it FWIW. Some might find it (or at least the decision-tree approach) of some use.
For those who might find flaws in it and enjoy an argument, by all means carry on, but I shall not take part; since it is history.

scan0001-1.jpg
Click to expand...

What happened to

  • Is it more expensive than you? Yes -> give way
  • Is it a fishing boat? Yes -> doesn't matter whether you give way or not, it will do what it likes
  • Is it flagged in Panama, the Bahamas or Liberia? Yes -> remember that the helmsman will be asleep, drunk or tripping out of his tiny mind. And probably unqualified.

PS Nice idea. I must see if I still have a PDF flowchart generator knocking around.
 
Rule 19

With the number of boats now fitted with radar, shouldn't Rule 19 appear somewhere? The number of people who talk about 'give way' and 'stand on' in restricted vis is quite worrying.
 
peterb said:
With the number of boats now fitted with radar, shouldn't Rule 19 appear somewhere?
Click to expand...

You might be right; so why not just do it?

When I first drew up that "Decision Tree" (obsolete jargon now?) a radar on a small yacht was regarded as an affectation, or a "delusion of grandeur", and that might well have been a sensible point of view.
As the RYA (I think) pointed out recently, adding a typical radar scanner to the mast has the same effect on stability as removing 5cwt from the keel.
So it might be useful in a crowded fog-bound estuary, but a menace at sea!
 
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Piotaskipper said:
You might be right; so why not just do it?

When I first drew up that "Decision Tree" (obsolete jargon now?) a radar on a small yacht was regarded as an affectation, or a "delusion of grandeur", and that might well have been a sensible point of view.
As the RYA (I think) pointed out recently, adding a typical radar scanner to the mast has the same effect on stability as removing 5cwt from the keel.
So it might be useful in a crowded fog-bound estuary, but a menace at sea!
Click to expand...

Excellent post.

We have a 2.6 tonne 27ft yacht which is pretty seaworthy - more than one has circumnavigated - and sticking a radar scanner at the crosstrees would not be a sensible thing to do IMO. Stability is not th only consideration either - power consumption is another.

I am also sure there has been more than one radar assisted collision . . .

- W
 
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