Perthshire Royal Navy officer accused of negligence after Cowes Week yacht crash

[fireball]

And the sweep of 1000m can be even greater. A boat could pass well ahead and believe themselves to be well past the anticipated exclusion zone sailing safely away. The ship could then make a further unanticipated turn and place the boat firmly in the centre of the exclusion zone, steaming towards it at 15 knots with the skipper of the boat wondering what direction to head to best use his 6 knots or so to get out of the way.

Indeed - 1000m x 200m rectangle - actually it's bigger than that isn't it - because ships have a good width ... so it could be 1000mx250+m area that you need to avoid - would you trust a ship to pass 100m away from you?

Anyway not difficult to get yourself caught up in it if you're "restricted" to sailing ...

 

[bedouin]

If you think about it as the ship turns off cowes it will turn through about 120 degrees, that means that the exclusion zone will sweep out a large section of the mid solent in very short time - virtually impossible for boats to keep out of the way.

I would love to know what had happened in the couple of minutes before the collision - had the tanker started its turn and the boat just not noticed?

 

[prv]

the exclusion zone will sweep out a large section of the mid solent in very short time - virtually impossible for boats to keep out of the way.

Certainly impossible for them to outrun it once the turn has started, but not impossible to keep out of the way. If I'm somewhere off Calshot and I see a ship passing between the Brambles and Cowes, I make sure I'm getting outside the buoyed channel in preparation for it making its turn and heading my way. Yes, if I clear the channel to the west then the Zone will sweep briefly over me, but not in a way that matters unless the ship has wheels. If I clear to the east, then the Zone never touches me.

I certainly don't claim I've never been in the outer parts of the Zone, but it's far from "virtually impossible" to avoid.

EDIT: I suppose if you're somewhere off Beaulieu then you can't really avoid having the Zone sweep over you as the ship turns, but again it doesn't matter as the ship will not be going that way.

Pete

 

[Beadle]

....... & a General would be any good as a 'Tank-Driver'!? ..... or logistics/supply Sargent!? .... or anything worth paying any attention to?

Having sailed (as skipper) with a general in the crew I strongly suspect that they would cope --err----admirably,