Seeing, but not seeing............

Sgeir

Sgeir

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There's a really interesting thread going on in the PBO forum about near misses, and accidents. If I may paraphrase, in many cases "the boat just appeared from nowhere, guv".

Why is that? I don't suppose that they are stupid, or normally inattentive people.

If we're honest, I suspect that we have been either perpetrators or victims of the same phenomenon - we once came very close to pranging a smaller slower boat in near perfect conditions (it came from nowhere - well, probably not...).

Earlier this year, again in perfect conditions, and under full sail, we were almost rammed by a converted MFV doing about 8 kts. The three people in the wheelhouse only noticed me jumping up and down on our deck after they'd passed us - we'd had to take evasive action. (Mme Sgeir said I looked a bit like Granpa Broon ranting and roaring, and waving his stick /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif).

It seems to be a fairly common condition, and is very scary imho. But what is it about keeping a 360 degree lookout on a plane (OK I know it's not really a plane) that causes this? Are we just being inattentive?
 
Good question.

None of mine warrant a place on the pbo thread but there have been a few occasions when I've not seen something until quite a bit later than I should. I don't know why either but if you can get to the bottom of it you'll probably save many lives.
 
Interesting point, and curiously my last day's sailing this year contained a good example. We were sailing back to Craobh from Gigha up the Sound of Jura in good conditions (full sail for the first time in a week) and, playing with my new AIS gadget, I was intreiged to watch the Lord of the Glens passing up the west of Jura then entering the Corryvreckan AGAINST the spring tide! Her SOG dropped to just over 1 knot at one point and the COG varied wildly - hardly surprising! In all it took her a good couple of hours to get through, then we finally saw her visually, apparently bound either down the Sound of Jura or heading across to Crinan.

By now we were well into Loch Shuna and went through the fenders, lines and sails ritual before motoring into Craobh. As we berthed we were astonished to see the L of the G stopping just off the entrance to land passengers. She must have been overtaking us very rapidly for an hour, but we never saw her.

If, previous to this, I'd been asked "do you keep a good all round lookout?", I'd have have said something like "generally, yes." Now I'm beginning to wonder.
 
Was once gilling down the Solent from Hythe to Yarmouth, singlehanded, under genoa only, when Ashburton (police launch) passed by about 50m away on a reciprocal course, just of Beaulieu entrance. Never saw the fuzz coming. Lucky I didn't get booked for 'without due care and attention'.
 
Now this really is interesting. probably the majority (? my guess only) of us now have some form of chart plotter on board whether that be gps/chart or radar or radar/chart or any combination. Add to that AIS, and my point is that the once "need" to keep a good look out has possibly been replaced by a "look at the gadget first" then have a look. Dont get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that we are all transfixed by our gadgets, but I do believe there must be an element of it. Many of us drive talking on phones/eating sandwiches/texting/chatting/shaving (apparently !) and that is on roads with very well and clearly defined routes ie road markings.

On the sea ??? Well hey, add in popping down below to put the kettle on, checking the plotter, getting lunch ready, seeing what that ship 20 miles away is called and wondering how on earth you could send a dsc message and where is the instruction book to tell you how to do that anyway ....oh and by the way the gps says the tide has turned but the table on page 65 para 8 says not . . . . . . . Maybe its one of those data/information things /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
During the first night of the OSTAR I almost ran down another competitor. The miss was literally inches. It didn't help that he was carrying no lights. That was an extreme case but, like a lot of collisions it was all down to inadequate watch keeping. A bit less forgiveable in clear weather but still easy to do.
 
I think not bothering to lean over the lee rail to check the blindspot behind the genoa is one common cause of near misses.

If you have a crew that regullarilly needs to lean over the lee rail for another reason get them to look forward while they are there /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
You have to steer a boat, tweak the sails, navigate, plan what to do and keep a good lookout. You get to be good at these tasks by practice and correcting when you get it wrong, but if you're inattentive on the helm, it shows up right away. If you're inattentive on lookout, and 99% of the time nothing's there, you don't notice. Until you have one of those gorblimey moments. So you only get to be a good lookout if you habitually sail in heavy traffic, which is difficult, even in the Solent on an August bank holiday. I expect that's why the big boys always have designated lookouts.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I think not bothering to lean over the lee rail to check the blindspot behind the genoa is one common cause of near misses.

If you have a crew that regullarilly needs to lean over the lee rail for another reason get them to look forward while they are there /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I think their usefulness in that regard would be pretty low! When feeling really wretched with the Mal de Mer you can barely think let alone keep a lookout.

Not looking astern must be one of the commonest failings though ?
 
I agree - tend to look out forward but the frequency with which I check astern I'm sure is governed by my own boat speed - not the speed at which something might be approaching

maybe need a rear view mirror panel on the genny

Simon
 
All the time. I'm always looking at my watch but not seeing the time.

Seriously, that's what I like about those new laminate genoas, they are partly translucent, enough to see traffic through them. Improves safety as well as performance.
 
I was a bit surprised to learn that the horizon is about 3miles away when you are in a small vessel. It seems a lot further than that. However, a vessel moving at 20 knots can cover that distance in 9 minutes!! I bet nobody peeps under the genny every 10 minutes or so....
 
Could be way off here, but I'm sure most sailors regularly peek under the genny rather more than that.

I think the "it came from nowhere" situation happens where people are keeping a lookout, but, for some reason don't seem to register what they see. Seeing, but not seeing... I think it's quite common, but have no explanation for it.
 
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