Ships not going anywhere

[30boat]

During a trip to Madeira last year I came accross several ships with navigation lights on but not making way.It was actually quite worrying because it once happened during a thunderstorm at night and the rain made them invisible to radar.I had to force the tiller agains the windvane to get out of their way because undoing the lines would have been too much work just for that,
But I saw several other ships doing nothing along the way and always at night.
I find it very weird.Has anybody had the same experience?

 

[ChrisE]

If it was near Madeira I would bet that it was fishermen. We had a real job with them. As well as moving in any and all directions they also came over to see who we were.....

 

[pyrojames]

[ QUOTE ]
I had to force the tiller agains the windvane to get out of their way because undoing the lines would have been too much work just for that,


[/ QUOTE ]

Too much work to release the tiller lines to not get run down? Perhaps you need a quicker release mechanism! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[30boat]

No not really,the ships were stopped and I was far enough away .All I needed was a small deviation from course.Anyway it was blowing like hell and I was running under jib and partially rolled poled out genoa wind the wind from abaft.Resetting everything in pitch dark and rain would have been very hard.

 

[Dyflin]

We used to drift occasionally when waiting for orders, however, this was out in the Atlantic or the South China Seas. When you say ship, how big are we talking?

 

[Spyro]

Tankers waiting on the price of oil going up?

 

[calamitys38]

It's only when not underway should Nav lights be switched off (but most ships never do - you see them tied up alongside all the time with their Nav lights still burning!!!).

So to be fair, if the ships were just drifting, were not aground, at anchor or made fast to the shore (ie were underway) they were perfectly correct to still be showing their Nav Lights.

It is only vessels NUC, RAM or Fishing vessels that switch off Nav Lights when underway but not making way.

 

[30boat]

These were large 200ft plus ships and at least 250nm off the Portughese coast.Once We got one on the radar and as we approached it it got going and dsapeared over the horizon in a matter of minutes.I seem to have glimpsed an echo of a smaller boat leaving in the direction of the African coast but it's hard to tell for sure.
Definetely not fishing boats.

 

[Dyflin]

Yeah, waiting on orders so. Close to the med, Europe and the US gulf. We drifted off the Canaries and off the Cape Verdes. Nothing suspicious, just a slow down of the world economies and more ships chasing fewer cargoes.

 

[30boat]

I have an overactive imagination then.

 

[Alfie168]

I have a friend who was an engineer on supertankers and he told us they often loaded up a ship then dawdled slowly round the globe while the cargo was traded and re-traded. Their eventual destination was unpredictable, but all the UK guys hoped it was not a UK destination that could possibly undo their offshore tax status of their stay was a long one.

Tim