Ships to watch out for.....

[Athene V30]

Had an interesting one yesterday having just come up Foulgers Gat and crossed over Sunk into East Swin near Barrow No 3.

Me, motor sailing (but it makes no difference to situation) heading 275 and ship, subsequently identified as Arco Avon, heading NE. Me degrees on their starboard bow and bearing pretty steady. As 'stand on' vessel I can see no sign of any action so call on VHF 16 "Merchant Ship heading NE adj to Barrow No 3 this is.... what are your intentions". Eventually make contact by which time I have compeleted an almost 360 degree turn to starboard and am pointing at the stern only to be told by the watch keeper / skipper that it was my duty to keep clear of him as he was navigating in a buoyed channel and I was crossing it! Not really my interpretation of rules (number 10 I think) about 'Narrow Channels'. The distance between the bouys there is over 1.5 miles with about 15m or more depth. Found out from a boat in company with me with AIS he had a draft of about 4.5m so hardly restricted in anyway!

Just goes to prove you should 'Stand on with caution' particlarly with a grey dredger like ship called Arco Avon.

 

[FullCircle]

A good reason to keep a copy of IRPCS onboard, so one could quote back the rule, as the call by the Arco Avon would be considered debatable. He was also an obnoxious prat, allegedly, my hearing could have been impaired, if I heard it at all.

 

[D3B]

[ QUOTE ]
A good reason to keep a copy of IRPCS onboard, so one could quote back the rule, as the call by the Arco Avon would be considered debatable. He was also an obnoxious prat, allegedly, my hearing could have been impaired, if I heard it at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not sure about hearing being impaired but if he was an obnoxious prat it might be hoped that CG listened into whatever channel was changed to from 16 and heard the disregard for the rules......"a buoyed channel" indeed!

Did you mamage to get a picture of his cone suggesting he was restricted etc..etc...

 

[D3B]

Just another thought....



IIRC
Last year there was an incident off Lowestoft where a vessel hit a yacht...name rings a bell....

is there a way of checking incidences the vessel may have been involved in?

of course the grey matter might be fuddled by excesses of vin rouge....

 

[mormargh]

Strange behaviour. Sometimes worth calling them up on the local VTS channel (presumably PLA or Sunk in this case) which they should be monitoring, and see if they chip in. Would be interesting to see what happens if you report it.

 

[Malish]

I tend to view gravel dredgers as the marine equivalent of lorries bearing skips - they generally believe they always have right of way

 

[johnalison]

Actually if the distance between buoys was 1.5 miles and he felt obliged to keep to the starboard side, his real channel width was 1.5/2 or say, half a mile and I wouldn't want to push my luck in those circumstances. You may have a technical point, but I'm not sure it would win in court.