St Barths - speedboat / jetski collision

[Bajansailor]

There were a LOT of big yachts anchored off St Barths (next door to St Maarten, not too far away from Antigua in the Caribbean) for Old Years Night, as this is the 'IN' place to be to go partying.
(Roman Abramovitch's yacht Eclipse was there as usual, along with at least a hundred other big yachts).
The anchorage was very congested - yet speedboats (and jet skis) still insist on going fast.
In the video below, if we go strictly according to the Collision Regulations, the speed boat was the 'give way' boat - in actual fact the jet ski also had an obligation as well to avoid the accident if the speed boat did not give way, and could have done so by altering course to port.
But it appears that neither vessel saw each other before it was too late.
Reading a comment on the original post on Facebook, the jet ski rider sustained serious injuries and is in hospital now.

Here is the original post on the St Maarten Cruisers Facebook group -
Jay Goss

Why this obsessive need for speed within anchorages?
This post was also on the St Maarten Cruisers group - a motor boat nearly cut a turtle in half in the lagoon.
Peter Hoff

 

[jrudge]

I saw this on a Facebook group.

Tragic. I hope he / she is ok.

People do zip through anchorages. Jet ski are the worst followed by “professionals “ from larger boats.

There is the risk of hitting someone but the certainty of wake to rock others boats.

Daft

 

[Sneds]

If the jet ski had turned to port and the speed boat done the correct thing and turned to starboard, they would have still collided

Turning to port should be a very last resort

The jet ski should have turned to starboard, as per the Coll regs, but then again, is the jet ski, not following a specific course but just blasting around, obliged by the Coll regs?

Just a thought and hope the rider is ok

 

[petem]

The jet ski should have turned to starboard, as per the Coll regs, but then again, is the jet ski, not following a specific course but just blasting around, obliged by the Coll regs?

Yes, larking about doesn't absolve you from following the Colregs!

I suspect neither of them were looking where they were going and the Jetski rider probably has no idea what the Colregs are.

 

[Bajansailor]

Oops, sorry, yes, my mistake re turning to port.
Here is a good demo of turning to starboard -

I was thinking that if I had been on the jet ski, and seen the boat up ahead, the natural reaction (?) might have been to slow down and turn to port to pass astern of the power boat.
The proper thing to do is for the power boat to slow down and pass astern of the jet ski by turning to starboard.
But as Pete notes, the jet-skier probably has no idea as to what the Coll Regs are.
And they obviously didn't see each other beforehand - the jet-ski probably saw the boat just before the impact, and the boat probably heard / felt the impact before seeing the jet-ski.

 

[Bandit]

With boats and cars there are times to take priority and times when it is appropriate to brake or back off especially if you are Jet Ski's or cyclists respectively.