What chance the yachty?

R

reginaldon

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 Feb 2004
Messages
3,538
Location
kent
Visit site
If the QM2 and a P&O ferry had a near miss situation in the Straits, what chance the poor yachty? With all the modern aids - radar, AIS etc. do they think they don't have to bother about Collision Regulations? It would be interesting to see a full MCA report.
 
This kind of thing happens every day all over the world. It's only news worthy because it was all monitored and recorded by the VTS and it involved a P&O ferry. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
Radar is without doubt ahelp in avoidig collisions,but with radar ship owners expect their fleets to maintain speed what ever the visibility.I have been on ships where many a near miss was saved by actually going out of the bridge and "LOOKING".
 
I wonder if either was following Rule 35, Sound Signals in restricted visibility? It is, after all, mandatory but ferries rarely do because "the passengers don't like it".
 
I've sailed West past Dover Harbour about a mile out in fog and a Seafrance ferry has made a wide detour to go astern of my wee craft, so my limited experience of Cross Channel ferries has been good
 
[ QUOTE ]
This kind of thing happens every day all over the world. It's only news worthy because it was all monitored and recorded by the VTS and it involved a P&O ferry.

[/ QUOTE ]
With you on this one. By "near miss" do they mean the masters of both vessels had a forthright VHF debate about their interpretation of ColRegs? If so this happens multiple time per day in the English Channel.
 
Here is the full Preliminary Examination from the MAIB website.

"Completed PE Summary

Queen Elizabeth 2 and Pride of Kent


Category: Merchant vessels
Vessel name: Queen Elizabeth 2
Manager: Carnival plc trading as Cunard Line
Ship Owner: Carnival plc
Port of Registry: Southampton
Flag: United Kingdom
Classification Society: Lloyds Register
Type: Passenger
Built: 1969
Construction: Steel
Length overall: 293.52m
Gross tonnage: 70,327
Date & Time: 2159 UTC 15 December 2007
Location of incident: Dover Strait
Incident Type: Hazardous Incident
Persons onboard: 1822 Passengers 1011 Crew
Injuries/fatalities: None
Damage/pollution: None

Vessel name: Pride of Kent
Manager: P&O Ferries Ship Management
Ship Owner: P&O
Port of Registry: Dover
Flag: United Kingdom
Classification Society: Lloyds Register
Type: Passenger ferry
Built: 1992
Construction: Steel
Length overall: 179.7m
Gross tonnage: 30,635
Date & Time: 2159 UTC 15 December 2007
Location of incident: Dover Strait
Incident Type: Hazardous Incident
Persons onboard: 704 Passengers 103 Crew
Injuries/fatalities: None
Damage/pollution: None

Synopsis

At 2200 UTC on 15 December 2007 in light winds and good visibility a close quarters situation occurred between Queen Elizabeth 2 and Pride of Kent.

Queen Elizabeth 2, on passage from Zeebrugge to Southampton, was south west bound in the Dover Strait Traffic Separation Scheme. Her track was biased to the starboard side of the traffic lane. Pride of Kent departed Dover for a scheduled voyage to Calais, observing the voluntary separation scheme established for ferry operators. As the vessels approached, a close quarters situation developed in which Queen Elizabeth 2 was required to give way.

When it became apparent that no avoiding action was being taken by Queen Elizabeth 2, Pride of Kent reduced her speed allowing Queen Elizabeth 2 to pass 0.6mile ahead of Pride of Kent.

There were no injuries to personnel and no pollution.

Action taken:

Following the accident, the Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents has considered the actions taken by both the companies and is satisfied with the steps they have taken to prevent future accidents.

Cunard Line will:

Send a letter to the fleet that describes the incident, identifies lessons learnt and provides actions to prevent future recurrence.

Provide further development of company specific Bridge Resource Management training.

Implement their recently rewritten, and currently trialled, Bridge Resource Management Procedures.

P&O Ferries will:

Carry out an internal investigation that will result in a review of bridge procedures throughout the fleet and identify actions to avoid similar situations in the future.

Published: MARCH 2008"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Ispent some years working on small coasters and the general attitude to yachts would make your hair standon end.I did manage to wean one skipper off Penthouse to the Yachting Monthly and he went on to buy a small yacht!!!!
 
Its ok slagging the merchant lads, but from my experience,some in charge of yachts are far worse at making a logical disitoin, when it comes to safety rules at sea ...Especially when racing..Not everyone but some...
 
I totally agree wiyh you .Slagging ...not exactly some of my best friends are M.N !! In general proffessional seamen have a better chace of taking the right decisions than say a week end sailor .Having been in the coasteres I tend to avoid any possibility of crossing tracks with a merchat ship....just i case the watchman is in the galley making a cuppa !!!
 
There has been an explosion in the number of recreational boats of all classes in the past few years and at the same time the size and speed of commercial vessels has increased dramatically. Most dangerous to any small boat are the high-speed catamaran ferries that can travel at speeds up to 40 knots and which have been the cause of a number of lethal collisions with small fishing vessels and recreational boats world-wide.

However, the ColRegs have evolved to endow certain classes of vessel under certain conditions with priority, fishing boats with nets set, vessels constrained by their draught in channels, etc. I can see the time when the ever-burgeoning leisure fleets will have to accept that their historical and democratic equality with commercial shipping will inevitably have to be eroded. This appears to be already underway:

"Italy has submitted a proposal to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) sub-committee on the safety of navigation. They are requesting that the Coiregs be amended to give commercial craft right of way over pleasure craft; proposing that private and chartered vessels under 20m in length should be required to not impede the passage of any vessel over 20m in length. To identify them, it is proposed that pleasure craft display a red/white cylinder (which will have specified dimensions) by day and a light which gives five short flashes every two minutes and is visible for three miles by night. A sound signal of five short and rapid blasts every two minutes is proosed for restricted visibility."
RYA Magazine, Autumn 2007.

This proposal to the IMO is progressing:

"21.35 The Committee discussed at length document MSC 82/21/4 (Italy) proposing, with a view to establishing the priority of vessels over those craft exclusively used for recreational purpose in order to reduce the risk of collision in restricted areas with high density of pleasure craft and where it is difficult to manoeuvre safely for large vessels, to develop amendments to COLREGs so as to give vessels the right of way over pleasure craft, and, having recognized the need for detailed discussion of technical aspects of the issue, agreed to include, in the NAV Sub-Committee’s work programme, a high priority item on “Review of COLREGs regarding the right of way of vessels over pleasure craft”, with one session needed to complete the item."
 
Certainly from the bridge of a large ship or coaster making a course down the solent would be less worrying if therewas some kind of designated channel,but a blanket change of the col regs would be not the way to go.I recall coming out of the Hamble fuel berth bound for Cowes and the skipper (ex sailing man) came astern and stopped to let a hoarde of racers go round a mark....some of the language from the nice ladies with headscarves you would have thought we had raped their daughters!!!Things have moved on and speed is all but as yet not time for major change .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top