What would you do?

[Sailorsam101]

Sunday lunch time...southampton water off netley near big yellow mooring buoys.

My boat heading towards southampton on port tack almost on a run with preventer on main.

laying a course to leave ont of the big green buoys to our port side. Tide is on a storng spring flood.

Other boat...racing...on our starboard side changes course to be to be close hauled and heading for the green buoy as a turning mark.

So he has right of way as i am closer to the wind...no question there.

Here is the issue....i can't gybe round the back of him...preventer on...lumpy day.

If i try to turn to port into the wind and pass in from of him the tide will take me onto the buoy. So i try to change me course slightly to pass round the stern of him. but with every gust he changes his course to try and beat the tide and pass up tide of the buoy.....

Hope this makes sense so far. Oh and a very novice crew on board as well.

So eventually he passed round my stern but with much shouting from him.

I am an instructor and this was a weekend course. I am well aware of what racing fleets can and do often do so i was watching what they were all doing and picking my way through but this chap changed course quite late to try and round this mark.

It all ended well but it could hvae been nasty.

So what would you have done....and don't say to keep a better look out and that sort of stuff because i was doing this.

??

 

[Whitelighter]

It seems that having the preventer on restricted your ability to manouver. If this is the case, it is surely questionalble that you should be using it in busy/congested water where you are likely to be the give way vessel.

As to what I would have done, it is difficult to say but assume the other boat was racing, was luffing an option, or would this have resulted in you being swept onto the bouy also?

 

[Sailorsam101]

Any turn to port and into the wind would have had a very large green stripe down the boat.

It's a tricky one that doens't have a right answer i think.

 

[Will_M]

So your both on the same tack, and your the windward boat. Right?

 

[michael_w]

Ease the preventer, gybe. End of story.

 

[Sailorsam101]

Yes thats correct and yes he had right of way.

but i could not move out of his way.

Turn to port and be swept onto a buoy. Turn to starboard and have my mian on the wrong side...stall boat ....and still be in his way.

 

[Whitelighter]

No, as you say, it is one of those times that you don't seem to have many options.

Had you been displaying that you were restricted in your ability to manouver, it would have changed things though...

 

[Sailorsam101]

The speed at which these events happend would not have made this action possible. I would have had to leave the cockpit...go forward...ease the preventer....then back to the cockpit etc...all with a crew who i could not trust to sail downwind and hold a good direction.

Also the main problem here was that he was down tide of the buoy and needed to pass up tide of it. He was right up on the wind so with every gust he was getting a lift. This meant that his direction was changing often but only be a small amount. So everytime i changed course to avoid him he then chanegd back again on a course to hit us.

 

[Whitelighter]

It does seem that it wasn't too much of a hardship for him to go to your stern. If luffing for a few seconds meant he was still on you, it must have been fairly easy for him just to pass you behind.

This is where sticking to the letter of Col Regs and ignoring common sense is a bit dangerous. Sounds to me like he was a typical racer and only really gave a damn about himself. I'm afraid if your going to race in the Solent, you will have to dodge people.

Or would he do the same to a container ship, as power does give way to sail...

 

[Scarboroughsloop]

Make use of the engine?

With the use of 20/20 hindsight, maybe spot the potential situation sooner?

 

[Sailorsam101]

I agree with you...i don't race but i have done in the past.

Not all racers are bad....i know this well...but the majority are not very nice people on the water and not people who i want to have anything to do with. But again some are great people.

Racing does not eqaul right of way no matter how many four letter words you know...!!!

 

[Sailorsam101]

The engine is always an option but remember i was teaching sailing. In the situaiton i do feel that whatever i did the other boat wanted to be where i was and i really could not get out of his way without turning around.

 

[michael_w]

It is easy to armchair sail. Why don't you rig the preventer through a snatch block on the bow and aft to the cockpit?

 

[tome]

Reckon preventers shouldn't be used in restricted waters, for the obvious reason that they limit the boats manoeuvrability

That said, there are times like this where a bit of common sense would have kept him clear of you with little inconvenience to himself. I'll generally give way to a boat on a dead run to save them a gybe

 

[Dyflin]

[ QUOTE ]


Racing does not eqaul right of way no matter how many four letter words you know...!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Like that one very much, reminds me of quite a few instances!

 

[Sailorsam101]

I agree.

About 20 mins later i met up with the same fleet and i had right of way but they had big kites up so i kept out of their way.

What goes around comes around.

 

[DJE]

Benefit of hindsight here but if the preventer removes the option of gybeing then your only option is to luff up. In that situation don't pass close to leeward of bouys and other obstructions as this reduces your options to zero.

 

[Scarboroughsloop]

True - a little courtesy goes a long way..........

 

[Will_M]

Tough one, as often these things are at the time...

Your instructing in the Solent, you know its 'full on' Hamble Winter Series time of year. I know hindsight is a great thing, but maybe you had set yourself up for getting stuck with restricted manoeuvrability?

 

[Pinnacle]

If I had been in the racing yacht (and I wasn't) I think I would have been pretty unimpressed. If the situation had been developing for some time, would it not have been possible for you to alter course to port and leave the green bouy to starboard ( since the racer was using this as a turning mark) and avoid him? Alternatively, what about a big burst of full astern on the iron topsail? Would that have taken enough of your way off to allow him to pass ahead? No mention was made of your headsail. Was it still pulling throughout? Could you have let it go or furled it? Could you have simply rounded right up into the wind at the outset, loosened the preventer and then tacked onto starboard. This would have a) taken you away from him and b) made you the right of way boat.

One final question. If you were on a broad reach, ( as opposed to a run) why did you need a preventer in the first place?

Finally, I was not there so I am in no position to say what the best thing to do would have been was - only you can. Do you think you did the best thing?