Yachties Right of way

[Rocksteadee]

What utter, potentially dangerous, nonsense.

+1

 

[petem]

Finally it must be something in the UK drinking water as in Spain everyone just waves at everyone else.

J, it's perhaps worth remembering out that there are lots of relatively narrow channels in the Solent; the Hamble, Southampton Water, Portsmouth Harbour, etc leading to lots of congestion and lots of fraught nerves (and that's if you've recovered from a congested M3).

Contrast that to where we are - we spend a couple of minutes navigating through the marina (always in the sun) then we are in open water wit a relatively low density of traffic. Furthermore, it's very deep (even 100m offshore) so no worries about running aground. No wonder we're a little more relaxed about changing course early to avoid any close calls.

 

[Rocksteadee]

You use a unit "c" that I have never heard of before but reading the rest of it and your wash reference I assume it is 100m?

I can't really see why you left it to 200 Mts if you saw it a mile away. 19 kts is 10m per second so it was 20 seconds away. I am also not sure why to honked your horn 5 times. That is a signal that you don't know the other boats intention and by that time you clearly did.

As opposed to stand on etc why not just adjust you course by 10 degrees a mile back and there is no drama.

Life is give and take and all are obligated to avoid a collision. You may have been stand on but clearly it has wound you up enough to then post on here and I can't really see it as worth the stress. Maybe he didn't see you who knows.

There are times when a minor altercation is worthwhile and justified ( someone turned right in front of you for example) but here you saw him a long way off and it was your choice surely?

Finally it must be something in the UK drinking water as in Spain everyone just waves at everyone else.

C is a Cable, approx 200yds, tenth of a nautical mile.

The 5 blasts, “I am unsure of your intentions “ also nicknamed the “wake up signal”. Yes it was churlish, just making a point.
Col regs state that it should be used once I am unsure of his intentions, before I make an evasive manoeuvre but at 1/4 mike away, he would not have heard and at 19k would have not had time.

To have changed my course a mile back could have put us back on a collision course after he had just taken action to avoid one, hence stand on.

Yes it did wind my up as when we (motor boats( are the give way vessel it is clearly expected of us but when it is the other way round the inverse is not true. I have even be told by a yacht skipper that he was a yacht and we give way, even though he had no sails up and clearly motoring.
As for not having seen me, I am a 40’ white motor cruiser with a 4.6 fly bridge chucking out a bit of spray each side. He may not have seen me but that then brings into question another col reg.

If someone were to turn right in front of me, firstly I would have not been that close for it to cause a problem, if I was close I would probably be at tickover and I except I have to make allowances as there can be blind spots around sails and I understand that yachts do need to tack

 

[Rocksteadee]

Turning to Port ... if the yacht had turned to Starboard at the last minute, that could have ended badly.

Hence stand on and my “prounounced” turn to starboard

 

[Rocksteadee]

Typical may have been the wring word. It would indicate a majority, and that is probably incorrect. From experience though, I would say it is common, with a noticeable number of yachties exhibiting traits of a similar nature.

+1

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Finally it must be something in the UK drinking water as in Spain everyone just waves at everyone else.

This age old conflict between power and sail does indeed seem to be a peculiarly British thing. Having spent the last 16yrs in the Med in locations as diverse as France, Spain, Balearics, Croatia, Italy and Sardinia, I can say hand on heart I have only been gesticulated at once by a yottie and he was on a British flagged boat whereas during my previous 12yrs in and around the Solent, it was a regular occurrence. I think British based yotties just have a massive chip on their shoulders about mobos as in if you're not piss wet through and freezing your bollox off going backwards in the wrong direction, its not doing you any good. In other words they're jealous of us and most of them would rather be in a nice warm dry motor boat travelling at speed in the right direction, only their sailing mates would never speak to them again and they'd be blackballed at their sailing club

 

[Rocksteadee]

If you'll forgive me mentioning this but alarm bells rang when I read your account - and not for the reasons you might think. The yacht on your port bow was obviously the give way vessel, but what on earth were you doing altering to Port? Where in the rules does it suggest this? (Most guidelines/IRPCS specifically suggest you should almost always alter to STARBOARD for very good reasons...). Slow down/alter to starboard?



(The five short blasts are supposed to be to wake the other guy up before you alter - not as a retaliatory blast after the manoeuvre.)



Standing on is exactly the right thing to do - until you are confident that the other guy hasn't seen you or isn't taking avoiding action. Then it's up to everyone to avoid collision. Weaving around isn't helpful.

Agreed I should have altered to Starboard. A few reasons I didn’t:
The SHB Boyne was on my starboard bow and could have been too close;
Due to his 6k toward my future track I may not have cleared as much as 100yds, I could have slowed down (had hand on throttles ready);
To have passed in front would have felt I was making a point before the event and not after
And at 19k would no doubt have given him cause to grumble about another inconsiderate stink pot.

Yes the 5 blast after the event was churlish of me, I was making the point that perhaps he should get some training.

That confidence generally becomes apparent that he is not giving way once closer, ie 1/4 mile

 

[jrudge]

if you're not piss wet through and freezing your bollox off going backwards in the wrong direction, its not doing you any good.

This has to a contender for Quote of the Year Award !

 

[Rocksteadee]

Indeed - see my post No 14. Turning to Port to avoid collision is almost always the wrong thing to do. I say almost, because there are some exceptional circumstances where turning to Post might be the better option, but these circumstances are rare.

Bit of an own goal by the OP.

However hopefully it's a learning point?

Agreed, however there was a SHB Boyne that was on my starboard bow and with his 5 knots closing on that turn to starboard track I may not have cleared him by the 100yds without slowing down (which I was also ready to do)

 

[Rocksteadee]

This has to a contender for Quote of the Year Award !

if you're not piss wet through and freezing your bollox off going backwards in the wrong direction, its not doing you any good.

Lol

 

[oldgit]

is this the traditional mid season short spat COLREGS argument or usually much longer bring a beer and take off your deckshoes entrenched marathon one .?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDB5gbtaEQ

 

[Rocksteadee]

Where I am coming from:
It was not the fact that a give way vessel did not but his arrogance that he was in the right and I was wrong.
I quite happily make allowances for anyone not knowing the rules as everyone is on the same learning curve I once was.
At the weekend in Chichester I was suddenly surrounded by dingys in a race in a narrower channel at a low tide and spent more time going astern than ahead. The rules still apply.
Have had yachts pull out onto a channel resulting in quite a lot of astern power to avoid a collision, impolite but the rules still apply.
Not forgetting that I had to learn once.

I teach Power boat 2 whilst understand the arguments for and against compulsory qualifications eg. The EU ICC, those who don’t have some sort of training can lead to very dangerous situations.

There you go, had my rant, now I can go back to waving at any one who looks (knowing that those who will not make eye contact will not wave back)

 

[john_morris_uk]

if you're not piss wet through and freezing your bollox off going backwards in the wrong direction, its not doing you any good.

Lol

I find the whole sailing yacht vs motor yacht things extremely tedious. I spend time on both (although I own and sail a sailing yacht.) Interestingly, I find many motor boat skippers/people in the Solent seem to be slightly flabbergasted when I give them a cheery wave as I pass by when sailing. Is this a by product of the snobbish attitude of other sailers and I am tarred with the same brush?

We share the same water and enjoy being afloat. I'm always delighted to chat to mobo's and share experiences. If I'm on our saily thing, and they get too uppity about my passage speed, I can always ask them the price of diesel and the size of their tanks...

 

[Rocksteadee]

is this the traditional mid season short spat COLREGS argument or usually much longer bring a beer and take off your deckshoes entrenched marathon one .?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDB5gbtaEQ

Hadn’t seen one for a while so had to get one going. 4 pages in a few hours, quite impressive.
I’ll bring the beer

 

[Rocksteadee]

I find the whole sailing yacht vs motor yacht things extremely tedious. I spend time on both (although I own and sail a sailing yacht.) Interestingly, I find many motor boat skippers/people in the Solent seem to be slightly flabbergasted when I give them a cheery wave as I pass by when sailing. Is this a by product of the snobbish attitude of other sailers and I am tarred with the same brush?

We share the same water and enjoy being afloat. I'm always delighted to chat to mobo's and share experiences. If I'm on our saily thing, and they get too uppity about my passage speed, I can always ask them the price of diesel and the size of their tanks...

I also sail which can be quite useful to have an idea what a yacht is doing or what he is going to do and why and then take action accordingly,

Chatting to a yachty whilst refuelling. He put in 48 l and said that would last him a month, I put in 580 l and said that would last me a week. However he also pointed out that a yacht was the most expensive way to sail for free

 

[Poignard]

Hadn’t seen one for a while so had to get one going. 4 pages in a few hours, quite impressive.
I’ll bring the beer

We used to get a lot more of these rows before Brexit took over as the main topic of interest here. The problem now is that many of us Remainer yachtsmen have had the wind taken out of our sails (see what I did there?) by discovering that many of the formerly despised motor boat drivers have turned out to be highly intelligent Remainers.

So, on the basis that my enemy's enemy is my friend, hostilities have been suspended for the duration.

 

[Poignard]

(..)
However he also pointed out that a yacht was the most expensive way to sail for free

He wasn't far wrong

 

[john_morris_uk]

I also sail which can be quite useful to have an idea what a yacht is doing or what he is going to do and why and then take action accordingly,

Chatting to a yachty whilst refuelling. He put in 48 l and said that would last him a month, I put in 580 l and said that would last me a week. However he also pointed out that a yacht was the most expensive way to sail for free

If it's any consolation I filled my diesel tank a few weeks ago and was £170 lighter in the wallet and it's only a 39' foot sailing boat... Very small beer for a lot of mobo's but it still stung a bit and I was glad of a good wind to sail across the channel with and not burn too much of it away. However the new suit of sails cost me the best part of £10k a few years ago and the rigging needs changing soon...

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

So, on the basis that my enemy's enemy is my friend, hostilities have been suspended for the duration.

Ooops. I was only joking with my comments above. I like yotties really. Mostly

 

[mcanderson]

What anchor did he have? Just trying to add to the joy of this post!