What should I have done?

[JDCAVE]

Yesterday I was heading west through Enterprise Channel, favouring the northern side of the passage. A sailboat (single handed) under power is heading north, with the intention of heading east through the passage. I am the stand-on vessel as he approaches my port bow. I watch closely for his intentions as he continues, without changing course. Increasingly it appears that he intends to cut across my bow, and yet I am concerned that if I turn to port he might turn to his starboard increasing my risk of collision. I pull back on the throttle and my vessel stalls (another issue that I need to explore). He continues on and cuts across my bow with me now dead in the water. I start my vessel and then head south.

What would you suggest I should have done in this instance? My intended course (approximate) is shown with the waypoint JDCAVE.




Jim
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[menzies]

What you did (apart from stall!). If in doubt, stop, so long as you feel that will not make things worse.

I would have also raised him on the radio and advised him that you were the stand on vssel as you were both under power.

 

[JDCAVE]

It happened quickly. I was fumbling with the horn for 4 blasts, but the breaker was off. I would have raised him on the VHF, but I was contending with having to restart the vessel.


Jim
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[caltexflanc]

Maintain course and speed. Raise him on the VHF the second you have any doubt. Course corrections need to be to starboard if at all possible, and made very clearly, not incrementally. You didn't have an operable horn, but if you did, and the VHf didn't raise him, the first signal would a one blast for a port to port passage. Sounds like you had a really clueless guy on your hands. Of course ultimately you have to do whatever it takes to avoid if collision is otherwise imminent.

 

[ulysses]

I agree you avoided collision so it must have been the right thing to do. My only question is within your original post you state the sail/power boat"s "intention" was to head west in the channel. I am curious as to how you determined its intention. VHF contact if he was monitoring would have been my first course of action early in the situation.

 

[Capt.Bill11]

FYI, unless it's different in Canada, which I doubt, it's 5 soundings of the horn for the intentions not understood signal.

 

[JDCAVE]

Yes. I should have contacted on the VHF. The situation developed quickly and once I had stalled my decision was to restart the vessel. As I had lost power, I was "powerless" to make further course adjustments.


Jim
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[JDCAVE]

FYI, unless it's different in Canada, which I doubt, it's 5 soundings of the horn for the intentions not understood signal.

Yes. Correct. I was posting from memory, but it don't routinely use the horn except under conditions of fog.

Clearly the gentleman was unaware of his obligations as to being the "give way" vessel. I wonder if he would have undershoot pad the meaning of 5 blasts of the horn.

As I was in a narrow channel, I would have thought he would have understood passing red to red.


Jim
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[dhays]

What you did (apart from stall!). If in doubt, stop, so long as you feel that will not make things worse.

I would have also raised him on the radio and advised him that you were the stand on vssel as you were both under power.

You did what you should have done, you acted to avoid a collision.

I agree with the suggestions already given. The horn would have been a good idea, either 1 short or 4 short. However, I will bet that the sailor would not have had a clue as to what they meant. In my experience, many sailors, including myself, are woefully fuzzy on the sound signals. I know that I have to think about them to remember, which is useless when you need to take action.

The radio would be a great idea, again it is best used far enough in advance, but like you I would have been expecting them to alter course. By the time you realized they weren't, you were dealing with a dead engine.

The only thing that you possibly could have done differently, and this is just a guess, is to make a clear course change to starboard much earlier

 

[Nomad Willy]

JDCAVE,
Could it be that you've got your engine idle speed too low?
I adjust mine so the engine won't quit when I come back of reverse backing out of a slip after the engine was cold only 3 or 4 minutes before. Haven't had a stall since I did that.

Many overpropped boats go too fast at idle but as long as the shifting is done quickly doing lots of shifting won't harm a transmission. Don't think there's any benifit from ultra low idle speeds.

 

[Diesel Duck]

A simple laminated placard of the USCG Rule 34 - Maneuvering and Warning signals for both International and Inland Waters should fix any memory issues:

http://www.boatdocking.com/other/Sounds.html

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=navRulesContent#rule34

 

[dhays]

A simple laminated placard of the Maneuvering and Warning signals for both International and Inland Waters should fix any memory issues:


Boat Docking - Nautical Sound Signals

As I was reading the thread that was my thought as well. I need a handy placard I can stick somewhere.

 

[MurrayM]

A simple laminated placard of the Maneuvering and Warning signals for both International and Inland Waters should fix any memory issues:


Boat Docking - Nautical Sound Signals

Printed it...thanks!

 

[JDCAVE]

All: thanks for your advice. I have a laminated cardboard that I need to get out. Clearly the VHF option would have been best and I often make contact with other vessels to agree on safe passes.

Eric: evidently the boat is not over propped as I can attain the spec RPMs at wide open throttle, but PH does go at 3.5 kts at idle. Too fast in my opinion.

I am due to change my fuel filters. My delay has been due to the fact it will be a first for me so want to be prepared. I have dual Racor 900's and the pressure gauge does not indicate an issue but I will change all filters, primary and secondary, when I am certain I have the procedure down. BTW, I have Microcommander electronic controls. Not sure if that might be contributory to stalling. I happened in one other occasion this summer.


Jim
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[Xsbank]

JD, it sounds like you need a checklist, so you can ensure you are properly configured for operating. I agree that under the circumstances you did the correct thing but by being improperly configured you left yourself no choices; although there was no accident, it sounds like a classic Swiss-cheese accident scenario that in fact left you powerless to maneuver and in some peril.

In my case, my procedure when confronted with a collision scenario is to make one obvious course correction. Should there be no response from the other vessel, I hail with a "securite" call or use the horn. If no response I pull the power lever back. Both vessels, despite right of way rules, are obligated to avoid a collision or placing another vessel in peril.

You need to be extra vigilant for @ssholes and should not put yourself at risk because of an inability to respond.

5 blasts on the horn is the correct number. "You are standing into danger."

 

[JDCAVE]

JD, it sounds like you need a checklist, so you can ensure you are properly configured for operating. I agree that under the circumstances you did the correct thing but by being improperly configured you left yourself no choices; although there was no accident, it sounds like a classic Swiss-cheese accident scenario that in fact left you powerless to maneuver and in some peril.

In my case, my procedure when confronted with a collision scenario is to make one obvious course correction. Should there be no response from the other vessel, I hail with a "securite" call or use the horn. If no response I pull the power lever back. Both vessels, despite right of way rules, are obligated to avoid a collision or placing another vessel in peril.

You need to be extra vigilant for @ssholes and should not put yourself at risk because of an inability to respond.

5 blasts on the horn is the correct number. "You are standing into danger."

Admonishment appreciated and understood. Thanks Xsbank! A course correction to starboard sounds like the correct approach but there's not a lot of room in the channel to steer to either side in this channel. The VHF would also be appropriate. I don't think the "clueless clot" would have understood the 5 blasts signal.


Jim
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[MurrayM]

Perhaps you should mount a bison bull or narwhal skull to your bow?

 

[FlyWright]

Here's a good International Rules cheat sheet to laminate for use at the helm.

Compliments of Skipperdude on this post from 2011.

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s4/gratuitous-horn-blowing-4548-2.html

 

[Northern Spy]

Most five blasts of a whistle scenarios I've witnessed (I live in a ferry town) or encountered have been with sailboats under power.

Some of them even wave back because I'm so friendly, tootling my horn like that at them...

 

[Ted]

Lacking Mark's cannon, a shotgun blast (near vertical), has been known to
get the attention of ********s

Ted

 

[JDCAVE]

Lacking Mark's cannon, a shotgun blast (near vertical), has been known to
get the attention of ********s

Ted

You meant 5 blasts of the shotgun of course?


Jim
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[Steve]

I have never had much luck contacting sailboats on VHF. I think most have their fixed radio inside and a handheld, if any, in the cockpit off to save the battery.
Or maybe that guy thought he had the right of way even under power?

 

[dimer2]

You are right Steve. You hear the barges calling them all the time and get no response. If they cannot follow that simple rule, it's kind of hard to expect them to follow something as complex as the rules of navigation. I have seen power boats do the same though.

 

[dhays]

I have never had much luck contacting sailboats on VHF. I think most have their fixed radio inside and a handheld, if any, in the cockpit off to save the battery.
Or maybe that guy thought he had the right of way even under power?

You are right Steve. You hear the barges calling them all the time and get no response. If they cannot follow that simple rule, it's kind of hard to expect them to follow something as complex as the rules of navigation. I have seen power boats do the same though.

OK, maybe it is a regional difference? Here in the PNW larger sailboats almost always have a wired VHF in the cockpit which is turned on when underway.

Of course that doesn't mean that they actually know how to actually use it. I am still trying to figure out what "transmit" means.

 

[Ted]

You meant 5 blasts of the shotgun of course?


Jim
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I think 5 blasts could get tiring, might not be able to hold as vertical
for later repeats.

Ted

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. JD. Under the circumstances you describe, you did EXACTLY the correct thing IMO. Radios, horns, shotguns, canons etc. were unavailable to you at that exact moment so you stopped (save the stall) and waited with your boat out of harms way. Regardless of the "intellect" of the other boater, a collision was averted. Case closed. The GOOD thing is you learned a few things and will be better prepared in the future. Stop beating yourself up.

 

[boatpoker]

I'm not so sure you did the right thing. You had a know problem with stalling at idle speed and yet you continued to the point you did stall. You should have seen this coming and reacted before you did i.e. slowing down to above idle speed and/'or changing course before the collision point. Had there been a collision you would probably have been held at close to 50% responsible. Not that I agree but the courts rarely assess 100% fault on one party. You would have been held partially responsible for taking out a boat with a known problem and lack of a sound signalling device.

 

[markpierce]

The practice here is for big ships is to sound one prolonged (at least four second) blast when approaching a plethora of small boats.

The motoring sailboater appears to be clueless. Best could be to put the finger on the horn button and count to at least four. This should attract his attention (heeere is Kadey Krogen!) and then re-evaluate future action. Radioing is problematic as you most likely won't determine the boat's name, if ever, the other boater won't have his radio on, if any, and there is normally no time to do this. If the boater doesn't appropriately react, change speed/course to avoid collision.

Normally, I just change course/speed if the other boater hasn't already done so by the time expected. Often, a minimal course change at long distance avoids the problem.

 

[JDCAVE]

I'm not so sure you did the right thing. You had a know problem with stalling at idle speed and yet you continued to the point you did stall. You should have seen this coming and reacted before you did i.e. slowing down to above idle speed and/'or changing course before the collision point. Had there been a collision you would probably have been held at close to 50% responsible. Not that I agree but the courts rarely assess 100% fault on one party. You would have been held partially responsible for taking out a boat with a known problem and lack of a sound signalling device.

"Thanks Boatpoker" he said sheepishly. I certainly defer to your knowledge and background. I would hope that the courts would at least acknowledge that a) he was the giveway vessel and b) that I had slowed down and taken some action to avoid collision. There wasn't a lot of room in the channel for me, the larger vessel to turn aggressively to starboard. Note that had I taken starboard action, he may we'll have run into us as he came across our bow anyways. That said, I could have, and should have done more. There is always something in hindsight which is why I am asking people for different possibilities. Definitely need to ensure the horn breaker is on next time.

...not sure I would have admitted that the vessel had stalled once before. We've been out on the boat for 3 months this year speeding up and slowing down to idle countless times and this is the only the second time it has stalled.


Jim
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[kchace]

I'm with RTF on this. I had a powerboat perform exactly the same maneuver on me a few weeks ago. Put 2 boats in danger when a slight correction would have made the passing completely benign . Best thing to do with such a dumb and dangerous move is to slowdown and or stop as you did.

Ken