So many things should have mitigated this.
This is my backyard and I have spent my life in close proximity to these ships and these channels in both large boats, fishing boats, and kayaks. If the freighter is heading upstream he will push a bigger bow wake, so big that most boats surf off the wake long before making contact with the ship. I could not read the article as it is no longer there. Was the GB anchored? Was he hit be a downstream freighter? What was he doing in the channel not paying attention and not at the controls? Did he not hear the five blasts of the freighters horn when the freighter realized the GB was in his path? Every captain in this waterway is a US licensed captain, authorized to navigate these waters. No foreign captains are allowed to pilot the Detroit River, Lake St,. Clair, or the St. Clair river. These poor captains have to put up with all manner of nonsense mostly from smaller craft. A Grand Banks is usually not something they have to contend with. The draft and weight of the GB makes it a more vulnerable target because it does not push away as easily as jet skis and fishing boats. Again, I could not read the article, but unless the GB had lost power there is no excuse for this happening. A freighter cannot and will not navigate around an obstacle such as a pleasure boat. Never got close to a freighter that I was not trying to get close to. Now ocean going freighters in the open ocean? Those things scare the hell out of me at night. I always pass behind if I can. The odds of what happened here if the GB was not anchored are very unlikely. If he was anchored in the channel............well that should not have happened. He should have drifted out of the channel and reset. Wish I could have read the account. Maybe I will get the chance to ask first hand as I am in Hessel with some regularity.
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