Mistakes

...."I've made my share"

Learning from other's is what online forums are all about. I'm sure many of us have first or second hand stories of near disaster that would serve as a warning to others.

Please share.

Here is a second hand warning to get started:

[URL="http://www.woodyboater.com/communityweb/a-life-changing-journey-part-1-the-adventure/"]http://www.woodyboater.com/communityweb/a-life-changing-journey-part-1-the-adventure/[/URL]

Very Sobbering

Everyone should read this story...

It seems to me that they had a bad case of "GetThereItis." This is a bad affliction to have in a slow trawler.

"The most dangerous thing on a boat is a schedule."

WOW!! What a powerful story. I just relived a moment from the past which still shapes my attitude toward night operations.

I had a similar close call with a freighter as I approached the Antioch Bridge in a narrow channel from the west on a cloudy, moonless night. The lights of the freighter (30 ft above the waterline) were masked by the vehicle lights on the bridge in the background. The black hull of the freighter was invisible to the eye at night. I was relatively new to the boat and was not as well-versed in the use of the radar as I am today. I had only myself to blame for the error.

All combined, we found ourselves on a collision course with the freighter at night and only the sound of the freighte'sr horn alerted us to the immediate threat. A course correction to port moved us out of the path of the freighter as we passed approximately 100 ft off its bow. (rough estimate...very hard to judge accurately given the low light of night.)

Needless to say, I have a new appreciation for the threats that await us under the cover of nightfall.

Stories like this is why I have AIS.

In 1981 we had 4 couples on two trawlers touring the Chesapeake Bay. We were having a great time. The May weather was perfect. While going down the Bay at about 7 knots from Solomons to Tangier Island I looked around to check for traffic. We were the lead boat. Behind the other boat was a large freighter coming up behind at about 12 or 13 knots. We tried to call the other boat, but they were on the fly bridge. Their radio was below. I waved to get their attention, but to no avail. I finally left the wheel and went to the stern of the boat. I waved my arms in a big circle, patted my belly, and pointed to the rear. That brought a response on the radio asking what I was trying to tell them. I told them a big mother was coming up behind. Get out of the way. They looked around, and immediately made a turn out of the way. Rear lookout and visibility can be as important as forward.

Tugboat capsizes in Piscataqua River | Local News - WCVB Home

Check out this link of a tug that sank in the Piscataqua river yesterday. I am wondering what mistake or combination of mistakes caused this to happen. Obviously the current played a large roll in this accident. I have had a boat in this river for 25 years and have never seen anything like this.

The PNW has fog many morning which is as bad as night. We have run on interments many a morning, radar/GPS/charts and still had several close calls. In the fog I use the Auto pilot as it can steer a straighter better course than I can. So what I been using of late is a world ASI sight. Live Ships Map - AIS - Vessel Traffic and Positions

At least I can see them, which is better than nothing. There is also NOAA bouy which tell you what it like out there. http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ Also NOAA tides http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/index.shtml

So at least you can have some idea before leaving the dock and away from the dock. When bored many times I will bring up the AIS site to see what out there and when its windy stormy the buoy to see the conditions.

Here is one from a few years back. The tug still lives on , I see it often.

tug boat flip accident skookumchuck narrows - YouTube

You won't believe this. The engines were running when it came upright.


Tugboat.wmv - YouTube

Moonstruck said:

You won't believe this. The engines were running when it came upright.

Click to expand...

Must be FL120's!

The story that started this thread carries a lot of lessons. One could get into a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking about something like this; shoulda, woulda, coulda.

I found the comments about the GB36s lack of visibility interesting. I can only assume he meant rearward visibility, in which case he has a point. Visibility to the sides and front is virtually uninterrupted. The GB36 does have a fairly large aft window on the starboard side of the cabin. The aft window on the port side is quite small and for some reason some GB36s don't have this window at all. Ours does but perhaps the storyteller's didn't.

But the visibility through the larger starboard window can be greatly restricted or even negated if one carries, as we do, a dinghy on top of the cabin.

Unless I missed it there was no mention of having a radar on board or using it if there was.

The bit about the effect of a vessel's movement through the water on other things in the water was something I could relate to because it's something we experience all the time with narrowboats on the canals in the UK. You can observe it on the canal bank and in the behavior of one's own boat when passing another one.

While the fellow's experience was horrific, based on the information in the account I'm not sure I would put the blame on the freighter although the apparent gap in the presence of a bow lookout certainly was a major error on the part of the ship's crew.

All in all a very educational posting with important points for anyone who boats in waters frequented by commercial traffic. Thank you for putting it up. I know it will increase our level of vigilance.

There is a truism of mine, "Mistakes and screw ups happen a lot near home or at the end of the day." This was a carefully planned trip. The right equipment was put on board, competent crew was hired, and watch schedules were set. So, what could go wrong? Disaster that's what. This could have been a far worse story. Many times when we are near home or almost to a destination we may let our guard down. After all we are in familiar waters, or the end is in sight. I think that this is what happened in this story. Long trip, crossed the rough water, within spitting distance of the end of the trip----it's behind us. Relax a little. Then bam the unthinkable happens.

We once ran a boat from Clearwater, FL to Orange Beach, AL. At Ft. Walton Beach a mutual friend that kept his boat in Orange Beach came onboard. He was going to pilot us into the marina. After coming through St. Johns Bayou to the Perdido Pass Bridge we were to turn to starboard with the marina in sight. It was at that turn that we went from a return to sea channel to a returning from sea channel. He started taking a red marker on the port side. I told him I thought it should be on starboard. He said this is the way I always come in. Then we went aground. The marina was in sight. Maybe he was disoriented because it was dark. We had come from Panama City, and had a long day. Now we waited for the tide to lift us off. The sandy bottom did no damage. What a way to end a trip From Clearwater across the Gulf and the Panhandle to within sight of our destination.

"Mistakes and screw ups happen a lot near home or at the end of the day."

Its called "Get home Itis".

FlyWright said:

WOW!! What a powerful story. I just relived a moment from the past which still shapes my attitude toward night operations.

I had a similar close call with a freighter as I approached the Antioch Bridge in a narrow channel from the west on a cloudy, moonless night. The lights of the freighter (30 ft above the waterline) were masked by the vehicle lights on the bridge in the background. The black hull of the freighter was invisible to the eye at night. I was relatively new to the boat and was not as well-versed in the use of the radar as I am today. I had only myself to blame for the error.

All combined, we found ourselves on a collision course with the freighter at night and only the sound of the freighte'sr horn alerted us to the immediate threat. A course correction to port moved us out of the path of the freighter as we passed approximately 100 ft off its bow. (rough estimate...very hard to judge accurately given the low light of night.)

Needless to say, I have a new appreciation for the threats that await us under the cover of nightfall.

Click to expand...

Had a very similar thing happen while running a J110 up the Jersey coast on a pitch dark night. We had no radar and 4 people were keeping watch, but suddenly there it was, coming out of a brightly lit harbor and making for us at significant speed. It changed course before it became a truly close call, but not before we did an emergency tack and got a good look at the point of the bow.

In retrospect, we were too close to shore to separate the freighter's light array and, becase it was making straight for us, its lights did not seem to be moving relative to the lights on shore. And, to FF's point, this was our third day out, all of us were tired and we were pushing it to get to a mooring ball behind Sandy Hook.

I was totally unprepared for how easily something as large as a freighter could get lost in the lights from shore and how much faster they appear to be steaming when they're anywhere near you at night.

My Dad took this near Capetown, South Africa in the 70s. She got away from a tug and was blown aground to become a dive site.
See details at
GC2K05H SS: Antipolis (Traditional Cache) in Western Cape, South Africa created by paddawan

Maybe she prefered to die "with her boots on" than the trip to the scrapyard?
Steve W

Now if they had been piloting from the 'fly bridge'.....

alormaria said:

Now if they had been piloting from the 'fly bridge'.....

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They probably were and so thought their freighter was going a lot slower than it actually was. Plus they were tired from all the fresh air and wind and sun and glare and motion so probably did not realize that the land in front of them was getting closer.

How to Avoid Huge Ships: John W. Trimmer: 9780870334337: Amazon.com: Books

Be sure to read the reviews:lol:

Capt Rigney, I am actually drying tears from my eyes after reading the reviews of the book as you suggested. I have never seen such buried treasure and wonder if there are more places tucked into the web like that. Really enjoyed the site. All others - do take a look.

And at $339 a copy, the book is a steal

Lol

Uh - I cannot for the life of me find Part 2 of this. 1 - yes; 3 - yes; 2 - no trace. Anybody ? I really want to read it. Thanks

sbu22 said:

Uh - I cannot for the life of me find Part 2 of this. 1 - yes; 3 - yes; 2 - no trace. Anybody ? I really want to read it. Thanks

Click to expand...

Part 2: A Life-Changing Journey, Part 2 – Surviving Hell. | Classic Boat News / Woody Boater

Much appreciated Cap'n

Big Mistake:

14 crewmembers rescued from abandoned ship; 2 missing