# Recreational boaters



## ART6 (Sep 14, 2010)

http://gcaptain.com/captain-has-license-suspended-for-failure-to-a-avoid-collision-while-navigating-through-crowd/?goal=0_f50174ef03-97ce1adf50-139925085&mc_cid=97ce1adf50&mc_eid=8092cdd0a4

Here's one for all you deck officers and masters: This cruise boat master had his ticket suspended because of the incident shown in the videos. But as a simple engineer I have to wonder who was really to blame?

I note in the video clips that the river was jammed up solid with all sorts of recreational craft, almost all of them motorised, but none seemed to make any attempt to get out of the way of the cruise boat. Instead they seemed to rely upon gesticulating and swearing although the cruise boat was moving very slowly and giving them plenty of time to put whatever brains they had into gear assuming that they had any.

What about the harbour authorities? How come they managed to allow a major jam-up of idiots in boats in a commercial area? Was no-one policing and controlling that shambles? 

What about the master? Presumably he had schedules to which he must adhere like s**t on a blanket or face the wrath of his owners? So what was he supposed to do? Sit there in the middle of the river in a cruise boat that could not be controlled unless it had steerage way, until all of the Darwin Award candidates could be cleared? Being inexpert, I suppose that he could have dropped anchor, probably right through several recreational boats, which sounds to me like a good plan given the videos!

I know nothing of this incident other that the gCaptain publication, but it does sound to me like a professional man being screwed by the actions of a general public who don't seem to have any responsibility whatever for their own safety. (Cloud)


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## Dartskipper (Jan 16, 2015)

A vessel navigating in waters that restrict its manoeuvrability due to depth of water or width of the navigable channel should have right of way. In this example, it appears that the skipper of the tourist boat is exercising that right, but where there are local restrictions operating, such as a regatta or similar event, a local notice to mariners would advise operators of certain types of vessels give such events a wide berth.

When I was skipper of Western Lady, (a similar size vessel to the Portland Spirit,) this sort of situation could occur during Regatta Week in Dartmouth. We had to keep out of the main channel when passing the RN College, because there were many events happening in that part of the river. We had to take a secondary channel between a large number of yachts all on trots or swinging moorings, avoiding them and the cables that guided the nearby Higher Ferry. So while I tend to sympathise with the skipper of Portland Spirit, and think his punishment was a tad harsh, the non actions to avoid collision by the small craft that were just drifting in the channel should also be taken into account. None of them were at anchor, and therefore were under way, and should have taken avoiding action. It would seem that their thought processes may have been modified by too many cans and bottles from the Olympia Brewery.


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