Gofirstclass
Well-Known Member
I can see from the comments you all have posted that I should have taken more time to explain where everyone was at the sequence in this mess. So to help clear up some of the confusion I have posted a screen shot of the area from Google Earth as well as some additional information I posted on another boating forum to answer some of their questions. First, the picture and some further explanation of the situation.....
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized %1%2.
On this pic, our course is shown in red and at point "D" is about where I spotted the sailboat. His course is shown in yellow and he was about at point "A". This was also the time when I pointed him out (visually and on the radar screen) to my wife. She had been helping me to spot any other boat traffic.
We both watched his progress as he sailed to "B" where he changed course to parallel the shore, changing to aporoximately a reciprocal of our course. At about point "C" we stopped watching him closely and resumed watching for other traffic.
At some point after "C", he changed his course to one perpendicular to our course. About this time I had turned the helm over to my wife and was answering a question the passenger asked, keeping one eye ahead and one eye on the passenger.
As we continued on I turned to check for other boats and spotted his green nav light and saw him approaching. I pointed out the sailboat's approaching course to her and told her to go into reverse.
She did and brought the boat to a quick stop. We stood there in surprise as the sailboat passed close off our bow.
That the sailboat took a course to cross our bow was what I figured was a bonehead move.
I read most of the comments posted above and I'm not going to address them all on here. I will speak to a couple of them....
--a well lit boat reduces your night vision. Not on my boat. The interior cabin/salon on the lower level was well lighted. The only lights on the fly bridge that could have an affect on my night vision were the red helm lights (dimmed as low as possible) and the radar/GPS screen which as also dimmed.
--narrow channel. Nope, not in that area. The channel is over 1/4 mile across and the entire width is navigable in that area.
--stick your head out into the night air to check. We were in the night air. All forward facing windows were rolled up. Our night vision was not impeded at all.
Someone made the point that I turned control over to my wife who they supposed (assumed?) was not qualified. Wrong on that point. She is qualified and often skippers the boat, including backing it into the slip.
Ted, re the inconsistencies in my posts, when I said she didn't see the sailboat I should have clarified that she didn't see that it had made the course correction to cross our boat. She was aware of it from when I first pointed it out to her. My bad for not being more explicit in my postings.
I realize that every situation like this allows wide latitude for 20/20 hindsight and quarterbacking. I'm as guilty of that as most. Applying my own 20/20 quarterbacking to this, there are things I could/should have done better. I could have--
--retained control of the helm
--not answered the question my passenger asked
--kept closer track of the sailboat's course and progress
I hope this post has clarified some of the misunderstandings that came from my postings.
Fire away.
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized %1%2.
On this pic, our course is shown in red and at point "D" is about where I spotted the sailboat. His course is shown in yellow and he was about at point "A". This was also the time when I pointed him out (visually and on the radar screen) to my wife. She had been helping me to spot any other boat traffic.
We both watched his progress as he sailed to "B" where he changed course to parallel the shore, changing to aporoximately a reciprocal of our course. At about point "C" we stopped watching him closely and resumed watching for other traffic.
At some point after "C", he changed his course to one perpendicular to our course. About this time I had turned the helm over to my wife and was answering a question the passenger asked, keeping one eye ahead and one eye on the passenger.
As we continued on I turned to check for other boats and spotted his green nav light and saw him approaching. I pointed out the sailboat's approaching course to her and told her to go into reverse.
She did and brought the boat to a quick stop. We stood there in surprise as the sailboat passed close off our bow.
That the sailboat took a course to cross our bow was what I figured was a bonehead move.
I read most of the comments posted above and I'm not going to address them all on here. I will speak to a couple of them....
--a well lit boat reduces your night vision. Not on my boat. The interior cabin/salon on the lower level was well lighted. The only lights on the fly bridge that could have an affect on my night vision were the red helm lights (dimmed as low as possible) and the radar/GPS screen which as also dimmed.
--narrow channel. Nope, not in that area. The channel is over 1/4 mile across and the entire width is navigable in that area.
--stick your head out into the night air to check. We were in the night air. All forward facing windows were rolled up. Our night vision was not impeded at all.
Someone made the point that I turned control over to my wife who they supposed (assumed?) was not qualified. Wrong on that point. She is qualified and often skippers the boat, including backing it into the slip.
Ted, re the inconsistencies in my posts, when I said she didn't see the sailboat I should have clarified that she didn't see that it had made the course correction to cross our boat. She was aware of it from when I first pointed it out to her. My bad for not being more explicit in my postings.
I realize that every situation like this allows wide latitude for 20/20 hindsight and quarterbacking. I'm as guilty of that as most. Applying my own 20/20 quarterbacking to this, there are things I could/should have done better. I could have--
--retained control of the helm
--not answered the question my passenger asked
--kept closer track of the sailboat's course and progress
I hope this post has clarified some of the misunderstandings that came from my postings.
Fire away.