Video of Pleasure Boater colliding with Washington State Ferry

eriks said:
Just one last thing to add to my previous post, for anyone not entirely on top of their collision regs, had that situation been between two similar sized small fishing boats like any of ours, the smaller boat in this situation actually would have had old school "right of way", and the expectation would have been that the ferry would have altered course to avoid collision.
Any small or similar sized power boat approaching you from your right hand (Starboard) side theoretically has "right of way" over you. You should alter your course, not him, but if you don't, he must avoid colliding with you.
Never take it for granted though. That's why they changed the law.
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Not sure what you mean by "that's why they changed the law" unless you mean an amendment to the 1890 regs in 1911 that recognized that in any collision at sea no vessel is either completely at fault or completely blameless. The biggest disparity between vessels involved in a collision that I have read about is 90% at fault for one and 10% for the other.
Mariners are taught early on that there is no "right of way", but stand on and give way vessels. However, once risk of collision becomes apparent, it is both vessels responsibility to avoid it.
 
From the "Passasgemaker" article:

"Though the ferry ended up taking evasive action by switching into reverse gear, the decision seems to have been made after a collision was inevitable. Both vessels ultimately get failing grades following Rule 8. There really isn’t much more you can say on this one."

As previously noted, this is were I disagree. The assumption is that the appearance of the bow wash indicates when the ferry went into reverse to avoid the collision. The ferry could have reversed the stern engines prior to this, and based on the slow speed of the ferry when the video starts, is highly likely. Either way, the ferry captain didn't take action soon enough, and likely will suffer consequences to his/her professional career.
 
Fisherman Rob said:
From the "Passasgemaker" article:

"Though the ferry ended up taking evasive action by switching into reverse gear, the decision seems to have been made after a collision was inevitable. Both vessels ultimately get failing grades following Rule 8. There really isn’t much more you can say on this one."

As previously noted, this is were I disagree. The assumption is that the appearance of the bow wash indicates when the ferry went into reverse to avoid the collision. The ferry could have reversed the stern engines prior to this, and based on the slow speed of the ferry when the video starts, is highly likely. Either way, the ferry captain didn't take action soon enough, and likely will suffer consequences to his/her professional career.
Click to expand...
Disagree? Did you read the whole thing? Sounds like you're saying the same thing as the author...
 
I disagree that "...there isn't much more to say" regarding when the ferry began taking action. But yes, I agree with the conclusion that the blame is shared.
 
I agree that the ferry could have been reversing much sooner and due to forward momentum it would take a bit for the prop wash to come forward under the hull. I have passed many ferries and always assume they have the right of way over me and always steer clear. The ferry captains must encounter this scenario many times a day where there are pleasure boats passing close in front of them. The captain probably wrongly assumed that Nap Tyme would turn to go astern.

I had an interesting encounter with a BC ferry this summer. Was travelling from English bay to White Rock during the daytime. Around South Arm it completely fogged in on me with visibility just a few hundred feet. I have radar and was using it.
I was travelling parallel to Roberts Bank about a mile offshore and would pass right in front of the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal. Was thinking what if a ferry was approaching or departing the terminal? Just about then a huge blob appeared on my radar on my starboard side heading right to the terminal. I altered course 90 degrees to starboard so as to pass behind. The blob passed in front of me on the radar and then I went across its wakes so knew it was a ferry. Just as I did I saw the ferry's stern off in the fog as it cleared a bit. I was kind of surprised the ferry did not hail me on channel 16 and also wondered if I should have called 16 to make my intentions known. Hopefully they saw me on their port side. I think we were about 1/2 mile apart. Really learned to love my radar that day as I would have passed right in front of the ferry's path.

ferry (Large).JPG
 
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