A couple of years ago we had a local club member tacking up the river between the Delta and Sacramento. He had only had a few miles to go when lager motor yacht heading down river moved out to mid channel to avoid and snag near the west bank and a twenty something power boat was coming up river.
When Larry reached the east bank he tacked directly into the path of the power boat and was stuck in the cockpit. The bow went between he and his wife and they slid off with only scratches. Larry was cited not the power boat. I'm not sure a citation was correct but I'm pretty sure (from watching SF Bay Shipping Traffic) Larry owed 5 blast on his horn (collision imminent) before tacking into the powerboat's path. Otherwise he was behaving oblivious to the danger. On SF Bay there is a shipping lane turn under the Golden Gate that all ships make and every weekend without fail there be a few sailors scattered directly in the path of an inbound vessel hearing the 5 blast but not reacting until the ship comes on the new heading. Then you should see the scramble. If I'm doing casual sailing on The Bay the one thing I make sure I know is whether I'm in or out of the shipping lane, the goal to remain casual is to be outside the lane. Phil Agur s/v Wing Tip Commodore, Call Sign WCW3485 IC27/270A MMSI 366901790 www.catalina27.org Vessel Doc# 1039809 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of John Oppenheimer Sent: Sunday, July 09, 2006 10:04 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: catalina27-talk: Rules and Lights Oh yes, I forgot, is there a unique Lake Travis light rule that mandates that all navigation lights be on while anchored ;-)) Because as Art mentioned, they were all on, 100s of red and green lights not going anywhere. At the end of the show, it was quite a sight to watch all of the red lights go to my left and all of the greens going to my right. I was anchored in the middle of the Carlos N Charlie's fireworks show anchorage area. Other then lights, I must say that the power boats were very well behaved, only one or two did not understand anchor rode scope. While motoring back, the boat that got to closet to me, from the stern to pass, was another sailboat. Art, where was your fireworks show? About the 50'er, he had plenty of room to my stern. I am not aware of any catastrophic boat wrecks on the lake so far this year that have made the news. But there have been three drownings this season, one this past week. John Art wrote: > Funny you should mention fireworks. I noticed that all the power boats > watching fireworks had their running lights on while anchored. That > makes it really hard to tell whether they are actually anchored, or > drifting with or without the engine. > > Art > > > John Oppenheimer wrote: > >> Last night we had a wonderful afternoon through almost full moon cruse. >> Nice 10 - 15 kts wind on the lake. >> >> A question about rules: We are sailing on a Starboard tack when I note a >> large, 50 foot or so, house boat off our Port bow making about the same >> speed we are. After watching for a while I decide that we are on a >> collision course and there is not enough room for him to go between our >> bow and the shoreline. I decide that it's about time for me to do >> something before we get into a dangerous situation when he blows his >> horn. So I tack and let him pass. We never got close enough to get into >> trouble. So here is the question, there is always a big/little boat >> rule, but where does it start? Should I, in a C27, always give to a 50 >> foot house boat? Was he out of line? Or should I have tacked sooner to >> make him feel comfortable. >> >> And lights? What is it about sailors and lights on the lake. I was out >> last night and the night of the 3rd for fireworks and noted that most >> every sailboat, that had canvas out, also had every navigation light on! >> How confusing, what are they doing, sailing, motoring, or anchored? >> >> I hope that everyone on this list know what lights to show after sunset. >> >> John >> C27 5956 Cool Change >> Lake Travis, Austin, TX
