I've been following the story on S/A all summer. It truely is a travesty of justice. At least Perdock's (the powerboater) wife left him.
It got me thinking about the lighting issue. I am wondering if by regulation, sailboats are under illuminated? It should be easy to improve lighting with LED's. Art On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 3:24 PM, Philip J Agur <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This month's Seaworthy (a Boat US publication) features the straightened > out story of a collision between a 27 foot sailboat and a 24 foot 385hp Baja > Outlaw after dark. Much of the early reporting was in error, even in > Latitude 38 and on the SF based TV coverage because the owner/operator of > the Baja is the number 2 official at the Lake County Sheriff's department. > > > > Initial coverage was exactly what the Sheriff's Department was willing to > document, a head-on collision between a drunken sailboat operator running > with no lights and an off duty Lake County Deputy Sheriff. Except for the > forensics, the death of a woman on the sailboat, the eye witnesses that > weren't allowed to give a statement coming forward, and maritime law it > would have been an open and shut case. > > > > The Lake County DA is still charging the guest who had his hand on the > tiller at the time with manslaughter even though forensics on the stern > light filament shows it was on when broken, the speed limit on the lake > after dark was 5 MPH, the damaged speedometer on the Baja is jammed at 50 > MPH, the sailboat was under sail, the sailboat was struck from the rear, and > the owner of the Baja was allowed to elude an on the spot breathalyzer test > and the blood drawn later at the hospital went for an hour ride with the > suspect before being logged into evidence. > > > > It's a two year old case and the civil suites and insurance claims have > been settled. The only person involved that received no payout was the > Sheriff's Deputy who was the owner operator of the speeding Baja Outlaw. > > > > Morale of the story, don't let anything obscure your navigation lights > (check them every time), keep an active watch and if you hear someone coming > read their navigation lights, and don't just sit there if you're in the > path. Navigation lights are often lost in the shore lights so be prepare to > do something different. Fire up a strobe or a 1,000,000 candle power > spotlight and get yourself seen. > > > > Eventually being vindicated will never make up for the person that died on > the sailboat no matter who was at fault. > > > > *Phil Agur* *s/v** Wing > Tip*<http://www.catalina27.org/public_pages/profile270.htm> > Secretary, Call Sign WCW3485 > IC27/270A MMSI 366901790 > www.catalina27.org Vessel Doc# 1039809 > >
