Big Motorboats—What Gives?
We received the following note from a reader named B. Feel free to share your comments below. —Eds
On my last sail, on a bay of significant size, I had an incident that prompts me to write. I’m asking for feedback—or at least wondering aloud about the prevalence of this issue. My craft is a small wooden sailboat, its specific model not relevant to the question. A large (40-foot) older motorboat that wasn’t seemingly a commercial boat, fishing boat or otherwise constrained vessel, headed right towards me. The wind was light—even dead at times. I was creeping along at barely a knot, on a starboard tack, (but that shouldn’t have mattered).
The motorboat closed in, unwilling to alter its course. It was unlikely that I was unseen, as there was a person on the bow looking right at me. I made a gesture in the “what’s up?” vein. The boat kept bearing down towards me. The wind then quit altogether, so all steerage was gone with no water passing over the rudder. I was in effect at the mercy of the other skipper, who never altered course and passed my stern as my boat swiveled, precariously close. Impact was avoided, but then I had to suck up his wake.
My question: How many people have experienced something like this, and how often? In people’s opinion, do most boat operators know the code, and faithfully adhere to the hierarchy? I always try to sail defensively no matter what—not unlike how I ride a motorcycle—expecting to not be seen, or worse, the negative beneficiary of a “might-makes-right” mindset. But I’m curious about what I might have done differently, or how this aspect of being on the water is experienced by others. •SCA•
Yes, I’ve nearly been run down a number of times by big and usually fast powerboats. I’m not sure there’s much you could have done differently, since my assumption in many cases is that the powerboat is on autopilot…blissfully unaware of small objects they might crush between waypoints. (The person you mentioned on the bow probably wasn’t to blame; they likely had no way to quickly change the boat’s course.) Ironically, the closest I came to literally being run down was when sailing a 17’ wooden sloop. A large and fast County Sheriff’s patrol boat with four guys aboard—one of those grossly overpowered aluminum jobs with twin 300-hp outboards—came off of idle speed and gunned the engines…heading directly toward my little boat. As their boat’s bow went skyward coming onto a plane, they might not have been able to see my boat’s mast…but once on a plane at great speed there were still aimed directly at me. In one of those slow-motion moments I could tell all four guys were chatting with each other and paying no attention AT ALL to their heading, and they never did change course. I was on a painfully slow tack and came within literally a few feet of becoming kindling as they flew by at about 30 knots. I screamed and offered a familiar gesture, as their wake tossed the sailboat aside, but they never did notice, look back, or otherwise acknowledge what had happened. So, like you, I’ve been thinking defensive thoughts ever since, realizing that even well-trained skippers of fast powerboats can be deadly. (But usually it’s because they simply don’t know what they’re doing, and/or they just don’t seem to care about little boats that get in their way.)
Happened to me once, I got the name and numbers of the boat, reported it to local marine patrol, who had some words with the owner. I also found the boat in local marina and expressed my extreme disappointment to the captain ( large professional yacht.) Plan Z there is always your flare pistol. More civilized, get out your phone , pictures and then report it