Bad Accident on Sydney Harbour

[tdw]

Not a sailing incident, they where both power boats but have a look. If I'm correct the smaller boat mentioned is the one in the picture. It's going to be very interesting to the explanation as to why 14 people where on board that thing at 0300 on the harbour.

Five dead in Sydney Harbour crash - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[AjariBonten]

Very sad;

but I'll put dollars to donuts that alcohol was involved.

Better judgement is the first thing to go.

14 adults on that little thing?

[Valiente]

That's very sad news indeed. But it sounds as if poor judgement was at work. It reminds me of a "wave rider" type of boat I recall seeing in Lake Ontario that had three bikini beauties on the tiny foredeck and four or so males in the back. When the boat slowed, the bow dropped and the thing went submarine at a shallow angle.

[tdw]

Need to confirm this but apparently the small boat was stolen during the night. The owners are saying that all their staff who had access to it are accounted for. The owners run a small shipyard on Goat Island which is a small island just off the end of the Balmain Peninsular. The boat , which presumably is used to ferry workers to and from the island was tied up at a small marina in Balmain from where it was knicked.

Its been reported that the trawler ran down the runabout. If that was the case you would have to surmise that the runabout didn't have any lights on and/or for some reason was dead in the water.

Most trawlers that operate on Sydney Harbour have a max speed of around 12 knots or so. That runabout would have been capable of more like 30 knots but with 14 people on board had to be dangerously overloaded and operating at a much reduced speed.

Its amazing how things happen right under your nose. That marina is not 200 metres from my place and I can see Goat Island from living room. That means the kids on the runabout where probably locals. Not good.

Sydney boat crash vessel was stolen: owner - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[Faster]

Always sad when young lives are snuffed out, no less so even when it may be the result of rash ill advised behaviour.

Equally sad for the trawler skipper, at fault or no, at having had any hand in this tragedy.

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by Faster

Always sad when young lives are snuffed out, no less so even when it may be the result of rash ill advised behaviour.

Equally sad for the trawler skipper, at fault or no, at having had any hand in this tragedy.

Ditto...With three teen age girls I am constantly reminding them that their freedoms that they are earning because of that age are just permission to get yourself killed...My oldest just got her licence and we had a good long father daughter talk on just that....Very , Very sad..

[tdw]

Looking as if everyone involved could be in deep deep doo doo.

Media reporting that incident occurred 150 metres off Bradley's Head. Launch was overloaded and possibly/probably not authorised by owner to be away from its berth. Launch was inbound. Trawler was outbound. If so the trawler was travelling in the inward sea lane of the harbour, probably should have been another 200 metres or so offshore towards the centre of the harbour.

While separation of sea lanes is not strictly enforced when it comes to small craft on Sydney Harbour, in the dead of night I'd reckon the trawler should have been a tad more careful in cutting the corner around Bradleys. The headland is quite high. On one occasion we were very nearly run down from behind by an incoming freighter when we suffered engine failure in a dead calm and were ghosting inbound just off Bradleys.

All supposition as this stage. Story changing all the time. Launch owner originally saying launch had been stolen but now admitting that whoever took it had access and knew where the keys had been hidden. Access to the marina is open to anyone as it consists of about a dozen berths off a public park/walkway with zero security.

This could get interesting.

What could effect the small boat operator is that in NSW you do not need a licence to operate a small craft that is moving at less than 10 knots under power. There are already moves afoot to reduce that speed limit to zero meaning all auxiliary sailing vessel skippers will be required to have a powerboat licence. This comes about after a previous couple of incidents in which people have been killed in accidents involving ferries and pleasure craft.