Would be interesting to know where both vessels were in the canal. Whether they had a passing agreement. Was the schooner under sail or power? And so forth. A beautiful vessel lost to human error. For someone screwed up royally and caused the collision.

 

From what I can see it looks like she got rolled under. They may be able to restore her.

 

Beautiful old boat, what a shame, hope she's repaired. New spruce spars won't be cheap. Glad they all survived.

 

Would be interesting to know where both vessels were in the canal. Whether they had a passing agreement. Was the schooner under sail or power? And so forth. A beautiful vessel lost to human error. For someone screwed up royally and caused the collision.

well - there's a few rumors right now about who was where and who thought what, but they're rumors so I will wait for the USCG to release their findings once the investigation is complete.

 

But wouldn't the Tug have the right of way - regardless of whether the sailboat was under sail or motoring, I think it would still be the give-way vessel in the hierarchy - is a tug considered a power vessel (which of course it is) or "...a vessel restricted in her ability to maneuver"?

 

Vessel Restricted in Manuverabilty when under tow. The tug would have rights and be the stand on vessel unless there's an obstruction (like the shore) to complicate things. However, if the channel is 400 yards wide, the Schooner would've been the give way vessel.

 

Sailing in the C&D canal is specifically prohibited, so this would not make a difference in liability for the collision.

There is not a lot of room for big vessels to maneuver. At night or with low visibility, a sailing vessel can have difficulty getting out of the way in the limited space available. I was almost run down one dark night while exiting the south end of the C&D. A large Car Carrier was proceeding north up the Elk river entering the canal from the south.

I was proceeding south on the right side of the channel. We were motoring and could not hear the car carrier. It was so tall, that its running lights were significantly above the horizon. I eventually recognized that it was a large ship close in because the shore lights were disappearing behind it.

I turned 90 degrees right and left the channel. The ship brushed the bouy on the edge of the channel right behind me. He took up the entire space. If this had happened inside the main body of the canal, there would have been no place to dodge.

I am sure that my small boat was not visible from the deck of the ship once it was within a mile of my position. Taught me a lesson about being very very vigilant.

 

Note: A tug pushing is considered a power driven vessel. Thus the Sail boat would have right of way. Now in a channel both vessels are to suppose to keep to the starboard side of the canal. But there have been times where I've seen vessels on the wrong side of the canal, far to many times.

For a tug to have restricted Manuverability, she would have to be towing astern and the construction of the tow would need to be taken into consideration, else wise she is a power driven vessel.

But until we have the facts on what really happened, we can't make a judgement call and learn from somebody else's mistakes. (the best way to learn) So we have to commiserate on the lost of a beautiful schooner and be thankful that no one was lost in this accident.

 

And technically under Rule 27, a vessel restricted in her ability to maneuver is supposed to show red-white-red on her mast.

I'm not suggesting you shouldn't avoid large vessels who don't display these lights, you'll live a lot longer if you get on the radio with them and ask what they need.

But, that's what the rules say.

 

Even terminally ill she's beautiful, I hope they can and/or will restore her

 

HerbDB is correct, but it seems no one understood what he said. Sailing is PROHIBITED on the C&D canal. If you are motoring, you are a power boat, NOT a sailboat, and you do NOT have right of way over vessels that are restricted in their ability to maneuver. This canal is deep almost to the shoreline. It is not difficult to stay clear of large commercial vessels, but you must stay vigilant & use common sense. The only time it would be acceptable to raise sail in the canal would be if you lost power, and you would need sail power to get out of the channel and to the shore.
Marc

 

BOASUN
A tug can be "restricted in its ability to maneuver" if it's towing astern, forward, or on the hip, and would have right of way over sail or power.
Marc

 

I don't have my Coast Pilot handy, but having just gone through the canal last week (two days prior to the incident) I can tell you that there is a maximum combined beam allowed for all commercial vessels transiting the canal. I think it's like 300 feet or so. Some of the turns are sharp and when the current is running they would be difficult to maneuver around. Once again, though, I have to reiterate that every tug captain we got near saw us on their radar far before we saw them. If we were inside the channel, they would call us on channel 13. It was foggy when we came through, but I'm sure the caps would approach nighttime similarly. Either the tug driver wasn't paying attention or the schooner didn't have channel 13 tuned in. I'm fairly certain the tug driver would have been paying attention - the canal isn't that long and it does turn sharply in places. I'm very interested to see what comes of the USCG investigation.

 

...and here's what appears to be the real story!

Safety training helps save family in schooner crash

 

wow, scary stuff, I remember as a kid surfing under the lights off HB pier and getting pitched and held in the wash, totally out of air I started kicking for the surface, imagine my surprize when I felt sand instead of air, the oh f**k meter went off the scale

 

I'm still very interested to see what the Coast Guard investigation says, but it will probably be many months before we see anything released...

 

I've gone thru the C&D a dozen times in the past 6 years, twice at night. It's extremely well lit with quartz lights on both sides and may be almost as bright as a ball park in spots, but I'd still rather do it during the daylight if I have the choice. The bigger traffic prefers doing it during the off-hours when the canal is less crowded, and that is enough reason for me to do otherwise. I've had to pass by several large ships and tows, don't want to do it again. It's wide, but not that wide. Two of these bigger things can't pass each other and their entrance is controlled at both ends. I'm sort of surprised that the sailboat skipper didn't see what was in front of him, or maybe he didn't have that much room to get around it. Visibility or not, I've always stayed in the left 1/3 of the canal. The C&D is a very safe place to be, but you really have got to be careful.

Ron
Catalina 400 #74 "Good Vibrations"
Catalina 250 wk #688 "Running Free"

 

Captron, I believe that the key is the original statement that the accident occurred "about 1.5 miles west of the Chesapeake City Bridge". If that's the case, then they were in the Elk River which isn't lit. That said, the first time that I transited the Canal (in '77), we were in the lit part and at about 2100, I looked behind me and saw a red light REALLY high. It took a few moments to realize that it wasn't a radio tower, but a ship. If the running lights on the barge were high, it could have been difficult to discern them. Not an excuse, but perhaps an explanation.

 

Did anything further ever get released on this? Just curious if they've figured out what happened yet...

 

Whoa! That's a pretty good survival story. But I find the headline kind of ironic; "Safety training helps save family in schooner crash", it seems to me, if they truly had such great "safety training" they might have avoided a head on collision with a slow moving tug boat!

 

I hate the canal at night. They light the damn thing just enough to assist in confusing nav lights. "Is that a street light or a tug", words that I have spoken aloud. I haven't heard anything new regarding this story, but it was the talk of the dock when it happened.

 

...I find the headline kind of ironic; "Safety training helps save family in schooner crash", it seems to me, if they truly had such great "safety training" they might have avoided a head on collision with a slow moving tug boat!

Don't know about that, not having been there, but the first thing that struck me was that apparently none of them were wearing PFDs.

Jim

 

I thought about PFD's too, but you know...I probably wouldn't have been wearing one either.

 

Just saw this on SailingAnarchy... apparently the schooner is now for sale. I don't know what the final conclusion reached by the CG was for this incident but I'd be curious to find out...

http://www.certifiedsales.com/listings/YS073088.html