Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

I'm no old salt and don't know the 'rules' that well. But I think both are at fault.

No winners by any rules I follow which are simply to avoid collision with other boats. Clearly, neither boat ( for different reasons-aware/unaware), made any attempt to avoid the collision, which was imminent for some time.

I once ran bang into another sailboat. We were both under sail. I was on watch, sailing, my wife sunbathing(half asleep), on the rail. The other boat was in the blind area of my (then) deck sweeper genoa.

Amazingly, I was in the blind spot of their deck sweeper(or they were not looking), and this must have been going on for sometime as I was doing hull speed for several miles, and neither of us saw the other boat.

I saw a sudden white triangle cross my head stay, and it grew large in an instant! Threw my tiller to leeward, my bow anchor raked off their starboard stanchions and plucked the barbie right off their stern rail(I was showered in soot as I watched the Magma grill fly - high - over our stern).

Luckily nobody got hurt. Their damage was sort of major, mine minor. I was on starboard tack but I don't feel that gave me better rights than they had. Just nobody at the wheel, on both boats, even though we were,...at the wheel. No fault, we each went our own way.

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