I pretty much agree with you and Tom in the other reply when it comes
to the large ferries on shuttle routes. I generally give a them a
clear and obvious course change well in advance even when they are the
stand on vessel. If they altered course for every sailboat in the
harbor, it would be chaos.

However, not the 65 feet in the original post. This is one of the
little boats that does excursions and services the outer islands.
Despite being nearly as wide as it is long and two decks high, it is
just a little and very maneuverable boat. There were no other boats
nearby, she was at half speed so schedule was clearly not an issue,
and two spokes of the wheel would have avoided a lot of work and
disruption below for me. No way she could have known the later part
but she could see that I was alone on deck and it was blowing hard.

By the time it was clear that she wasn't giving an inch, the rule for
the stand on vessel to maintain a predictable course was also coming
into play. If I'd tried to bear off under her just as she decided to
go behind me, I wouldn't have been able to avoid her. Even a tack
could have been dicey if she had made a last minute correction. She
proceeded exactly as if she had the right of way.

The best possibility I can think of, other than sheer arrogance or
total ignorance of the surrounding water depths, is that she thought I
had my engine running and was therefore a powerboat which would have
made us burdened. A lot of people start running their engines around
here when it starts to get as gnarly as it was working up to at the
time.

--

Roger Long