"Gary"

Roger,
It looks to me that the ferry was burdened. I would have sounded 5
short blasts and called the ferry on the radio and asked about the
ferry's intentions as soon as I realized that the ferry was not
going to mnvre in accordance with the rules. Time permitting of
course.

You must be a powerboater. Short BLASTS? You mean five short little
peeps (which I doubt they could have heard), if I could have taken one
hand off the wheel in conditions in which the boat had become
seriously overpowered due to the wind increasing very rapidly. I was
lugging until I could get to the lower traffic zone to reef. I was
just holding it together and this was happening too fast to have
started a radio exchange, even if I could have spared a hand.

Despite the number of people on the boat, I was essentially single
handed. If situation awareness counts for anything, the ferry skipper
(or skipperette) should have been able to look at the conditions, one
person on deck, rail in the water, main eased, and figured that maybe
I had my hands full and couldn't be counted on to do any fancy
maneuvers.

She's actually damn lucky I am a good enough helmsman to have been
able to carry a controlled luff under those circumstances. If I'd hit
her or taken the rig out coming aback while trying a last minute
avoidance of a burdened vessel standing on, you can be damn sure I
would have been going after her license.

--

Roger Long