BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - Dangerous Maga-yacht in Maine

Gary

wrote:
What part of Roger's explanation did you miss?

The strong winds?
Not an excuse.

The fact that he was operating single handed?
Not an excuse.

The fact that he had the right of way but was bullied into giving it
up?
Not certain.

Just exactly when is a singlehanded sailor in a strong wind expected to
drop the sheet or the steering apparatus to pick up, turn on, tune in
the correct channel, and broadcast a radio call on a handheld radio?
When some rich asshole in a big yacht is about to run him over, I
guess.
No one on a 30 foot keel boat has the sheets in hand. The point of a
handheld radio is you can use it at the helm. If you can't, don't sail
single handed! There is also the "staying ahead of the boat" business.
This didn't happen at closing speeds of 100 mph. Roger was probably
doing all of 5 knots (500 yards every 6 minutes) and the other
boat.....who knows. Pick a max closing speed of 20 knots that is still
only 2 miles every 6 minutes. Lots of time to make a quick call on a
handy radio.

That is totally ignorant. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Why don't you do a google search and look up some of Roger's previous
postings? He isn't exactly a rookie...
Designing boats doesn't necessarily mean a great shiphandler.
People who design airplanes aren't necessarily good pilots.

Capt. Bill wrote:

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 14:59:32 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

Yeah, I could have called him on the radio but the rules of the road
were written to make it possible to deal with something this simple
without having to yack and negotiate on the air. Having to make a
radio call in a case like this means someone already isn't observing
the rules.

Let me get this straight, you didn't use the radio because you
shouldn't have to if some one is following the rules, but at the same
time you state they weren't following the rules and you still didn't
use the radio.

So at what point would you use your hand held radio? After they had
run you over to call for help?