Is a VHF radio required on a sailing vessel? Forgive my ignorance; I have
a number of smaller boats, and don't own a VHF.

My understanding of the situation is that it was Roger's OBLIGATION to
maintain his course and speed. Not to use (or even own!) a radio, not to
have a working autopilot, not to do ANYTHING else, until collision appeared
imminent. THEN he is obligated to take evasive action, as he did.

What am I missing?

Sal's Dad

What part of Roger's explanation did you miss?

The strong winds?

The fact that he was operating single handed?

The fact that he had the right of way but was bullied into giving it
up?

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.

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

So let me get this straight, the rules don't apply to sailors a) in strong
winds, b) operating single handed ? If the situation calls for use of a
radio and the skipper is not capable of doing that because of situational
overload because he choose to go single handed, perhaps he was not capable
of operating single handed safely. I suspect that Roger is more competent
than that and wouldn't hide behind that lame response.

Just to be clear .... he didn't have Right-of-way. You may be the last
person in this thread to know this. He was the Stand On vessel. And yes,
it sounds like the power vessel failed to make sufficient course / speed
correction.

Sounds like you are proposing a new day signal for "Caution, skipper can't
handle this vessle", kinda of like "Not Under Commad" but with an
incompetance slant to it.


Why don't you do a google search and look up some of Roger's previous
postings? He isn't exactly a rookie...


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?