"Joe" wrote
So Ellen who's to blame if the sailor T-boned the tow line behind the
tug if the tug had proper running lights?


If the tugboat and barge had proper lights it's still their fault. Colregs require them to give
way to the sailboat. But the sailboat needs to have proper lights too so it can be seen. Who knows
if it did. Some sailboats turn off their lights offshore.
The sailboat is entitled by the rules to be the stand-on vessel.
But, if the sailboat hit the hawser cable he shouldn't have because the rules say he should
avoid a collision if the give way towboat/barge wasn't giving way.
When they go to court and court assigns percentage of blame, the towboat/barge gets 90%
blame and the sailboat gets 10% blame. The sailboat would get all the blame if the towboat/barge
was RAM but you can see in the picture it wasn't.

Cheers,
Ellen