Wayne.B wrote in
:

On Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:59:04 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

I get it... seems like unless we're really missing a lot of the
perspective, the boat taking the vid should have changed taken evasive
action well before getting into this spot.

Yes, unless the smaller, faster boat maneuvered into an untenable
situation. The bigger boat (where the video was taken) can not stop
on a dime or turn sharply. If the small boat entered that danger
zone, they share the blame at the very least. It would be a somewhat
similar situation if you approached a tug and barge from the starboard
side at the last minute. That was the basis for my original comment
stating that faster more maneuverable boat has some obligation not to
put themselves into harms way.


I can't really agree with you here. Speed and maneuverability are not
factors under the Rules in the case we are looking at.
First off, though the vessel the video was shot from is definitely larger,
from what we see we cannot say what it's potential maneuverability is/was
versus the smaller boat.....
Secondly, if your boat is slower less maneuverable, then you should take
action sooner, to avoid, and fast or slow, you have that obligation not to
put yourself in harm's way.

A. My main point is that video's such as this are generally too short to
give enough background info to make a good decision as to what happened.

B. From experience, the head to head or nearly so situation can frequently
get out of hand and cause collisions due to slight visual perception
differences and wrong direction turns to avoid ( the video shows a small
angle crossing situation but this could have been something else earlier)

C. BG In reality....lumbering big ship versus twin screw Donzi.....
Donzi.....get the hell outa the way! (the Rules purist will have a ball
with that statement)