"jeff" wrote in message
. ..
Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 1 May 2008 21:41:26 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

The sailboats are just slower at getting out of the way after they do
something dumb.

Yes, and then there's that "holier than thou" attitude to contend
with.


Last year I took the ferry from Martha's Vineyard to Wood's Hole and sat
up by the bow to watch the traffic. Dozens of powerboats crossed in
front, all clearing by a wide margin. But amongst them were four
sailboats, limited to 5-6 knots. Three were able to pass clear, but the
smallest one obviously wasn't going to make it, and the 230 foot ferry had
to use reverse to stop in time. I wish I had seen the beginning of the
sequence, I thought the sailboats tacked in front of the ferry, but I
wasn't sure.

So this brings up the question: in some jurisdictions the ferry boats have
right of way while in their assigned channels. I think SF is one such
place, but I don't believe Massachusetts has that rule. Does anyone know
of other places that do?

Here's a video taken about 20 miles away. As it turned out, the sailboat
won the law suit, I assume because the ferry refused to back down and give
it time to turn around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZPWA_3YfIM


No. The ferries out here do not have right-of-way status... except leaving
or arriving at the ferry dock of course.

There's no way you could get out of their way in the middle of the bay.
They're fast, maneauverable, and only a portion of them are on fixed routes,
so it's hard to predict where they're going. They routinely slow and change
course to avoid sailboats under sail. All that said, most intelligent people
don't twist the ferries' tails. We maintain our course and speed, worst
case. Best case, we take early action to let them know our intentions.
Sometimes there are hundreds of sailboats, and it would be chaos if they all
tried to take evasive action.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com