Shen44 wrote:
From: "Armond Perretta"
Shen44 wrote:
Again .... never approach closer than two miles at sea, and if you
miss the ship and it's close aboard or within that distance,
figure it's up to you to avoid .... worry about some rule later.
Always a sound approach, but consider this. I have a 4 to 4.5 knot
sailboat. Offshore the commercial traffic I encounter (neglecting
for the moment commercial fishermen) typically maintains 16 to 24
knots. Even should I pick up a target at 8 miles on radar (or
otherwise), there is in a practical sense very little I can do to
_insure_ a CPA of 2 miles or better. I am speaking only from the
perspective of quite a bit of offshore cruising in a small sailing
boat, which is not to say I don't realize that "big boat always
wins."
Oh, fiddle faddle.
Which part is "fiddle" and which part is "faddle"?
When push comes, etc., the little boat gets out of the way or else. It
matters very little whether a ship missed you by 100 meters or 100 miles,
although I do in fact have a preference.
Nonetheless, what you suggest is not always (and in fact not even in the
majority of cases) possible. In addition one will _always_ have a difficult
time explaining maneuvering that is not allowed in the COLREGS should it
come to that (no matter what the General Prudential Rule states).
Placing the entire onus on the small boat is just as much an error as
placing the entire onus on the big boat.
--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.tripod.com