DSK wrote in message ...
Peter Wiley wrote:

..... My point is that if you *insist* that ships must travel
sufficiently slowly to have the ability to take evasive action/stop on
a visual sighting, you are in effect stating that commercial traffic
must cease whenever visibility is so poor as to be less than the
distance needed to stop/manoeuvre.

Which is going to happen more often than you think. For example, night time... or
taking a big tow of barges around a bend in the ICW or the Mississippi...

Also Doug, a blind curve in a river or the ICW is blind weather it's
dark, light fog, or no fog. Thats why knowing were you are, and what
channel you should use on the radio is key. Whistle signals are used
as well.

Do you really think commercial traffic is going to cease because of a
blind bend? And if your pushing 100+ barges in the mississippi it can
take well over a mile to stop at full astern. Infact most major tows
never stop. They have smaller tows move in and take and add to the tow
underway, breaking stride with that much tonnage is dangerious. Can
you imagine losing steerage on a tow bigger than a football field? Can
you imagine running one of these tows aground because you slow around
a bend? Ever try to pull a couple of thousand tons off the bank? And
what if your going down river in a 6 kt current? Your going to need a
few knots of speed above that to keep steerage and your not going to
be able to control that many tonns working in reverse all the way, I
dont care how big your flanking rudders are and how big a tow master
you have.

Joe
MSV RedCloud



Fresh Breezes- Doug King