Doug,

When a sailboat or powerboat turns in front of a ship and the ship runs over
the boat, the ship's captain will not be held liable if a qualified,
reasonable qualified captain could not have avoided the collision. There
are many reasons why a qualified captain can have a collision and be found
free of responsibility for the collision.


"DSK" wrote in message
.. .
Not when he is 15' from me and makes a 90 degree turn in front of a boat
moving 25 miles per hour. His responsibility requires him to avoid the
collision and has to keep in a continous direction when being overtaken.


???

There is NO obligation for any vessel to "keep in a continuous direction
when being overtaken."

The overtakING vessel is burdened to keep clear, which means that you must
slow down and be ready to take avoiding action.


Jim Carter wrote:
Yes Bill, You would still be at fault in this instance.

You are breaking several of the Collision Regulations. rule 5, rule 6,
rule
7, and rule 8. You have disregarded all of these.

It's quite true but I suspect that Bill (and many other motorheads) will
never ever believe it.

How? You were not paying attention in rule 5, and allowed yourself to
get
too close to the sailboat. You were going to fast to avoid the
collision
which is in contradiction of rule 6. You, most definitely broke rule 7,
(part a.) in as much as you collided with the sailboat. You broke rule 8
because you did not take action to avoid the collision.


Most motorheads think that any other boat who "gets in their way" must be
at fault and/or in violation of something. Plenty also think that
sailboats deliberately turn in front of them for fun.

Unfortunately there's no rule against stupidity.

DSK