Say, did the right of way rules for commercial passenger vessels
change when they became official terrorist targets under the
protection of homeland security?

The ferry crews in this part of the world have always seemed very
competent and courteous to me and I’ve had a number of professional
dealings with them. We were finishing up a day sail today in shifty
and increasing winds that shortly after turned into a squall. There is
a large anchorage that has a pair of red and greens in it that used to
guide the largest vessels up to a long abandoned navy oil depot. It
isn’t a channel in the normal sense but marks the deepest area in the
center.

We were close hauled and I was alone on deck with everyone below
cleaning and straightening up. One of the little 65 foot ferries was
proceeding down the bay through the buoys as if it were a channel. The
ferry was going slowly, we were converging, the bearing didn’t change.
There was plenty of room for a minor correction that would take them
astern and I really didn’t want to tack. I started looking for a head
in the pilot house and couldn’t see any faces so I finally luffed up
which took some finessing in the shifty conditions as we slowed down
and began to lose rudder authority.

The ferry passed about 50 feet in front of us and a lady who looked a
lot like she might be the captain stuck her head out and studied us
intently without waving as if she was trying to read the numbers on
the bow.

As I sailed on over the next half mile of 20 + foot deep and
unobstructed water, I found myself wondering if she could really think
that the rule about vessels in a channel and constrained by their
draft really applied to her.

No question that we would have hit if I hadn’t luffed or taken some
more dramatic action. She proceeded like she was on autopilot. Just
coming up to normal speed or a 10 degree course change early on would
have avoided any possibility of contact. This was quite out of
character for the outfit. I wonder what she was thinking?


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Roger Long