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#1
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Not to blame the victim . . . BUT :
The article in the most current issue of "Soundings" about the recent L.I. Sound collision-caused death (from a heart attack triggered by the crash) of an otherwise *very* experienced/skillful and also asssertedly safety-oriented captain/sailor when the J-105 in which he was sleeping, crewed by his son and a friend, was motoring late at night in the fog toward Block Island and was hit and sunk by a large commercial cruiser reports that the J-105's two crew saw the approaching motor boat (said to be moving at +/- 6 kts) but could not disengage their autopilot in time to take evasive action. How many of us who occasionally (or, for that matter, lots of the time) use these sorts of instruments actually insure that, f'rinstance, to disengage an autopilot, etc., Etc. (however "simple"/easy [and "obvious"?] one [who is experienced] might think that and related operations ought be and usually are)? |
#2
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Not to blame the victim . . . BUT :
I missed that article but will now go find and read it. Like most
accidents, if some other course of action had been taken it would not have happened. What I find good about these stories is the warning they give me to be more aware of potential problems and avoid them. For instance a few years ago two local men were out on a catamaran, got knocked down, then were unable to right the boat, got separated by the increasing bad sea conditions, then one drowned. They were in the water for a day or so (cannot remember all the details). Search planes and helicopters went right over the survivor but did not see him at night. He gave a talk at our local yacht club about the mistakes they made and from that I now have strobes, whistles, and reflective tape on all my life preservers. It was, like so many of these stories, a sad tale. Remember the father and sons lost entering the harbor at Charleston a few years ago? Greg Luckett wrote in message ... The article in the most current issue of "Soundings" about the recent L.I. Sound collision-caused death (from a heart attack triggered by the crash) of an otherwise *very* experienced/skillful and also asssertedly safety-oriented captain/sailor when the J-105 in which he was sleeping, crewed by his son and a friend, was motoring late at night in the fog toward Block Island and was hit and sunk by a large commercial cruiser reports that the J-105's two crew saw the approaching motor boat (said to be moving at +/- 6 kts) but could not disengage their autopilot in time to take evasive action. How many of us who occasionally (or, for that matter, lots of the time) use these sorts of instruments actually insure that, f'rinstance, to disengage an autopilot, etc., Etc. (however "simple"/easy [and "obvious"?] one [who is experienced] might think that and related operations ought be and usually are)? -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =----- |
#4
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Not to blame the victim . . . BUT :
I've posted this warning before
The Autohelm St4000 wheel autopilot contains a flaw that in my opinion is serious and dangerous. TO engage the autohelm, you flip a lever that rotates a cam that presses against a belt, locking the autohelm ring to the wheel. THe connection between the cam and lever is maintained by two little pins...to me they look like shear pins. I had those pins break once. THe autohelm was engaged, I flipped the little lever to disengage because we were entering tight quarters and some did something unexpected. The lever lifted, but the autohelm remained engaged, locking the wheel so that I could not turn it. I applied all of my strength and *just managed to turn the wheel back out to sea. Once I reached a point where I was not near anyone else, I removed the motor so that I could steer again. I don't even want to think about the consequences has this problem snuck up on me in a really tight situation. I could not have avoided a collision if a collision was imminent. No way to turn the wheel. If you have an ST-4000, make damn sure you disengage early. You could be in for a nasty surprise if you wait! Jere Lull wrote: wrote: The article in the most current issue of "Soundings" about the recent L.I. Sound collision-caused death (from a heart attack triggered by the crash) of an otherwise *very* experienced/skillful and also asssertedly safety-oriented captain/sailor when the J-105 in which he was sleeping, crewed by his son and a friend, was motoring late at night in the fog toward Block Island and was hit and sunk by a large commercial cruiser reports that the J-105's two crew saw the approaching motor boat (said to be moving at +/- 6 kts) but could not disengage their autopilot in time to take evasive action. How many of us who occasionally (or, for that matter, lots of the time) use these sorts of instruments actually insure that, f'rinstance, to disengage an autopilot, etc., Etc. (however "simple"/easy [and "obvious"?] one [who is experienced] might think that and related operations ought be and usually are)? We have a tiller pilot: my crew know to pick it up off the pin and move the tiller, punching "standby" if they have time. It's right there in plain view, so it *seems* obvious to me, but now that I think about it, my crew thought it'd break something at first. When we've chartered, one of the first things I "noticed" was that you have to hit "standby" before the wheel can move, but I am a helm-hog and like to get the most out of the boat, so find out about such things pretty early as I follow wind-shifts. I can imagine that in the rush to get "gone", the skipper didn't take the time to info every crew member on such a simple thing. Seems SO obvious to anyone that's used an autopilot, but the first time, it ain't necessarily so. Then again, we once were on a beautiful close reach on a charter boat, the helm lock doing most of the steering, when I handed the helm over to my engineer, who I was grooming to skipper his own charter. Things went just ducky until he tried to turn the wheel for a tack. He knew to undo the thumbscrew, but the soda can that had fallen between the wheel's spokes and seat caused a bit of consternation. It's just not possible to tell everything that could happen to crew. From what I see above, it sounds like the captain was a bit lax, but the crew may well have said they knew how to operate the autohelm. |
#5
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Not to blame the victim . . . BUT :
I've posted this warning before
The Autohelm St4000 wheel autopilot contains a flaw that in my opinion is serious and dangerous. TO engage the autohelm, you flip a lever that rotates a cam that presses against a belt, locking the autohelm ring to the wheel. THe connection between the cam and lever is maintained by two little pins...to me they look like shear pins. I had those pins break once. THe autohelm was engaged, I flipped the little lever to disengage because we were entering tight quarters and some did something unexpected. The lever lifted, but the autohelm remained engaged, locking the wheel so that I could not turn it. I applied all of my strength and *just managed to turn the wheel back out to sea. Once I reached a point where I was not near anyone else, I removed the motor so that I could steer again. I don't even want to think about the consequences has this problem snuck up on me in a really tight situation. I could not have avoided a collision if a collision was imminent. No way to turn the wheel. If you have an ST-4000, make damn sure you disengage early. You could be in for a nasty surprise if you wait! Jere Lull wrote: wrote: The article in the most current issue of "Soundings" about the recent L.I. Sound collision-caused death (from a heart attack triggered by the crash) of an otherwise *very* experienced/skillful and also asssertedly safety-oriented captain/sailor when the J-105 in which he was sleeping, crewed by his son and a friend, was motoring late at night in the fog toward Block Island and was hit and sunk by a large commercial cruiser reports that the J-105's two crew saw the approaching motor boat (said to be moving at +/- 6 kts) but could not disengage their autopilot in time to take evasive action. How many of us who occasionally (or, for that matter, lots of the time) use these sorts of instruments actually insure that, f'rinstance, to disengage an autopilot, etc., Etc. (however "simple"/easy [and "obvious"?] one [who is experienced] might think that and related operations ought be and usually are)? We have a tiller pilot: my crew know to pick it up off the pin and move the tiller, punching "standby" if they have time. It's right there in plain view, so it *seems* obvious to me, but now that I think about it, my crew thought it'd break something at first. When we've chartered, one of the first things I "noticed" was that you have to hit "standby" before the wheel can move, but I am a helm-hog and like to get the most out of the boat, so find out about such things pretty early as I follow wind-shifts. I can imagine that in the rush to get "gone", the skipper didn't take the time to info every crew member on such a simple thing. Seems SO obvious to anyone that's used an autopilot, but the first time, it ain't necessarily so. Then again, we once were on a beautiful close reach on a charter boat, the helm lock doing most of the steering, when I handed the helm over to my engineer, who I was grooming to skipper his own charter. Things went just ducky until he tried to turn the wheel for a tack. He knew to undo the thumbscrew, but the soda can that had fallen between the wheel's spokes and seat caused a bit of consternation. It's just not possible to tell everything that could happen to crew. From what I see above, it sounds like the captain was a bit lax, but the crew may well have said they knew how to operate the autohelm. |
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