Good reminder. How far a large ship has to be in order for a recreational
boat to put itself in its path and still be "safe" must often be a matter of
judgement. Along the Brockville Narrows, boats calmly scatter before a
freighter, but I don't think a two-mile limit is practical. The waters are
too long and narrow, and in the summer are too congested with small boat
traffic. Correct me if I err. But a simple principle, which I have not been
taught in my _formal_ boating education, is the one you iterate of
sight-lines to the Bridge. I _have_ been taught it by other boaters.

I always try to think about what might go wrong, how much time would I have
to get out of harm's way, what would my options be, etc. I'm sure I have cut
it too close on occasion.

I was on a friend's sailboat once, racing one evening, and we all thought he
saw the freighter looming closer, astern of us, because the rest of us
couldn't miss it! But you know what they say about assumptions. We weren't
in any danger of colliding, but I think we lost sight lines, and we did get
the five short blasts. Our skipper would have gone astern of the ship had he
known it was there.

So, again, better to learn from others' errors, such as the guy you
describe.

====

Charles T. Low
- remove "UN"
www.boatdocking.com/BDPhoto.html - Photo Contest
www.boatdocking.com
www.ctlow.ca/Trojan26 - my boat

====

"otnmbrd" wrote in message
ink.net...
Yesterday, I had a boat run across my bow. Technically he was "give
way", but he was going to clear..... problem is he disappeared under my
bow because I was blind for about 1/2 mile ahead.
NEVER get closer than two miles to a ship.
If you are in close quarters and forced to be closer thanh that (In this
case there was no excuse for him doing this), NEVER lose sight of the
bridge or put yourself into a situation where you may.
Never expect a ship to maneuver for you in narrow channels (his main
concern is staying safely within that channel .... if you interfere with
that you are low on the totem pole of concerns).

otn