Fatal Boat Accident in NY Harbor
 

http://tinyurl.com/3ymzod

It is reported that a 24' Mako ran between a tug and a barge being
towed astern. The Mako hit the tow wire and was capsized, throwing the
passengers into the water.

Fatal Boat Accident in NY Harbor
 

"Wayne.B" wrote
http://tinyurl.com/3ymzod
It is reported that a 24' Mako ran between a tug and a barge being
towed astern. The Mako hit the tow wire and was capsized, throwing the
passengers into the water.

"The captain tried in vain to warn the powerboat, blowing his whistle four
times, but the Mako continued."

Isn't five blasts the standard danger signal? Or maybe the tug sounded a
five blast signal four times and the above is the reporter's interpretation.
Not that someone putting himself in that situation might necessarily be
expected to understand the signal anyway.

Fatal Boat Accident in NY Harbor
 

On Mon, 22 Oct 2007 08:18:25 -0400, "Ernest Scribbler"
wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote
http://tinyurl.com/3ymzod
It is reported that a 24' Mako ran between a tug and a barge being
towed astern. The Mako hit the tow wire and was capsized, throwing the
passengers into the water.

"The captain tried in vain to warn the powerboat, blowing his whistle four
times, but the Mako continued."

Isn't five blasts the standard danger signal? Or maybe the tug sounded a
five blast signal four times and the above is the reporter's interpretation.
Not that someone putting himself in that situation might necessarily be
expected to understand the signal anyway.


It's 5 blasts, all tug captains understand that very well. My guess
is that it was reported inaccurately one way or another.

Fatal Boat Accident in NY Harbor
 

"Wayne.B" wrote
It's 5 blasts, all tug captains understand that very well.

It was the Mako captain whose understanding I was casting aspersions upon. I
read another account of the incident which said that in addition to horn
signals, the tug was shining a spotlight on the cable to try to warn the guy
off.

Fatal Boat Accident in NY Harbor
 

On Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:47:37 -0400, "Ernest Scribbler"
wrote:

It was the Mako captain whose understanding I was casting aspersions upon. I
read another account of the incident which said that in addition to horn
signals, the tug was shining a spotlight on the cable to try to warn the guy
off.

Quite likely, I've often seen them do that, light up the cable and the
barge. We've even had tug captains call us on the radio from two
miles away to give us a heads up, even though there was no imminent
danger. Running around NY harbor at night without radar and good
skills is an accident waiting to happen, negligence in my opinion.

Fatal Boat Accident in NY Harbor
 

On Oct 21, 10:11?pm, Wayne.B wrote:
http://tinyurl.com/3ymzod

It is reported that a 24' Mako ran between a tug and a barge being
towed astern. The Mako hit the tow wire and was capsized, throwing the
passengers into the water.

Sounds like general ignorance and inexperience on the part of the
speedboat operator. That time of night, alcohol could also be a
factor.

Guy probably slept through USCG Aux or Power Squadron, if he ever took
a course at all.

The mandatory boater education laws enacted in most states during the
last decade were supposed to reduce this type of incident- who know,
maybe they have- we don't hear about the stuff that *didn't* happen.
Even so, at least in our state the mandatory education requirement is
one step ahead of meaningless. The state accepts passing scores from
on-line courses that administer "open book" tests,
so you don't have to actually learn anything- just know how to look it
up long enough to check off the appropriate box on multiple choice.

But of course all the education and certification in the world (in
almost any field) won't prevent the terminally stupid from exiting the
gene pool.

Too bad that people have to die once in a while to remind others that
screwing off and not paying attention can have deadly consequences on
a boat. Hopefully, this horrible tragedy will inspire other people to
be more careful.

Fatal Boat Accident in NY Harbor
 

On Oct 22, 1:35 pm, Chuck Gould wrote:
On Oct 21, 10:11?pm, Wayne.B wrote:

http://tinyurl.com/3ymzod

It is reported that a 24' Mako ran between a tug and a barge being
towed astern. The Mako hit the tow wire and was capsized, throwing the
passengers into the water.

Sounds like general ignorance and inexperience on the part of the
speedboat operator. That time of night, alcohol could also be a
factor.

Guy probably slept through USCG Aux or Power Squadron, if he ever took
a course at all.

The mandatory boater education laws enacted in most states during the
last decade were supposed to reduce this type of incident- who know,
maybe they have- we don't hear about the stuff that *didn't* happen.
Even so, at least in our state the mandatory education requirement is
one step ahead of meaningless. The state accepts passing scores from
on-line courses that administer "open book" tests,
so you don't have to actually learn anything- just know how to look it
up long enough to check off the appropriate box on multiple choice.

But of course all the education and certification in the world (in
almost any field) won't prevent the terminally stupid from exiting the
gene pool.

Too bad that people have to die once in a while to remind others that
screwing off and not paying attention can have deadly consequences on
a boat. Hopefully, this horrible tragedy will inspire other people to
be more careful.

There was a very old man in my class. He was very concerened about
taking a test. The instructor assured him he would pass, "The test is
easy, after all, if you don't pass, the state does not get to collect
your $25". Everyone passed that day, he said he had not had anyone
fail it to that point anyway. I got a perfect score, and finished
first too. Now I carry a fire extinguisher on my boat;)

Fatal Boat Accident in NY Harbor
 

The Mako skipper was prolly down in the cuddy, watching T-Wee, or
flogging the First Mate..
JR


Wayne.B wrote:

http://tinyurl.com/3ymzod

It is reported that a 24' Mako ran between a tug and a barge being
towed astern. The Mako hit the tow wire and was capsized, throwing the
passengers into the water.


--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth

Fatal Boat Accident in NY Harbor
 

Wayne.B wrote:
http://tinyurl.com/3ymzod

A sad story.

I'had a similar experience about twenty years ago sailing across the
north sea towards England. At around 2am it was my turn to take over the
watch. The buddy before was still busy writing the log at the chart
table and we caught a 'securite - securite - securite' message. He got
****ed of us leaning over the table to hear better and turned the radio
off !
Some hours later, trying to identify each oil rig with the chart, there
was one we could not identify and its position was funny anyway. There
were a couple of motor boats close to it, lit up like a Christmas tree.
We only realized when we were close that we were attempting to cross the
path of a towed oil rig. We would have made it in front of the first
tug, to be nicely tucked away leeward between two tugs and their
cables... The tug closest to use did turn on a search light illuminating
us nicely as we were tacking away and hailed us on the radio.

Interpreting lights at night is not easy, we had about 20 knots of wind
on a 39-footer and were attentive to whats going on. Despite this we
were late in our maneuver.

Markus