# Sailboat crashes into ferry!



## guitarguy56

This sailor fell asleep at the helm in Sydney Harbour... crashed into ferry as bewildered passengers are surprised.


----------



## smackdaddy

I'm not so sure about him being asleep. But he sure was out of control.

He obviously got caught by a serious squall with full sail up. Looks nasty.


----------



## paulk

Luffing jib should have been loud enough to wake him up. Maybe he had a heart attack and the tiller was stuck under his arm.
It's certainly blowing hard enough to keep a skipper focused. Have also heard that Ozzies can put down a few brews before putting the shrimp on the barbie, so... what happened after?


----------



## eherlihy

paulk said:


> so... what happened after?


I'd guess that he got a clean pair of shorts to change into...


----------



## mbianka

Would love to hear his explanation to the insurance company.


----------



## Lazerbrains

You can see two people in the cockpit - neither are asleep - watch when the impact happens. 

Obviously, something has gone wrong. I suspect an inexperienced sailer bit off more than he could chew - look at the windwaves, its a rough day out there. No reef in the mainsail, full jib out, sheets flying and why the hell is the whisker pole out on the other side??? 

Other possibility is a rudder failure I guess.... 

Interesting to watch the jib start shredding at the 0:16 mark.


----------



## PaulinVictoria

OMG!!! Someone lost their hat.


----------



## guitarguy56

PaulinVictoria said:


> OMG!!! Someone lost their hat.


Yes... I saw that too... this sailor had no control of this sailboat... agree with others perhaps steering may have been an issue. I would have surely furled the jib and definitely reefed that main under those conditions! :eek


----------



## mr_f

Lazerbrains said:


> why the hell is the whisker pole out on the other side???


That is the correct position for a whisker pole while boat jousting.


----------



## rnixon

I don't know the area, nor if the ferry had to stay in a narrow channel, but it didn't appear to make any attempt to yield to the sailing boat.


----------



## titustiger27

One of the things I find interesting in these situations.. is there is always one or more people who are in a state of disbelief... as if they have never in their life seen someone do something crazy.

It seems like once a month I see someone being foolish.


----------



## rnixon

Apparently:


http://www.sydneyports.com.au/community/recreation said:


> Some Sydney Harbour Ferries display an orange diamond shape which grants priority over sail. At all times be aware of your speed and wash affecting other vessels or shore and navigate at an appropriate speed.


However, both are still responsible for avoiding a collision, and the sailing boat was clearly in difficulty.


----------



## goat

Terrorist attack, plain and simple. Damn you ISIS!


----------



## PitApe

It kind of looks to me like he was assuming that he would slow down enough by luffing his sails to slide behind the ferry. If that's the case, maybe he just misjudged the speed and distance (because of the high winds?). It also sort of looks like he fell off the wind a bit, as if he was trying to steer behind the ferry. In any case, it doesn't look like he hit the ferry at a very high speed. The cap blowing off of the ferry passenger may have been the biggest loss.


----------



## SHNOOL

Another production boat taken out of the environment, and STILL the front didn't fall off, even after serious attempts at making it happen.


----------



## mr_f

SHNOOL said:


> Another production boat taken out of the environment, and STILL the front didn't fall off, even after serious attempts at making it happen.


The 'front' did not fall off because they were wise enough to properly place their ramming pole. All good production boat sailors know these tricks.


----------



## mrichmon

Many ferry boats in Sydney Harbour, including the ferry boats on the Circular Quay/Manly route, display an orange diamond indicating that the ferry boat has right of way over sail. (Ref: Sydney Ports - Recreational Boating Around the Ports)

A commenter on the youtube thread claims that the sailboat was caught out in a strong southerly and experienced the following failures: forestay snapped, sail blown out, major rigging and equipment failures including steering.﻿


----------



## Lazerbrains

mrichmon said:


> A commenter on the youtube thread claims that the sailboat was caught out in a strong southerly and experienced the following failures: forestay snapped, sail blown out, major rigging and equipment failures including steering.﻿


Not sure I buy that one. His forestay is just fine up to the impact, and his sail blows out right during the video as a result of it flogging from the sheets slack.

If it is all true, this is the type of novice idiot I hate to see on the water - one who doesn't maintain his boat, and then goes out when it's blowing like stink, and expects everyone else to get out of the way when something goes wrong.


----------



## jwing

I was out in the Gulf of Mexico fishing with my buddy on his father's boat. The buddy's girlfriend was driving while we were facing aft, each had a fish on, then CRASH! our boat hit another boat. The other boat's skipper was as upset as we were surprised. He yelled, "You have the whole f---king ocean, why the f--k did you run into my boat?!" Sure enough, we were out in deep water and there was nothing in our vision hemisphere except ocean, sky, and his little boat.

Turns out he had seen us circling the school of dolphinfish we had found, so was coming over to get a few pieces of our action. The girlfriend didn't understand what he was doing, and when she tried to turn our boat, the steering failed. Luckily there was no damage done, except for the brain cells my friend and I lost due to having to breathe 2-stroke outboard engine fumes for a few hours as we leaned over and pushed/pulled the engine to steer us back to harbor.

She's no longer the girlfriend, but when we occasionally see her we still laugh about her having the whole ocean to maneuver and still managing to hit a small fishing boat.


----------



## titustiger27

jwing said:


> I was out in the Gulf of Mexico fishing with my buddy on his father's boat. The buddy's girlfriend was driving while we were facing aft, each had a fish on, then CRASH! our boat hit another boat. The other boat's skipper was as upset as we were surprised. He yelled, "You have the whole f---king ocean, why the f--k did you run into my boat?!" Sure enough, we were out in deep water and there was nothing in our vision hemisphere except ocean, sky, and his little boat.
> 
> Turns out he had seen us circling the school of dolphinfish we had found, so was coming over to get a few pieces of our action. The girlfriend didn't understand what he was doing, and when she tried to turn our boat, the steering failed. Luckily there was no damage done, except for the brain cells my friend and I lost due to having to breathe 2-stroke outboard engine fumes for a few hours as we leaned over and pushed/pulled the engine to steer us back to harbor.
> 
> She's no longer the girlfriend, but when we occasionally see her we still laugh about her having the whole ocean to maneuver and still managing to hit a small fishing boat.


I don't know how the guy missed seeing the ferry and hearing the horn sounding,

But last summer I rented a small motor boat.. and I was going full throttle back to the marina which was about 10 mph.

Coming from the starboard (so he had the right of way) at about a 90 degrees angle and probably 30 mph was a much bigger boat.

I saw him when he was in front of me He never saw me until he was past. Of course I was on a much smaller lake, with islands and other boats out for the evening.. still the only person I didn't see was the one I needed to see the most... so it happens

I remember the look on the guys face, first it was surprise then relief that we had not collided. I am sure he got mad 20 minutes later when he thought about it and realized I should have been more actively avoiding him...

.... but I hope both of us realized we should have been paying better attention

I know to some degree, I was used to be on a sailboat, used to having the right of way...

of course it often comes down to : Not what you were thinking, but what you should have been thinking.


----------



## bones92

goat said:


> Terrorist attack, plain and simple. Damn you ISIS!


ISIS: I Sail Into Ships!


----------



## bones92

I am always nervous about this... running into another boat, or more likely, running into a channel marker. One can be lulled into complacency on open water.


----------



## newt

I am never complacent around Sidney. Way too many reefs and rocks. As for the ferry turning- it depends on where they are. Some parts of the route are not where I would want to go off exploring with all those lives at stake, and certainly not in those conditions. No, some guy got stuck in a squall, and didn't take down his sails soon enough. At least it was in coastal waters so that production boat is as safe as any Oyster or Swan.
I'm sure the crew could breathe relief from that!


----------



## Classic30

Reefs and rocks? In Sydney?? There's the Sow & Pigs, but otherwise you have to try pretty hard to find anything non-visible to run into.



guitarguy56 said:


> This sailor fell asleep at the helm in Sydney Harbour... crashed into ferry as bewildered passengers are surprised.


Since this didn't make the news, any collision cannot have been serious enough to report. More of a glancing blow perhaps?

By choosing to let the sails flog, my guess is that the crew are incapacitated - maybe injured, probably sea-sick and certainly wishing they weren't out there.

That the spinnaker pole is up, suggests to me they've been out racing and got caught out by the squall. Sydney Harbour is a dangerous place to be in weather like that.


----------



## guitarguy56

Classic30 said:


> Reefs and rocks? In Sydney?? There's the Sow & Pigs, but otherwise you have to try pretty hard to find anything non-visible to run into.
> 
> Although it came close, from watching the video, I'm not 100% convinced the yacht actually hit the ferry - and since this didn't make the news, it cannot have been serious enough to report as it would have been had there actually been a collision.
> 
> Choosing to let the sails flog, my guess is that the crew are incapacitated - maybe injured, probably sea-sick and certainly wishing they weren't out there.
> 
> That the spinnaker pole is up, suggests to me they've been out racing and got caught out by the squall. Sydney Harbour is a dangerous place to be in weather like that.


Actually it did hit the ferry as it came to a complete stop and then continued on its way.


----------



## Classic30

guitarguy56 said:


> Actually it did hit the ferry as it came to a complete stop and then continued on its way.


Had another look and edited my post accordingly.

TDW would know more than I, but I suspect the Sydney Ferry drivers are used to being run into in conditions milder than that. It's a pretty crowded harbour on a nice day.

As always, fibreglass gives way to steel. :wink


----------



## Capt Len

Stunned non action trumps doing it right or even doing anything.


----------



## i_amcdn

Toronto harbour is full of ferry boats running 3 routes from the Westin Harbour Castle...Wards Island to the east, Centre Island (beaches and kiddies amusement park) and Hanlans Island to the west(c/o beach). Several clubs run their race nights in the inner harbour and they all know that the ferries have right of way, regardless of what you may think. Kayakers and canoes may get special treatment; all others beware.


----------



## Capt Len

Entering into Howe Sound, ferry overtaking power boat on port side. Blows whistle. Lots of clearance. Da skip and family panic ,turn hard to port and run under the bow. Drown.


----------



## Ed_P

mbianka said:


> Would love to hear his explanation to the insurance company.


haha that would be priceless!


----------



## MITBeta

This is a great demonstration of the fact that you cannot stop a sailboat that is beam reaching or lower. My bet is that they luffed sails to slow down to avoid the ferry, but instead of heading up to take the load off the sails (which in the short term might have confused the situation even more...), they either stayed on or headed down which loaded the sails and accelerated the boat.

I'm filing this one away to show my students...


----------



## jwing

MITBeta said:


> This is a great demonstration of the fact that you cannot stop a sailboat that is beam reaching or lower. My bet is that they luffed sails to slow down to avoid the ferry, but instead of heading up to take the load off the sails (which in the short term might have confused the situation even more...), they either stayed on or headed down which loaded the sails and accelerated the boat.
> 
> I'm filing this one away to show my students...


OK, I'll buy that explanation, but I'll add another hypothetical. What if the sailboat skipper initially attempted to head up, only to have his steering mechanism fail? My instinct would have been to luff the sails, but as we see, it did not work. My next instinct* would be to keep the main luffed and furl or lower the jib. BUT...maybe it would be better to keep the main luffed and trim the jib in order to push the bow downwind.

What would you tell your students to do in that scenario?

*Upon further reflection, I'd have to admit that my next instinct might be to panic. I like playing out these hypothetical situations in my imagination to train my sailor-y thinking so that panic is no higher than my fourth instinct.


----------



## Classic30

Either way, that boat is clearly out of control. That it is moving through the water at a reasonable pace with all sheets freed and the sails flogging themselves to shreds gives a pretty good indication of wind strength. Given that it seems there was no attempt to alter course, steering failure is also very likely.

Basically just a really bad day out on the water. Here's hoping the crew don't give up sailing for good...


----------



## CLucas

I was wondering if severe weatherhelm was preventing him from falling off and ducking the ferry, but that main seems out pretty far for that to be the case. If he had sheeted in the main (probably :15-20 before this video started) and let the the boat round up, he have been able to avoid the collision. Fighting the tiller/wheel when you're oversheeted and the boat wants to round up is an easy way to break something. Hard to tell here though -- given that the main looks to be out pretty far already. If he fell off the wind more and jibed without controlling the boom in that wind, he could lose the mast and/or kill someone.


----------



## Lazerbrains

CLucas said:


> If he had sheeted in the main (probably :15-20 before this video started) and let the the boat round up, he have been able to avoid the collision.


Sure, but that assumes this guy has a basic understanding of sailing.

The reality is he is a complete and utter idiot, and should not be allowed on the water.


----------



## Classic30

Lazerbrains said:


> The reality is he is a complete and utter idiot, and should not be allowed on the water.


Can't say whether or not that's true in this case..

..but IMHO it's certainly true of the vast majority of boaters (mostly speed but a few sail) out on Sydney Harbour on any given day. :laugh


----------

