Maltese Falcon Got T-boned In Sf Bay

[Trim50]

http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectro...8&dayid=178

This guy will not be able to show his face at the club for many years...."Really guys...I didn't see it!"

[redbopeep]

The series of pics I've seen on this incident make it look like the Maltese Falcon was overtaking the smaller boat. They were both on a port tack. Someone I know (who is familiar with sailing the square rigged tall ships) suggested that the turbulence from the Maltese Falcon's square rig sails was significant as the Falcon passed to windward of the smaller boat...rendering the smaller boat uncontrollable, and may have even backwinded it, causing a crash tack.

In any case, embarrassing for the skipper(s) involved.

[Trim50]

Yeah maybe, but it doesn't explain his running from the scene!

[islandseeker]

Originally Posted by Trim50

Yeah maybe, but it doesn't explain his running from the scene!

HURRY UP MAN, HIDE THE BEER!!!

[Trim50]

Yep!

[MMNETSEA]

Originally Posted by Trim50

Yeah maybe, but it doesn't explain his running from the scene!

Ken,

Agreed, in my book this incident is no different to vehicle hit and run driver. Colregs.

Strange that the clew of the genoa is on the port side of the mast?

[edsailing]

I can't find the series of pics leading up to this - anyone give me a link - but I think it is possible that if the Falcon overtook too close i.e less than 100', the turbulance from his first set of sails backwinded the smaller boat causing loss of control and the low pressure area from the second set 'sucked' it in before the wake from the Falcon threw it back off.

I should think the crew on the smaller boat were scared witless and got the hell out of it as quickly as possible - the collision regs don't require you to stop and exchange insurance details!

It may well be that the fault lies with the Falcon?

[JeanneP]

Here's a sequence of the boat sailing towards, and hitting MF. The bottom five frames in the sequence, and another 5 or more on the next page. Notice that the fellow on the rail doesn't budge until the moment of impact, and the skipper doesn't look any more concerned. One comment was that the jib blinded him to his close approach to MF, though I have a hard time believing that.

http://lyonsimaging.smugmug.com/gallery/61...WnE6n#386640349

I read a comment somplace that a short while prior to the collision the 40-footer was on a stbd. tack and tacked into MF. I don't think that it was an involuntary tack because the sheets are set up for the stbd. tack it was on when it hit MF, and the fellow on the rail would have been trying to maneuver sails so they could sail out of the problem. No, I don't think it was turbulence on MF's part, and with a professional pilot on board, it's hard to claim that MF was not following Colregs.

[redbopeep]

link to pics

This is the "pre-collision" pic that I don't see in other links.

[edsailing]

Thanks for the link, JeanneP.

Looks like there are a few questions here!

Diifficult to tell what tack the smaller boat was on but it looks like starboard to me - what you can't tell from the pics is how long it had been on that course but there is a reasonable length of wake straetched out behind her.

Bottom line is that you should keep a good lookout at all times and do whatever is possible to avaid a collision.

I'm sure the allocation of blame for this one will rumble on for a while

[edsailing]

I like the quote from Yachtpals

and "right-of-way" doesn't apply when one of the vessels is restricted by sheer size.

I've not come across that in the colregs before!

[Peter Owen]

If you follow the photo sequence and the associated comments, it looks like both yachts were on a roughly parallel course on port with MF to windward overtaking the 40 footer when it tacked onto starboard and into her path.

What happened then is pretty obvious: MF took avoiding action by hardening up to port and the 40 footer probably just got overtaken by the speed of it all ie panicked!

The questions I'd be asking are about relative speed and proximity. No one could say that the helm on the 40 footer was exactly wide awake but, if MF's speed is relatively high a lot can happen in a very short space of time and you just have to wonder about overtaking vessels keeping clear.

See ya