Crash Video...Sailboat v Ferry

[Billy Bones]

From Sailing Anarchy (http://www.sailinganarchy.com/) this morning comes this Video (http://www.gkko.com/videos/2081/ferry-vs-sail-boat) of a boating accident.

Ya gotta wonder.

[Garrett Lowell]

What a fool.

[Ian McColgin]

I could not open this. Can you tell if this is the fameous and oft replayed collision between the ferry Nantucket and the schooner Reveler that happened in the early 80's? Black schooner abruptly charges across ferry bow? That video was shot from Nantucket's deck by a passenger who was just panning the way past Calmus Point into Lewis Bay but some of the TV versions also used footage taken from Calmus by beachgoers.

[Victor]

Sounds like Edward R. Murrow is announcing.

[Billy Bones]

Ian, that sounds like the one. I didn't realize how old it was.

[Stari27]

My wonderful IT Department has the video blocked for "Adult Content". Ain't it wonderful :mad:

[Ian McColgin]

If it's Reveler and Nantucket, therein hangs a tale.

Reveler was anal-retentivly restored, went to Florida, and is now back in Cape waters and for sale, by the way.

Reveler is the only schooner in this size range that might, on the right day, give Mya a good run. Deep, narrow and fast.

Reveler had been through some murky ownership just before the owner at the time of the accident. For example, she'd been bringing oysters back from Nantucket in winter. One look at her lines might make one think they were large cubical oysters shrink-wrapped in black plastic . . . .

I happened to be down on the farm caring for the horses while Mom and Dad took Goblin for a cruise around Nantucket Sound when on a Sunday morning my parents' friends were calling to see if they were alive. Since Mom and Dad had no TV, this was my first inkling that a dark hulled schooner had been hit in my home waters. I called about frantically till I learned 'twas Reveler, not Goblin.

Aboard Reveler advising the new owner on his first sail was the best charter captain in Lewis Bay - kinda guy where if none of us had any business on a drizzly day could cruise through the Dockside (a bar) and emerge with a dozen folk who wanted to sail. Magical personality about whom I often said that he could make a shipwreck feel like a party.

So one evening when he and I were doing a guest talk at the local CGAux I heard from him the tale. I can't begin to capture his story telling style, so this is just a summary.

'Twas his first date with the lovely charter captain who, when both divorces were final, became his wife, mother of kids and all that happen ending stuff. He'd been invited to show Reveler's new owner how to sail her. I need identifiers here. My friend is "C", his date-to-be-wife is "A" and the Reveler's new owner is "T."

So C is doing a great job of getting T to actually do stuff, clear the Dockside and get on out into Lewis Bay and all. Given the normal southwesterly, C recommends that they raise sail after clearing the channel past Dunbar Point at the end of Kalmus Beach. Putputting out the channel C begins to educate T about situation awareness. He pointed out Nantucket out near the HH buoy and inbound as something to be thinking about by the time they were at Buoy 5 or so.

And all going well, till T slid a bit too close to one side. I can't recall whether he scraped the Kalmus or the Egg Island side now but I think the Egg Island side. No matter, he took the ground firmly and, with the tide dropping, Reveler was not about to move.

C told T not to worry. Nantucket makes a huge displacement wave that would float them in just a minute. The problem was that as the ferry entered the channel prior to a northerly turn it appeared to T that she was going to slaughter them and he panicked. T's flailing about with engine and gears did not faze C because he was sure Reveler would not come off till the ferry had passed.

Reveler exceeded expectations.

And she wrenched in a weird arc off the bar. Reveler's prop is offset to port and she's a total psycho in reverse. So as she looped into the channel, C realized that nothing could prevent the collision now, told everyone to jump and summed up quickly to A, "I'm outahere. Come on!" The unedited video actually shows their plumply fit bodies diving over the side and stroking for Dunbar.

As Nantucket closed on Reveler, T ordered a crewmember forward to fend off. That lucky soul managed to scamper up the foremast as Reveler was ground under and leapt from there onto the bow of the ferry, through the open car doors. Friends of my parents who happened to be aboard and like everyone on deck forward looking down at this, claim to have overheard another passenger say to his companion, "I'll bet the Authority charges that guy full fare."

Incredibly, T and the two remaining in the cockpit took to the water unhurt. For a bit C & A eased into the sunworshippers on Dunbar with a low profile. When they realized that the harbor police were searching for their bodies, they came forward.

This viedo was replayed for years every spring in the annual "don't drink and sail" ad campaign. It did eventually acknowledge that T was actually a life-long teetotaler and alcohol had no role in the accident.

It was actually simple. T panicked and C, misjudging Reveler's ability to come off, did not eject T from the helm. The moment she scraped clear, there was no way to keep her away from Nantucket's bow.

T spent some years rebuilding Reveler, doing a brilliant job but I could not help him. The one day I went by to help hang some planks he refused to use a tapered self-countersinking bit and had only one drill. We had to change bits thrice for every screw. And then instead of snugging up properly, he wanted it that all of the screw head slots would be vertical. Under bungs! That's what I mean by anal-retentive rebuild.

Notwithstanding, he got her rebuilt, married the ex of the guy who sold him Reveler, and off they went to Florida. And now she's back up in a yard on Cape here and available for an honest but not cheap price.

[Dave Hadfield]

Thanks! Good story.

[Garrett Lowell]

Well, I apologize for and rescind my "what a fool" post above. It does appear as if the schooner intentionally cuts in front of the ferry. Thanks for the story.

[Hughman]

Great post, this ought to be archived.

Ihanks Ian

[Ian McColgin]

If it's the Nantucket/Reveler collision, it's still a tale of disasterous action caused by panic and ignorence.

It takes a sailor's eye to look at a large ferry bearing down and correctly read its course. T did not have that.

It also takes a little common sense to figure you're pretty safe from a ferry that draws 12'forward if you're aground in 8 feet of water. Again, T did not have the wit.

It's just that the Reveler/Nantucket incident is a bit more understandable than the video makes it appear.

Would I, like C, have allowed T to keep revving the engin? I do not know for sure. Once close in by Montauk I was on a boat that lost her mast. The owner in panic switched on the engin and I had to physically prevent him from engageing the gear with the likely result of an increcible mix of loose rigging and propellor. And I mean physically prevent. I hurt the man. Legally that amounted to mutiny.

But in some ways that situation was far clearer than a sunny Saturday afternoon. The did run on the bar hard with a dropping tide. C did not think it possible for reveler to come free and he thought letting T make that futile mistake for a little while might be a good lesson.

Also, it takes a lot of assertion for a guest, no matter how experienced, to wrest control from an owner. Especially as it may be more likely for harm to occur during the tussel than if one just goes with what's happening.

So, I don't know if I'd have done better. Despite the fact that I'm more interventionist than C, I have my doubts.

[Art Read]

This was also discussed in the Another disaster mystery (http://www.woodenboat-ubb.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=005556) thread.

I had a feeling Ian would have better "dope" on that story than I did! ;) Although it astonishes me to hear she was aground beforehand, that might explain the odd "course alterations" I remember from the full length footage that aired on local TV. So, Ian, is that "C" that we see bailing out off the transom just before impact? ;)

(Great to hear she was salvaged. I'm astonished! Maybe HINDU isn't doomed to rot on the hard after all...)

[Art Read]

I don't know... I just watched the video again. Ian, take a look at this link and make sure we're talking about the same incident.

http://www.gkko.com/videos/2081/ferry-vs-sail-boat

That boat sure looks like its underway to me. Bone in her teeth, wake visible astern. The current ain't THAT strong there is it?

[Figment]

turn down the sound on your computer first. those wood crunching noises will turn your stomach.

[JimJ]

The link
http://www.gkko.com/videos/2081/ferry-vs-sail-boat

cannot be found?

Jim

[Paul Pless]

Here's another link that also has the video. ferry versus sailboat (http://www.dumpalink.com/media/1139739324/Small_Boat_vs_Big_Boat)

[Ian McColgin]

I'll be on a better computer tomorrow and may see the video then. Some of Art's remarks make it sound less like Reveler.

[Meerkat]

Originally posted by Ian McColgin:

Reveler had been through some murky ownership just before the owner at the time of the accident. For example, she'd been bringing oysters back from Nantucket in winter. One look at her lines might make one think they were large cubical oysters shrink-wrapped in black plastic . . . .
In Florida they call that "square grouper" ;)

[Ian McColgin]

This is not the video I'd seen. It might not be Reveler and Nantucket but sure looks like Reveler's deck. These few seconds are consistent with my memory of the other video and all the eyewitnesses, especially C, I heard.

In backing off Reveler got turned to face Nantucket. It looks like this is where this vid picks up, one crew already on the foredeck and C getting ready to dive off the starboard quarter, followed by A in about the last frame showing the cockpit at all.

T rapidly accelerated - note how the bone develops - with the thought that steerage way might help. He may have been trying to go port anyway and/or that off-set prop might have encouraged him at an intuitive level. T never understood that he could get clear swinging to starboard and he was completely confused as to the ferry's course, so even years of litigation later, he thought he was right when he swung to port under the bow.

This is the last few seconds and does not show Reveler's periginations in the preceeding 10 seconds or so as Reveler arced into the channel.

The video that was shown on TV around here for years was of better quality but I've not been able to find it by google to post for comparison. Still, looks like Reveler to me.

[Lew Barrett]

Great story, horror of a video. My stomach turned, I felt flushed. It's amazing how quickly things can happen at 7 knots.
Lew

[ConcernedAnarchist]

Ian,

The sailboat is clearly NOT grounded and hadn't been immediately prior (check out the wake behind it), besides, that ferry has to draw at least as much as that yacht.

They were NOT out for a sail. The boat only has a jib on the front and the booms aren't even rigged much less have sails on them.

The person on the bow was already forward and not sent there to "fend off" nor did they obviously climb up the foremast.

Very little of this video jives with your story so I'm thinking it may not be the incident you're thinking of.

[ 02-16-2006, 12:56 PM: Message edited by: ConcernedAnarchist ]

[Ian McColgin]

It's possible that this is a different narrow black schooner and that there are other ferries with exactly the same bow gear as Nantucket.

However, the film does not speak to how long the schooner was on that course, the distinction between wind lines off to the side, other vessels' tracks and what little can be seen behind the schooner in the first frame is murkey at best.

I wish I had a good enough copy for certain facial recognition but I don't.

This video is exactly congruent with the best accounts of the last few seconds of Reveler's trip that day. It could be another incident but no internal evidence in the video compells that conclusion.

[Art Read]

Here's another crash video... This time it's the Coast Guard running down a runabout. Is it my imagination or wasn't it the runabout who had right of way? :confused:

Collision (http://clipdump.com/Link-16250_Oblivious+boaters+get+crushed+by+oncoming+cr aft.html)

[ 02-17-2006, 08:12 PM: Message edited by: Art Read ]

[DanO]

I remember this video. It was shown as part of a US Power Squadrons safe boating course my wife and I took back in 1997 in Southeastern Massachusetts. As I recall, the video was reportedly taken by a passenger in Vineyard Sound. The images have stuck...for good reason!!

Dan

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Even if the new owner was inexperienced, you wonder what he was thinking... :confused: :eek: :rolleyes:

[pcford]

T spent some years rebuilding Reveler, doing a brilliant job but I could not help him. The one day I went by to help hang some planks he refused to use a tapered self-countersinking bit and had only one drill. We had to change bits thrice for every screw. And then instead of snugging up properly, he wanted it that all of the screw head slots would be vertical. Under bungs! That's what I mean by anal-retentive rebuild. The word you were searching for is "retarded" not "anal-retentive." And I doubt very much if he in fact did a "perfect" job. Anyone that would insist on _straight_ slot fasteners with heads lined up in holes drive without a proper countersink is a ideal working definition of a sophomoric know-nothing. No doubt hell to work for. Praise Jesus that fate kept me from working for this turkey.

[Art Read]

No comments on the Coast guard running down a boat crossing from starboard...?

[Billy Bones]

Plenty of comments, none publishable here on this family forum.

Which usually means that I don't have enough information.

[Leon Steyns]

In my maybe-not-so-humble opinion, the Coast Guard should have avoided this accident. After that, the boater should have received a warning - or a fine, or something... :mad:

As for the schooner accident, we might try faster ferries. Like this one:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid201/p715c5ea59ff2b8b895cd99a144bb1edd/f0221fb1.jpg

It's a Rodriquez TMV Aquastrada. Think of it as a maritime breed of a Ferrari and an Iveco truck. The TMV-101 has a cruising speed of 43 kts! No beauties, but faster than your avarage runabout... tongue.gif

Rodriquez TMV-101 Aquastrada data sheet (http://www.rodriquez.it/fastferry/download/TMV%20101.pdf) (327Kb PDF-document)

Rodriquez Yard website (http://www.rodriquez.it/index.htm)

Greets, Leon "don't mention the Seagull" Steyns.

[Edited to add: I'm in no way affiliated with these guys, but they make cool, big and fast stuff! :D ].

[ 02-18-2006, 08:14 AM: Message edited by: Leon Steyns ]

[Ian McColgin]

In defence of T's workmanship, figure that you're within 1/2 turn of a veticle allignment when you feel the screw getting tight.

Most of us torque it by hand anyway. I was once curious as to just how much consistant torque on the screws mattered and I tested after with a wrench following the screwing of a good planking crew. Torques ran from 5 to 12 foot pounds per screw with no corrolation to plank hanger - each guy had a pretty wide range to torque.

Given that, it's not necessarily bad to go to an allignment after just snug instead of to a feel - so long as you don't over-torque and strip the wood. T had a theory about not trapping water in the slots that I thought pretty dumb, but while there's no point to the verticle allignment, there's no harm.

All the plank fitting, caulking, and such were spectacular. Now, over two decades later, the hull looks lovely and fair, interior wonderful, and all that. She needed a new main mast, which has just been completed and is being varnished as we speak.

It's mostly that he was impossible to work with.

Anyway, Reveler is for sale if there's some rich, hard-sailing soul out there. I'd be happy to put together a crew that could campaign her in the classic races over the next year, catch some silver and all.

G'luck

[Lew Barrett]

Note the disclaimer at the top that allows governments to make exemptions for warships. How successful might the owner of the runabout be (a moron with no regard for his passangers, by the way) in sueing the Coast Guard regardless of his nominal ownership of the right of way? The first rule and responsibility of the pilot is to avoid collision. This guy admits he never saw the big, orange striped boat. On the other hand, certainly he had the technical right of way as the law is nominally written. But honestly, what thinking person doesn't yield the right of way to a speeding cop? Not a pretty day for the Coasties, no doubt, but the guy in the buzz boat is a doofus. His behavior is like trying to beat a ferry coming on the port side. Don't even think about it. Aren't recreational boaters required to keep their distance from military vessels unless hailed? That's a real question, by the way, not rhetorical.....
Lew

Rules of the Road:
http://e n.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Regulations_for_Preventing_Collision s_at_Sea#Part_E_-_Exemption (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Regulations_for_Preventing_Collision s_at_Sea#Part_E_-_Exemption)

Originally posted by Art Read:
No comments on the Coast guard running down a boat crossing from starboard...?

[ 02-18-2006, 08:48 PM: Message edited by: Lew Barrett ]

[Leon Steyns]

Hmmm,

I checked this link for the ColRegs (from USCG):
http://www.uscg.mil/vtm/navrules/navrules.pdf (ATTN: 1.07MB PDF-file!) .

As far as my (non-legal) knowledge reaches, I think rules 2, 6, 7, 8 (particularly sub f), 15, 16, 17 (particularly sub a, ii) apply, as does ANNEX V 33 CFR 88 Pilot Rules §88.11 and maybe §88.12(?).

In other words: the Coast Guard vessel is in neglect of the rules, as is the runabout (in particular 17a, ii), even if the Coast Guard vessel was displaying a flashing blue light.

Unfortunately, law enforcement and public safety personnel are humans - some of them tend to feel that the Rules don't apply to them... :mad: :confused: :(

Let me just say that I'm glad no one got killed.

Greets, Leon "don't mention the Seagull" Steyns.

[ 02-18-2006, 05:13 PM: Message edited by: Leon Steyns ]