#Power driven vessel meaning full

I did hail him! I was not flying a day shape-he should have known!” Etc…Ĭlick to expand im not taking this out of concept, as i have read your entire post, but it seems that unless someone posts the actual law as its written in the law books, here, everyone will continue to have their own idea of what the facts are, BECAUSE there are so many places on the internet that have a bit different interpretations posted by authoritative people. But all he had to do was STOP and allow me to complete by gybe. KG, could it not be said that YOU had the last clear opportunity to avoid the collision by having the better grasp of the crossing situation? That you could have gybed earlier, or could have switched on your diesel in a second or two to avoid the plaintiff’s vessel?” “Uh, I suppose. KG, you were clearly aware that the plaintiff was motoring, were you not?” “Yes.” “Given the common practice of sailboats entering harbors under power with their mainsails up, would it be fair to say that the plaintiff could have perceived you to be a ‘power-driven vessel’ and under burden to avoid him?” “It’s possible, I suppose.” “Therefore, Mr. I can just hear some lawyer saying the following, which would be true. And suppose we collided or sideswiped? Who would be at fault, or bear most of it-he or I? To him, I may well have appeared to be just another motoring sailboat with my mainsail up and therefore under burden to AVOID HIM, given that he was approaching me from starboard side under power, etc. Of course, day shapes are almost never displayed. It’s a common, widespread practice to do so just about everywhere I’ve been. Sailboats frequently motor in the harbor channel, outbound and inbound, with the mainsail up. In light of our discussions the following might be surmised. My wife, who was helming, asked for instructions to which I replied “we’re gybing”, and did so-perfectly! At the last few seconds before a potential collision the guy ducked under our port side-there being barely enough room. I hailed him twice that we were about to gybe which would put us on a course right at his bow only a few boat lengths away but with no acknowledgement from him. He was barely slowing down, heading right for us, and did not appear to anticipate our forced gybe coming up.

Approaching the shoal marker from the southeast is a guy in a sailboat who is motoring with furled sails. We planned to gybe near the end of the harbor channel a boat length (40 ft) before a shoal marker, which would bring us up nicely on starboard tack toward mid-fairway with decent way on. The engine was OFF not unusual for us when entering the Harbor on a good breeze.

#Power driven vessel meaning full

The genoa was furled to keep our speed down but the main was full up. From the head marker we were on a broad reach going down the harbor channel until being forced to gybe to a southeasterly course toward our marina. Just yesterday my wife and I sailed across the SB Channel from Santa Cruz Island to Ventura Harbor. The fact is, if more people were courteous and aware enough of their surroundings and fellow boaters, we wouldnt need to have things like this dictated to us Its much better to know the rules/laws and give way to the other vessel, rather than be in doubt while attempting to stand your ground because you think the other guy wont notice or care about your status. and even if you dont agree with it, its still the law. Its just a simply written rule that is easy for anyone to understand the meaning of. There is no reason to overthink it or look for a way around it, but just accept it for what it is.Īnd if you act accordingly and DONT assume that no one will notice or otherwise care that you have the engine running, you wont ever get in trouble because of it. with the wording as it is, it makes no difference if the sails are up, or if we are drifting around in neutral. Its not a matter of whether we agree or not, or what our arguments may be in support of what we wish were the case, the law says if the engine is running and we are not tied stationary to something, we are considered to be 'under power'.