T&T: Boating Accidents in the News

[Mike Maurice]

It used to be that the only boating accidents you heard about were those 
within 100 miles or so. The radius of interest that the local newspaper, 
radio or TV station were interested in. Today the internet brings us the 
same info from around the globe.

Are there more accidents than there used to be; probably not. But, if 
there are not, what is pretty certain is that the nature of those 
accidents is changing. There are far more small boats out cruising than 
40 years ago. Back then the major obstacles were the weather and running 
into some solid piece of rock.

GPS, depth sounders and radar have eliminated many, but not all of these 
kinds of accidents. Weather forecasting is much improved. What is 
disturbing is the number of GPS, radar and weather assisted accidents 
that now are happening. There are numerous and recent accidents which 
have involved fancy yachts being lost, while running into solid and 
charted obstacles. Or, from totally disregarding the weather.

A collision is a COLLISION, whether it be a boat, a fishing net, a log 
or an iceberg. Collision avoidance is dealt with in the ColRegs, which 
are rules, intended to give guidance as to how to deal with potential 
collision situations. They are not regulations in the sense that they 
are to be followed slavishly into a collision. Regulations specify 
actions to be taken literally, the rules and there are less than 40 of 
them are there to keep you from having an accident and if you have one, 
your faults will be calculated based upon them.

In other words everything we do at sea starts with the ColRegs. We are 
all legally bound by them, from the Captain to the crew and the 
passengers. What I am driving at here is that accidents like the 
Earthrace boat or the Nordhavn that went on the rocks in Baja, and 
others, involved a failure to keep a proper lookout, rule #5.

Can we prove this last statement; not necessarily from the facts in 
hand. But, since they each involved running into something, it is a 
legal presumption that rule 5 was violated and such presumption will be 
the cornerstone of any legal preceding.

Even, if after an accident you are willing to claim as your defense that 
you are not "legally" culpable, what about your moral responsibility for 
live(s) lost and damage done. It is almost impossible to credibly claim 
that "all was done that could be done".

In any event, what I am getting at is that we are all part of the 
solution, or part of the problem. In order to claim morally and legally 
that we have followed the ColRegs there must be a chain of command and 
someone has to be in charge.

In effect, if there is no chain of command, then there is no 
accountability and without it there is almost no chance of the ColRegs 
being followed. This, before even any accident has happened.

The chain of command implies that any situation that is out of the least 
ordinary, requires that mere fact be presented to the most senior and if 
not available the most experienced person at hand, regardless of fatigue 
or reluctance by either party. There is no greater failure than to delay 
where delay can not be tolerated or to fail to act where your action 
alone is required. Better to wake the captain while there is time to 
act, even if it turns to be unnecessary, than to delay and have an accident.

I point all this out because I have become convinced that many of the 
accidents that are happening in the small boat community are as a direct 
result of this lack of chain of command. Or, a failure to follow it.

If you think that accidents that happen to other recreational boaters 
can't happen to you, then think again. It is just the accidents that 
happen to them, that are most likely to happen to you.

Just as I am inclined to believe that the accidents that happen to 
professional mariners are the one's that are most likely to get me. We 
either learn from our peer's mistakes or we are guaranteed to make them 
ourselves.



Regards,
Mike

_____________________________________
Capt. Mike Maurice
Beaverton Oregon(Near Portland)