Rules of the Road

The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, also know as ColRegs, are the laws the govern vessels at sea. The Basic rules for Power-driven vessels are the same as the rules we use on the highway.

Rule 11 states "Rules in this section apply to vessels in sight of one another" Therefore if you are operating in restricted visibility, the following Rules do not apply.

Rule 12 deals with sailing vessels and this rule will be covered in another post.

Rule 13 "Overtaking Any vessel overtaking any other shall keep out of the way of the vessel being overtaken."
Notice the Rule says "any vessel". The word "shall" means "must".

A case that many people mis-understand is where we have a sailing vessel overtaking a power vessel that is moving slowly, perhaps they are fishing and trolling for salmon at 2 knots. Because the sailing vessel is overtaking the power driven vessel, the sailboat must keep clear. Many people have been taught that power always gives way to sail.

The question then becomes "When am I overtaking?" Rule 13 (b) states "A vessel shall be deemed to be overtaking when coming up with another vessel from a direction more that 22.5 degrees abaft her beam." In simple terms if at night you would only see the white stern light and not the sidelights. In highway terms if you saw only the taillights of another vehicle, you are overtaking.

Rule 14 "Head-on Situation When two power-driven vessels are meeting on reciprocal or nearly reciprocal courses so as to involve risk of collision each shall alter course to starboard so that each shall pass on the port side of the other. On the highway this would be the narrow road situation. When meeting another vehicle, everyone pulls over to the right.

Rule 15 "Crossing Situation When two power-driven vessels are crossing so as to involve risk of collision, the vessel which has the other on her own starboard side shall keep out of the way and shall, if the circumstances of the case admit, avoid crossing ahead of the other vessel." The highway version is two vehicles meeting at an uncontrolled intersection. The one on the right is right.

I have had two instances recently where Rule 15 has been broken. The first was while teaching aboard a 86' Queenship motor yacht. We observed a Grand Banks 42 trawler approaching about 2 miles away off our port bow. The lady who was on the wheel observed that we had a potential risk of collision and that we were the stand-on vessel and therefore required to hold our course and speed. We discussed that the trawler should be altering course to cross our stern. As the minutes passed we could not detect any alteration of course so I suggested that we slow down. The other vessel kept proceeding and we then went to neutral on both engines. The trawler crossed our bow within 0.1 miles with the skipper waving his arm at us. I noted the vessel name on the stern and called him on Channel 16. When he responded I switched to Channel 9 and he told me we had a fender that was left down on our port side. When I thanked him I noted that we were the stand-on vessel and that we had to stop to avoid a collision, his reply was "Oh, sorry".
In the diagram, I am aboard the black vessel.

The second instance was as we were returning to Tsehum Harbour in Sidney aboard a 38' Meridian. There was a large 100'+ private motor yacht anchored near the Harbour entrance off our port bow. One of the local crab boats was approaching on our port side and heading for the gap between us and the anchored yacht. Despite me blowing the danger signal, 5 short blasts, the crab boat crossed our bow. In order to clear us safely, he had to alter course to port and cross the bow of the anchored yacht. In the diagram the crab boat is red and the anchored yacht is green.

The major point to remember is always keep checking that the give-way vessel is taking action to keep clear and if not, you must take action to avoid a collision. Never assume that the other boater knows the rules or will follow the rules correctly.

These rules form part of the required knowledge of the Canadian Yachting Association Basic Cruising Standard.

Time by ship's bell

In the days before clocks became a common item on board, a vessel would carry a chronometer. It was the duty of one person to strike the ship's bell to indicate the time and the changes of the watch. 8 bells would signal the end of the watch

The bell strikes would be as follows:

Read more...

Sailing Co-ops

If you are wanting to get into sailing and don't want to have the capital expense of buying a boat, you might consider a co-op.


In a co-op the organization owns a number of vessels. There is an annual membership fee as well as a fee when you use a boat. The members contribute their time to maintain the boats thus reducing the maintenance costs as well as providing some social aspects. Most co-ops are not teaching schools although they do have senior members who may take you out sailing and evaluate your skills before you area allowed to skipper a boat on your own.

For information on co-ops in British Columbia

Nautical Time

Historically the day was divided into six four hour periods called watches. Each member of the crew was assigned a period where they would be assigned duties or would be "on watch".

Traditionally the watches are named as follows:

0000 - 0400 Mid Watch
0400 - 0800 Morning Watch
0800 - 1200 Forenoon Watch
1200 - 1600 Afternoon Watch
1600 - 1800 First Dog Watch

The reason behind this watch's existence is that in order for the crew to rotate through all the watches it was necessary to split one of the watches in half. This allowed the sailors to stand different watches instead of one team being forced to stand the mid-watch every night.

The choice of time also allows both watches, if there are only two, to eat an evening meal at about the traditional time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_watch

1800 - 2000 Last Dog Watch
2000 - 0000 First Watch

In the summer of 1966 I served as an ordinary seaman aboard the CCGS Stonetown, which was a weather ship assigned to Ocean Station Papa, 50 degrees North, 145 degrees west. On this vessel the Dog watches were eliminated so we stood the same watches for the six week patrol. I was assigned to the 0000 - 0400 and 1200 - 1600 watches.

Many mornings I was reminded of the words of the poem Sea-Fever by John Masefield "And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking."

Fishing

Recently I was teaching a Marine Emergencies Duties course to a group of fishing guides at West Coast Resorts lodge at Whale Channel. http://www.westcoastresorts.com/whalechannel.cfm

I flew with most of the staff from Vancouver to Bella Bella. We boarded three Grumman Goose aircraft to fly direct to the lodge which is located in Barden Harbour at approximately 53 degrees North, 129 degrees West. The lodge is on a barge moored to shore and the water is over 100' deep right at the dock. The aircraft comes right alongside the dock. This is the view toward the harbour entrance from the room where I stayed.

As the staff were preparing the lodge for the first guests the manager, Terry Schultz, kindly had a boat ready for me and with some advice from two of the guides I set out alone across Whale Channel to try my luck at salmon fishing. One tip was to fish at about 37' and stay in about 80' of water. The shore line is very steep so I could stay close to shore.

Two hours passed and not a nibble. I tried various depths with no results. The port reel gave a little buzz and I removed the rod from the holder. I gave a sharp tug to trip the line from the downrigger clip and nothing happened. Turning on the electric downrigger to bring up the weight I started to reel in my line. Somehow I had fouled the line around the downrigger cable. After clearing the line I continued to reel in and the line was very heavy. I realized I had a fish on the line and soon a 20 lb. spring (Chinook) broke the surface. I have caught a few salmon before but never by myself in a boat. After three attempts with the landing net the fish was in the boat.

Returning to the lodge, two of the guides gave me a hand and some tips on cleaning and filleting the salmon. They kindly took a picture so I could show my family. After the fish was prepared it was taken into the barge, vacuumed packed and flash frozen. When I flew out three days later, the fish was boxed and put on the plane for me.

My thanks again to Terry and all the wonderful staff. It was a pleasure to work with everyone. The food was great and the scenery spectacular.

More fishing information

Wind warnings in Prince Rupert

I just returned from teaching a non-pleasure powerboat course in Prince Rupert.

On Thursday night as we were returning to the harbor after completing a night navigation exercise Prince Rupert Coast Guard issued a safety broadcast advising all vessels in the harbor to have a second anchor ready to let go and to have their engines at Standby. Winds of 50 km/hr were forecast. There were two large freighters anchored in the harbor.

Last night, Sunday, I had dinner at "La Gondola" overlooking the harbor with one freighter directly in front of the restaurant. Her anchor chain was tight and you could see her swinging in the gusts. Occasionally water was being lifted off the surface by small waterspouts. The forecast was for winds up to 90 km/hr and the gusts were peaking at 63 km/hr according to the reports on TV.

It gives you a real appreciation for the professional mariners who crew these vessels.

Anchoring

To anchor quietly, first discuss with the crew all the steps and where the anchor will be lowered.

Crew lowers anchor just into the water as skipper brings the boat into the wind. When the skipper has brought the bow over the desired anchor location engage astern propulsion. When the crew notices the wave around the anchor has stopped, lower the anchor quickly to the bottom. Pay out the desired amount of line and cleat off the anchor rode. The vessel will seldom reverse in a straight line. When the rode becomes taut, the vessel will swing back into the wind. This confirms to the skipper that the anchor is holding. Slowly increase power to dig the anchor in while watching two objects in line(a range) abeam. If the objects stay in line you are not moving and the anchor is set.

This process can be done without any talking.

More information Basic Powerboat Standard