Boat Colission Savannah

What Pascal is trying to say is that usually a barge (on inland waterways will have RIGHT OF WAY because it falls into one of the above circumstances limited maneuverability, etc etc........Being that it is a 280' Barge I would say it would definately fall into the limited maneuverability category.

While I will not make a conclusion or guess what happened. but I can tell you that a 50' Searay is a lot more maneuverable then a 280' barge in any situation.

You're simply being disingenuous here. You know full well that maneurvability comes up a number of times in the COLREGS. Yes "Right of Way" is no longer used but in a practical sense there is very little difference being saying a vessel is the "stand on vessel" or has the "right of way". I understand and even agree with why the terminology was changed but out of habit still use "right of way" partly because I always knew it wasn't an absolute right to proceed unimpeded.

(the first part of my previous post was a quote... not my post.)

i am playing devils advocate here but the COLREGS is the set of rules we abide to and afaik size, tonnage or even maneuverability is not a "right of way" criteria (unless obviously the vessel is claiming RAM status which can only be claimed due to the type of work they are engaged in).

obviously, common sense should prevail and it usually does: we give barges, tows, etc... plenty of room but there is nothing in colregs about maneuvrability, again besides RAMs

for instance, a small tug and barge may be as maneuverable if not more than a 80' single screw trawler...

Careful, Pascal, you're stepping on my toes, er bow line.

Judy

Having spent years pushing barges and dredges on US Inland waterways, I can attest with great certainty that is an incorrect statement. Even the dredge when transiting will not be a RAM vessel (a barge/dredge... is never Limited in ability to maneuver, when it is anything it is Restricted) It's only so when it is working, hence the Red White Red or Ball Diamond Ball display. Being less or more maneuverable does not automatically give one right of way. A sail boat under sail is Limited in its ability to maneuver because it cannot back down (Limited=due to design). A working dredge is Restricted in its ability to maneuver because of the occupational gear in the water (Restricted=due to occupation). Once a sailboat fires up its engine or a dredge picks up its gear, those factors and the rights that go with them disappear and they are again basic vessels under power.

Actually, the COLREGs don't apply to this accident, The US Inland Navigation Rules do. COLREGs is a term for the rules set at the 1972 IMO convention.

Well, Son of Magellan, if the collision occurred 4 miles off Tybee Island in Tybee Roads then it was well outside the COLREGS demarcation line.

Then it didn't happen on the Savannah River or in Savannah.

Do try to keep up Henning.

So, was it offshore in the channel or in the river? This is critical information needed to dissect the incident and nitpick the details?

ok.. so let's just use the word ROR

oh wait.. it's not a word...

seriously, yes we should keep out of the way of larger commercial vessels weather ferries, barges, tugs, etc... but in many case the ROR (whether inland or international) do not instruct is to do so.

of course, if you try to argue with a Staten Island Ferry captain that he is coming on your port side therefore you shall be maintaining course and heading... good luck! darn New Yorkers. (that's for NYCAP )

Key word: Sea Ray...

I haven't particularly noticed where accidents were in the exclusive domain of Sea Ray.

Most of this information is accurate regarding COLREGS and R & R, but isn't is well known (and even in print in the Coast Guard Waterway guides and Chapman) that each vessel must take whatever precautions are necessary to avoid a collision?

If I am on a collision course, regardless of wether or not I'm in the right, I'm going to take evasive action. I don't care if it's a 280 barge or a canoe. I'm not going to hit it. Period.

That would look really cool on a tombstone, though. "He was right".

Thats all well and good, but it takes a long time to make a major course change happen on a 280' barge

Which is why "In Extremis" doesn't have an exact locator definition, just "When it becomes evident that the maneuvers of one vessel will not be sufficient to avoid collision". BTW, it doesn't take that long really, just a couple of seconds longer than in the Sea Ray., and if I have flanking rudders, I can turn it extremely quickly, even a barge string considerably longer than 280'. I used to avoid a lot of small boat traffic in the SF Bay and Delta region pushing around 320' dump scows loaded with dredge tailings and fill gravel even avoiding idiots slinging wake boarders on the Petaluma river.