Item — HN Reader

Not even in theory. Sure I may loose my boat but they will be liable for it and will not even question being liable, the cost is tiny to them and I would get a new boat if they ran me down. Things are more complex when that freighter is also under sail and most of the world lacks any legal bearing here.

2 comments

You might want to read more about the right of way rules and USCG apportionment in maritime accidents. In the scenario you describe you most definitely would not be getting a new boat.

What makes you think the USCG has any bearing on my life? Even if I am an American I stated that my dream was to be blown about the oceans, which strongly implies that I will be out of USCG jurisdiction the majority of the time. You are right in context of a busy seaway like New York Harbor but in that situation a sailing freighter will be under power, not under sail and anyone in a small sailboat will be very alert. Most of the ocean is not under jurisdiction of the USCG and the rules for open water are different than those for near the coast or in the harbor.

I’m not sure where people get the idea of the rules don’t apply in international waters. The COLREGs clearly state commercial vessels have right away over recreational sailboats. End of story. You get run over by a commercial vessel, it’s your fault for being in the way but it’s their fault for running you down.

Here is the COLREG order:

  Not under command
  Restricted maneuverability
  Constrained by draft
  Fishing (actively dragging)
  Under sail

Ignoring not under command; in the open sea only the fishing boat has right of way over a sailing boat because the rest are not restricted by maneuverability or draft when in the middle of the ocean unless the crew is negligent. Fishing vessels in the open ocean tend to give way unless they can raise the boat on the radio and get them to change course because they really do not want the sail boat to foul their lines, especially the long line boats. In restricted waters boats under sail often have the right of way because they have restricted maneuverability (restricted by the wind) and their deep keel means they are restricted by draft but it is not so black and white here; if the sailboat can fire up its engine it is more maneuverable than that tug pulling a bunch of barges so if that sailboat has less draft restriction than the tug and its barges, it has to fire up its engine and get out of the way.

But COLREG is not the rule of the sea, just the rule for countries who are a part of the UN. But the truth is that a collision with such a sailboat will not phase these boats and generally writing a check is an insignificant cost and rare enough that it is what they do.

You can be right, and dead; your posthumous estate would get a new boat.

A large ship is very unlikely to just instantly destroy and sink a small sailboat, bow wave pushes it aside and destroys the rigging leaving the boat adrift, crew either abandons it or scuttles it when rescued unless they are near land and can be towed.

Having witnessed a large commercial ship going 15 kts run over a smaller 30 foot sailboat I can assure you it was not “pushed aside” unless by aside you mean pushed under.

If hit just right it would destroy the boat but that is a one in a million hit. The shape of displacement hulls and their need to part and push the water aside so they can move through the water will almost always mean that small boats will be pushed aside and damaged but not sunk. An open boat (which a small number of 30' sailboats are) would be a different story, the hit would almost certainly heel them enough to flood and sink them, but I think it is obvious that I am not talking about open boats but boats with a deck and a cabin that you can live in. I could be wrong in that assumption, many do not know the difference between an open and a decked boat and I could have been more clear there.