CHIRP annual digest 2016 6th

Annual Digest 2016
This section contains some classic examples of
COLREGS-RELATED incidents, plus some fresh cases
involving ECDIS. It ranges widely, from a ship being
overtaken from dead astern by a vessel that did not
make its intentions clear, to a crossing situation where
vessels disagreed over what constituted a safe passing
distance. A near miss between a yacht and a merchant
ship sheds light on the difficulty of detecting the
lights of a sailing vessel at night, while a ship at anchor
does not notice it is dragging despite two radar
alarms. That ship delib erately immobilised its engines
despite being anchored in a strong current, and the
engineers were reluctant to use them because they
had not been properly warmed through. Readers can
ponder that old conundrum – is it better to decide
against using the engines and risk damaging the ship
in a collision, or risk damaging the engines to avert the
collision? Sometimes, the correct answer only
becomes apparent with the benefit of hindsight.
There are also two cases where ECDIS features pro -
minently. They raise the familiar topics of training and
familiarisation, and the different types of display that
can be selected. One case features a navigator who
wanted to sail through the Nab Tower and underlines
the importance of proper passage planning and the
need for careful checking by senior officers.
Finally, we include another very useful MAB Insight
piece about manoeuvring in a seaway. It covers several
of the points that have emerged in our two sections
about COLREGS, and should be carefully studied by all
deck officers, DPAs etc.
Photograph courtesy of
www.gibraltar-shipping.com
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