INVESTIGATION

CASE 23
The yacht’s skipper was making his way up
the companionway steps when he saw the bow
of a large vessel through the spray-hood. He
shouted a warning to his wife and tried to
make a lunge for the tiller. His actions were in
vain and the two vessels collided. The force of
the impact threw the skipper back down the
companionway steps.
Damage to the yacht was catastrophic and
it sank within minutes of the collision. The
yacht’s skipper managed to escape from within
the sinking yacht and was rescued from the
water by the ship’s rescue boat. One of the
dogs was also rescued. The skipper’s wife could
not be found despite an extensive air and
sea search. Her body was recovered from the
sunken yacht by divers the next day.
The Lessons
1. The yacht’s skipper made an assumption
that the outbound ship would remain
in the channel and follow the ship that
was ahead of it in the channel. When the
decision was taken to go below, no risk of
collision existed. Subsequent alterations of
course by the ship resulted in both vessels
being on a collision course.
2. It is essential that all vessels maintain a
proper lookout at all times. Motor does
give way to sail in most cases, nonetheless
all vessels have a duty and requirement
to keep a good lookout by all available
means and to take avoiding action when it
becomes apparent that the actions of the
give way vessel alone are not going to be
sufficient to avoid the risk of collision.
3. Leisure boat users should never assume
that they have been seen by other vessels,
nor should they assume that the other
vessels will always take the correct
avoiding action. In this case the yacht had
a good quality radar reflector fitted high
on its mast, and this provided a good radar
echo. Yet due to the good visibility, the
officer on watch on the ship was not using
his radar and had not seen the target of
the yacht that had been visible on his radar
display screen for 12 minutes before the
collision.
4. Leisure sailors need to be particularly
aware of closing speeds between their own
vessels and other vessels. In this case the
ship was travelling at 12.9kts, but many
types of vessels, including ferries, cruise
ships and container ships regularly sail at
speeds in excess of 25kts and, as a result,
distances that initially appear sufficient
can be reduced surprisingly quickly.
5. This yacht’s skipper’s automatic inflation
lifejacket failed to inflate on immersion
in the water as the CO 2 bottle was not
correctly fitted to the inflation mechanism.
Had the skipper’s lifejacket inflated as
designed, it is highly likely that he would
not have been able to escape from within
the sinking yacht. Nonetheless, in the vast
majority of cases an automatic lifejacket
is a lifesaver, and to remain effective,
inflatable lifejackets must be serviced
in accordance with the manufacturer’s
guidelines.
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MAIB Safety Digest 1/2017