Boat Tragedy

[Tog]

Was the ferry a HSS 'big cat' type? These do seem to cause huge wake/waves see DFT site:

Maritime Safety.doc

I seem to remember hearing of shore anglers washed in around Harwich when the first one started running. Looks like no lessons were learned.

 

Edit note - fixed the document link. Newt

 

[ 14. May 2004, 11:41 PM: Message edited by: Newt ]

[Salar]

The sea is dangerous, and waves caused by ships wash from nearby or miles away will happen, in addition to natures forces. Shore anglers should always be on the lookout for so-called freak waves, and any boat going out to sea must be fully equiped to deal with whatever may happen. I my opinion there is no excuse for a fishing boat being "swamped" unless the wave was actually breaking - it was either overloaded, had holes too near the water, was top-heavy or being handled by somone who did not know how to minimise the effect of a large wave on a small boat by facing into it at 30 degrees at low power. In my opinion - ferries must keep to the designated lanes and speed limits, but equally those of us that go out in small boats must be equiped and skilled enough to deal with anything. There's no point blaming anyone else if you are dead. Having said all that it was a dreadful tragedy and I do feel for the family and the mates, whole lives and enjoyment of fishing will never be the same again. If the ferry was in any way to blame, the owners and operators must be held accountable.

[sanctuary]

Heres an other one

Purdy, a 10m long, Aquabelle angling boat with the skipper and one other person on board, was preparing to anchor and begin fishing on a shallow sandbank off the East Anglian coast when HSS Stena Discovery passed inbound for the port of Harwich. Purdy's skipper turned his boat towards the wash from the high-speed ferry. The conditions were fine, with a southerly wind of force 3, good visibility and a slight sea. As the first wash waves approached Purdy, they grew in height to 4 metres and began to break. The first wave crashed over Purdy's bow, swamping the vessel and washing the person, who had been sitting on the engine casing aft, overboard.

The skipper threw a lifebuoy towards the man in the water and tried to manoeuvre the boat towards him. The man disappeared from view. Despite extensive searches carried out by the skipper and the rescue services, his body was not recovered until 12 days after the accident. He had been wearing heavy leather boots and, crucially, no lifejacket.

The Lessons

1. Even when the weather conditions appear benign it is always sensible to wear a lifejacket on the open deck of any small boat or vessel.

2. Large high-speed, high-powered vessels are capable of producing high-energy wash waves under certain critical conditions of speed and water depth.

3. Wash waves, which may have little or no effect on other vessels in deep water, can, when entering shallow water, grow dangerously high.

4. The wash producing capabilities of high-speed craft are not fully understood and, despite the operator's best attempts to minimise wash production, large waves can be produced inadvertently.

5. Small craft should stay clear of very shallow water when, and just after, a high-speed ferry passes.

This remember is a 10m boat it is happening all over the place people are being killed on shore as well swept off rocks but no one seems to be doing any thing about it.

Its not just the size of the wake 4m in this case but it is the form the wake takes its really 3 wakes in very close succesion that means the boat just about rides the first wake but the second and third means it is just flipped.

[sanctuary]

In my opinion this statement sums up the problem The wash producing capabilities of high-speed craft are not fully understood and, despite the operator's best attempts to minimise wash production, large waves can be produced inadvertently. If this is true and people are being killed then HSS ferries should have speed restrictions applied untill they do fully understand the wash producing capabilites and can do some thing to reduce them to a level were peoples lives are not put at risk.

[Salar]

sanctuary:

HSS ferries should have speed restrictions applied untill they do fully understand the wash producing capabilites and can do some thing to reduce them to a level were peoples lives are not put at risk.

This is not practical as the wash from slower boats further away can have the same effect when entering shallow water. And what about naval and private vessels? Do we really want a 10 mile speed restriction zone that would affect everybody? I don't know what the answer is but one thing I always do is keep a life jacket on at all times and always have done. I use a very slimline one that is like a thick pair of braces, and no bother at all. I'm amazed how few anglers in the boats around me wear one.

[sanctuary]

Salar yes other large vessels produce wash and have done so for years with out great loss of life and we are all used to dealing with that type of wash. It is the power and form that the HSS ferries wash creates that is the problem as they them selves recognize hence all the warning signs on beeches and warnings on charts. But and I repeat my self if people are being killed are a couple of warning signs enough to allow them to ignore the problem.

[sanctuary]

I know its a lot to read but this shows that they know the dangers yet they blame the victims

http://www.hansa-online.de/artikel.asp?Art...ID=397&offset=1

[sanctuary]

Its a bit like a lorry drives down the road with a scaffolding pipe stuck out and he kills a pedestrian the authorities investigate, and say it was the pedestrians fault because he was not watching where he was going, his shoes needed new soles and he was not wearing a crash helmet it was his own fault. The lorry was not at fault because he pays road tax and he needs to get his deliveries done on time. A bit exaggerated may be but you get my point