Yachting FAIL - Jessica Watson

[GeoPowers]

Looks like the preliminary report is out on her collision during sea trials:

http://yachtpals.com/files/news/jess...ion-report.pdf

Not good...just when I was thinking my personal opinion of whether she was ready or not was wrong, too....

You can't change the past, so fair winds and following seas Jessica. I hope you will prove all of us wrong.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by GeoPowers

Looks like the preliminary report is out on her collision during sea trials:

http://yachtpals.com/files/news/jess...ion-report.pdf

Not good...just when I was thinking my personal opinion of whether she was ready or not was wrong, too....

You can't change the past, so fair winds and following seas Jessica. I hope you will prove all of us wrong.

Thanks for that

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by GeoPowers

Looks like the preliminary report is out on her collision during sea trials:

http://yachtpals.com/files/news/jess...ion-report.pdf

The ATSB
➥ 268-MO-2009-008

PRELIMINARY Report on the Collision between Silver Yang and Ella’s Pink Lady
➥ http://www.atsb.gov.au/media/739587/...008_prelim.pdf

[Ex-Calif]

New information for me -

- The ship altered course
- The ship tried to avoid the collision
- The ship responded to radio hail
- The ship left only after the skipper said she needed no assistance

Sounds pretty reasonable and responsible to me.

What's not new.

The skipper of the yacht was asleep below decks and missed a ship on radar 1 mile away? Not to second guess but she should have been able to see that visually, right?

[Bark]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

New information for me -

- The ship altered course
- The ship tried to avoid the collision
- The ship responded to radio hail
- The ship left only after the skipper said she needed no assistance

Sounds pretty reasonable and responsible to me.

What's not new.

The skipper of the yacht was asleep below decks and missed a ship on radar 1 mile away? Not to second guess but she should have been able to see that visually, right?

Does anyone have a link to exactly what her father said about the collision, blaming it all on the cargo ship?

[sneuman]

Jessica Watson | Yachtswoman Parents Angry Over Yacht Crash With Cargo Ship

The irate father of yachtswoman Jessica Watson claims those behind the controls of the cargo ship she collided with were "trying to hide" by failing to stop and then turning off the vessel's radar signal.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by sarafina

Last time I checked children did not participate in the sports mentioned at the highest levels of competition, in the riskiest conditions.

No one is saying ban children or youth from sailing. Quite the contrary. The concerns expressed here by myself and others is that she is attempting a project that appears to be beyond her abilities.

Another issue is proximity to aid and assistance. A minor participating in many of the activities is near others and can receive medical attention in a timely manner. Many of these sports by their very nature are group activities. They are not in remote areas, alone, under risky conditions.

Let me know when some 16 year old participates in the iron man... or solo climbs Everest...

So nobody gets killed or injured playing sport at lower than the highest level?

In fact many sports are actually SAFER when played at the highest level. Motorsport is for sure.

But far safer to keep kids at home playing with their Nintendo's right? That way you can be sure they will at least reach their twenties before they die from a heart attack or morbid obesity.

No doubt you'd want to ban any 16 year old who wanted to compete in the iron man, or climb a mountain too.

[Nauticatarcher]

A couple of things strike me as odd 1) if Silver Yang had seen Jessica and was monitoring her approach, and from the lights she was showing should have determined she was a Yacht, Yet they did not make a bold and noticeable alteration of course, 10 deg is not enough, they then left it to the last moment to make a further evasive action, too little too late!, none of this absolves Jessica for keeping a proper watch, but goes too illustrate that in these cases their is always shared responsibility.
I personally about 12 yrs ago was involved in a collision with a bulk carrier in almost the same position whilst skippering a 120' longliner, My watchkeeper failed in his duties but as Skipper I carry the responsibility, in the following official inquiry the version of the facts given by the watchkeepers of the Bulk carrier were so far from the truth as to my course and speed that it was obvious that the also failed in their duty to keep a proper watch and were quite happy to lie to cover their arses.

"What doesn't Kill you makes you stronger"
GO JESSICA!!!!

[Ex-Calif]

God point nauti - Also why the ship watchkeeper didn't sound the horn is odd as well.

At some point the watchkeeper would lose sight of the yachts lights.

[highseas]

How does a ship, ar any vessel "turn off" its radar signal?I think you mean AIS transponder.You should see the level of "extreme" sports kids take up, in Whistler B.C.;not for the faint of heart!

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by Nauticatarcher

A couple of things strike me as odd 1) if Silver Yang had seen Jessica and was monitoring her approach, and from the lights she was showing should have determined she was a Yacht, Yet they did not make a bold and noticeable alteration of course, 10 deg is not enough, they then left it to the last moment to make a further evasive action, too little too late!

This is one thing - what else strikes you as odd? I agree it sounds like pretty sketchy watchkeeping on the collier. First you can't tell range of a single light at night with any accuracy; second he (assuming a he) allowed it to close on a steady bearing for 23 minutes, then when it had to be really close altered only 10 degrees - WTF!
That's not the oddest thing though. How could Jessica miss a bloody huge chunk of steel only a mile in front of her? In apparently good visibility? Why is it an issue that her electronics let her down when her eyes are clearly faulty?
It also strikes me as odd that it's claimed that she t-boned a steel wall at full speed, but other than the bent pulpit didn't seem to have too much damage done to the pointy end.
Odd indeed.

[donradcliffe]

As both vessels were equipped with operating AIS units (confirmed by the shoreside tracking), both AIS units should have been in full collision alarm mode for over 20 minutes before the incident. On Jessica's boat, the AIS transponder is a black box, but is hooked to the Simrad Chartplotter/radar display, which has a 'Dangerous Vessel Alarm'. Properly set and monitored, it would have alerted Jessica to the collision.

Don't know the exact setup on the ship, but if I was standing watch and saw a light, my first move would be to check the radar and the AIS. The ship AIS should have been going nuts unless the Class B signal monitoring was disabled, and the ship's radar should have picked Jessica up at over 6 miles out.

If I were the judge apportioning the blame, it would be about 50-50. Jessica gets her 50% for sleeping in the shipping lanes, not knowing how to read her radar, and not knowing how to use her AIS. The ship gets its 50% for hitting a sailboat and either disabling Class B AIS or not looking at it (it would have given the ship plenty of time to avoid her).

[osirissail]

- - Look at figure 4 and 3 of the preliminary report. It shows that Pink Lady was approaching Silver Yang's port side which would be showing its Red port light; Pink Lady was showing her Green bow light to the ship. This makes the Silver Yang the "stand-on" vessel and under obligation to NOT alter course or speed. The Pink Lady was the "give-way" vessel. Only when it became obvious to the Silver Yang that remaining the "stand-on" vessel was not going to work as there was no perceived change in Pink Lady's course did they alter course to starboard more perpendicular to Pink Lady to increase their effective crossing speed. Pink never altered course or speed and Silver Yang in accordance with COLREGs took dramatic action to turn hard to starboard.
- - In accordance with the COLREGs Pink Lady was almost totally at fault. Silver Yang portion of fault results from the reality of the collision and not taking radical action soon enough to avoid the collision. The command of the Silver Yang obviously did not believe that Pink Lady would totally disregard all relevant rules and continue on the collision course. The command of the Silver Yang also did not take into consideration the distance needed to alter course sufficiently to avoid the collision.
- - And all of the other mistakes made by Pink Lady, such as returning to sleep while the other ship Empress Heaven was within 6nm of Pink Lady and closing as reported by the Pink Lady. Assuming that any ship will maintain course and speed is not prudent, there are too many unknowns. Based on the reported SOG's Pink Lady and Empress Heaven were within 30 minutes of CPA. Would you go back to sleep when an identified ship was that close?
- - Given the reported weather and seas, her failure to visually see a ship - Silver Yang - one mile away before returning to sleep indicates she was probably groggy and not quite awake enough from her last nap to mentally register the existence of the ship. Been there done that myself which is why I never go to sleep or back to sleep with any targets within 6 nm of me. In a head-on situation 10kts + 6 kts = 16 kts closing = about 20-25 minutes to CPA. I normally cycle the radar range out and in several times to pick up close in targets that may be "below" my radar beam's signal center. And also to confirm that the recognized target is where it really is and not a extraneous blip. It takes on average 6 minutes to do a manual radar CPA and resolve a good course and speed.
- - I can only conjecture that like the cartoon in post #719 she reflects her generation's perception that electronics are infallible and actually looking around is so "uncool." Like learning History in school - "who cares about what old dead people did?" If she had studied cruising history in the Pacific she would have learned that a family of 4 was killed, except for the mother who was on watch - because the mother went below to make entries in the log and get a cup of coffee. The mother was only "below" for 5 minutes after scanning the horizon thoroughly and checking her C.A.R.D. system. They were "T-boned" by the Korean freighter and the father, son and daughter who were below asleep were killed quickly while the mother was in the cockpit and survived.
- - Jessica was lucky and is still alive. My concern is that she did not learn from her experience as was inferred my her contesting the report and her father's statements. Maybe she did, but the amount of money invested and commitments to the sponsors is making her continue the journey as the Brit's would say "with a stiff upper lip and into the jaws of the enemy" - the hazards of the ocean in her case.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by osirissail

- - Look at figure 4 and 3 of the preliminary report. It shows that Pink Lady was approaching Silver Yang's port side which would be showing its Red port light; Pink Lady was showing her Green bow light to the ship. This makes the Silver Yang the "stand-on" vessel and under obligation to NOT alter course or speed. The Pink Lady was the "give-way" vessel.........

What am I missing? Wasn't the Silver Yang the burdened vessel being she was under power and the Pink Lady the stand on vessel being she was under sail. There were no constraints regarding draft or channels in the area.

I am not condoning JW actions and I agree she made many errors.

[Factor]

Yeah I think Osiris may have forgotten the fundamentals of whom gives way to who.