Leopard 48 vs unlit fish farm

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Much of the avoidance issue comes from experience sailing the area. The Spanish coastline is littered with these fish farms, so it would be wise following a close encounter like we had or the Leopard to not sail parallel to the coastline in darkness or choppy seas relatively close to the shore.

Lesson learned the hard way in both cases, but the fish farms aren't going anywhere soon, so it's best to avoid them and not expect the fish farm to be the one that moves out of the way.

One thing I have learned cruising is the first rule is "Their country, their rules".

But I have to wonder about the wisdom of somewhat hard to see fish farms. I know several areas in Florida/Bahamas/close buy where it is common for boats to be operated at night by folks who sometimes have had a rum drink or two and tend to travel as fast as the boat will go. Even with local knowledge places like Georgetown seem to have a fair share of things going bump in the night.

It would seem like the fish farm owners would take as many preventive measures as possible in self defense in order to protect their investment.

[UpOnStands]

The owners of the fish trap might have used anything and everything to build it including steel cable that could seriously damage anything less than a steel hull.
So radar is not the magic solution - damn.
No one would set a fish farm close to ferry/commercial routes so one tactic might be to sail adjacent to the nearest route. Or basically standoff for the night. Of course, they can always break free.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

We've maneuvered around hundreds of these fish farms along Spain, Italy and Corsica, they are clearly marked on the charts, and have radar reflectors and usually some sort of lighting or strobe to indicate their presence. The Spanish government doesn't let just anyone float an unmarked hazard off their coast.

The fish farm strobe can be seen quite clearly in the photo you posted. Although I'll give you the point that the farm itself would be difficult to see on radar alone.

Mostly just bad luck, as was the same in our case. The lesson I've learned from the Leopard encounter, is to not sail too close to a strobe during the night.

Originally Posted by rallyman1122

Too bad you didn't watch the video or read the blog. The strobe light was not working and there does not appear to be any radar reflector visible. And the Coast Guard stated the fish farm was semi abandoned which could be why such items were not working or in place.

But hey, you keep on trolling the catamaran forums, cause everyone knows that nothing ever happens to million dollar monohulls

I see you deleted the portion on my quote which didn't suit your trolling needs, where I clearly wrote "Mostly just bad luck, as was the same in our case. The lesson I've learned from the Leopard encounter, is to not sail too close to a strobe during the night."

If you follow this forum, most everyone knows my wife and I are always on the lookout for a catamaran swap and that most of our friends already own one. It's only on this forum that some of us seem to encounter multihull owners with a rather large chip on their shoulders. We never run into attitude issues in real life, just fellow sailors out having a great time.

[rallyman1122]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I see you deleted the portion on my quote which didn't suit your trolling needs, where I clearly wrote "Mostly just bad luck, as was the same in our case. The lesson I've learned from the Leopard encounter, is to not sail too close to a strobe during the night."

If you follow this forum, most everyone knows my wife and I are always on the lookout for a catamaran swap and that most of our friends already own one. It's only on this forum that some of us seem to encounter multihull owners with a rather large chip on their shoulders. We never run into attitude issues in real life, just fellow sailors out having a great time.

Mea Culpa. Perhaps its because I have received a few too many comments about my desire for a condomaran that I am overly sensitive.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by rallyman1122

Mea Culpa. Perhaps its because I have received a few too many comments about my desire for a condomaran that I am overly sensitive.

Understood, we're good.

[SV DestinyAscen]

Bad luck. With a plastic structure like that and apparently no strobe or reflector, itll be about as visible as a partially submerged container.

Think calling for coast guard help was the right move. By the looks of it the vessel was essentially floating within the perimeter of the farm. You don't have the ability to submerge the cage, you shouldn't try to ram out of it and risk damaging more of the hull or even worse ripping off more of your rudder/sail drive and God forbid unbalance the boat on one side.

Coast guard looked happy to help and you recover your boat. Not at all the same as cutting a prop free.

[Suijin]

It might have been "abandoned" because it dragged or broke lose (which might be why it was abandoned...it's an expensive bit of gear) and the owner could not locate it.

If it was blowing 35 the sea state could well have prevented a clear radar signature.

All I know is if I'd been stuck on that thing I would have filled the the freezer with fish, for sure. :P

Mayday might have seemed premature, but if your boat is holed and sitting on top of a semi-hard indeterminate structure in 35 knots of wind, with more penetrations entirely possible, and you have kids aboard, better to err on the side of caution and get them off. I'm not going to call them on that as I was not there, period.

There is so much stuff out there. Almost hit a whale surfing down a wave at 14 knots. And in fact did sail right past a mythical floating container once (which changed my calculus of the probability of hitting one very quickly).

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Our prop got snagged 18 months ago in the mooring lines of a fish farm, we had dive gear onboard to take care of the mess ourselves

You have balls. I like your balls. (Team America quote)

There is nothing more anxiety inducing than jumping into the ocean to free your boat when snagged on lines. I hope it was a calm day. A very calm day.

[yeloya]

I was caught on a surface fishing net (just half meter above sea level for sword fishes..) 30 nm off the maroccain coast in the Atlantic, in the middle of the night. There were some lights that I misinterpreted..
The coast of Spain particularly in the Med, the north side of Sicily are like a mine field with buoys and fishermen nets, some with lights, some not, some visible , some not. I always sail well clear off the coast.
I've seen much less in Greece . In Turkey, because of environmetal concerns most of the fish farms have been either removed or moved to a remote places.


Cheers


Yeloya

[John Holbrook]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

We've maneuvered around hundreds of these fish farms along Spain, Italy and Corsica...

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Much of the avoidance issue comes from experience sailing the area.

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Our prop got snagged 18 months ago in the mooring lines of a fish farm, we had dive gear onboard to take care of the mess ourselves.

[dayshine]

Thank you for sharing this story, scary with dark floating objects in strong winds at night!

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by John Holbrook

The five French fishermen were present on the fish farm when the sun came up the morning I dove under the boat to untangle the lines wrapped around the prop.

Note: They were very appreciative that I didn't just head under with a knife and start hacking away at their lines. After the prop was free, I was swimming around the inside barrier looking for a way to get our boat out since it was now trapped inside; the fishermen motored over to me (I'm swimming) and showed me the exit. Nice guys.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

The five French fishermen were present on the fish farm when the sun came up the morning I dove under the boat to untangle the lines wrapped around the prop.

Note: They were very appreciative that I didn't just head under with a knife and start hacking away at their lines. After the prop was free, I was swimming around the inside barrier looking for a way to get our boat out since it was now trapped inside; the fishermen motored over to me (I'm swimming) and showed me the exit. Nice guys.

Great advantage of being a diver with a boat.