So Who Has the Right-Of-Way Here?

[benrachor]

Just a quick thought,

My father is a small aviation pilot, he always tells me, "It does not matter who's fault it is when your falling out of the sky".

[nautical62]

If this were to go to court or a citation written based only on the video, I think the smaller boat has a good argument he was the stand on vessel and was certainly much less negligent than he larger give way vessel.

If one considers they were head on, they should have passed port to port and from the video, it appears, he was trying to get into that position to do just that and to pass port to port. The large vessel should have turned to starboard to pass port to port which he clearly did not.

If the operator or the larger vessel claims they were not head on, he still was the give way vessel as the smaller vessel was to his right, so the larger vessel should have either slowed down or changed course to starboard (as above).

It seems to me for the operator of the large vessel to claim he was not negligent or had lower comparative negligence, he would have to argue other conditions not apparent in the video applied. For example, maybe he was in a marked channel and the smaller vessel was cutting across the channel. Maybe the smaller vessel changed course just seconds before this video started. There are many other potentially relevant facts not in evidence. Did the large vessel shift to reverse? Were sound signals used? Was navigation of the large vessel otherwise restricted? Did other local rules apply? One could go on and on about possible facts not in evidence.

I'll also point out that the outcomes of court cases and and insurance claims do not always completely favor one party or the other. Comparative or contributory negligence may apply and people often settle claims somewhere in the middle ground.

[Lancerbye]

I don't think anyone was at either helm. Autopilot and plotters were at fault for not talking to one another.

[Sailndive345]

I thought it was established that the incident took place in Egypt??? You guys are thinking too "American"

If indeed it was Egypt (and the flags on the vessels did look Egyptian)

I lived in Cairo for 18 months working on a project for my past employer (GE) and arranged to get on dive boats up and down the Red Sea for free in exchange for working as a divemaster/diveguide (I am certified as a dive instructor.) Looking at my log, it seems I must have enjoyed at least 30 dive boat trips - Folks over there do not think like we do, nor operate as we do To me, it seemed they were "improvising" all the way.. Driving in Cairo and operating the boats at the Red Sea was "chaotic" at best. It is a wonder they didn't have any more mishaps than they do... A very good thing working for them is that they - my observation only - never seemed to get into pissing contests.

For whatever little it is worth

Sailndive345

[defever]

i would put full blame on the seeing-eye dogs involved---it's obvious that both skippers were blind...

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by Sailndive345

I thought it was established that the incident took place in Egypt??? You guys are thinking too "American"

If indeed it was Egypt (and the flags on the vessels did look Egyptian)

I lived in Cairo for 18 months working on a project for my past employer (GE) and arranged to get on dive boats up and down the Red Sea for free in exchange for working as a divemaster/diveguide (I am certified as a dive instructor.) Looking at my log, it seems I must have enjoyed at least 30 dive boat trips - Folks over there do not think like we do, nor operate as we do To me, it seemed they were "improvising" all the way.. Driving in Cairo and operating the boats at the Red Sea was "chaotic" at best. It is a wonder they didn't have any more mishaps than they do... A very good thing working for them is that they - my observation only - never seemed to get into pissing contests.

For whatever little it is worth

Sailndive345

Very valid point.........but I still maintain that the larger vessel may have been weighing anchor.

[Sailndive345]

Originally Posted by Kanani

Very valid point.........but I still maintain that the larger vessel may have been weighing anchor.

If the incident is taking place in the Med (by Alexandria) this may be the case. The rest of the Egyptian waters (Red Sea, Suez, etc) have so much protected coral that anchoring is not allowed - they have moorings and boats (mostly dive boats) just raft up at each mooring.

Cheers!

Sailndive