Poor guy. Mainsail is off and jib shredding. I would say rudder and keel has stalled and boat skidding sideways. Bad day at the office, but more honking on the ferry's behalf would have helped the situation.
The sailboat was as helpless as a falling aircraft. That poor bastard is watching the earth coming at him in ultra slow motion. The hull itself is propelling him more sideways than forward. Outa control.
Wind that strong and not only has the skipper not put a reef in but he seems to think flying a spinnaker is a good idea as the pole is up. He could have easily avoid the ferry by tacking. I suspect something went wrong on board, possibly an injury?
Looks like they were caught in squall that blew up quickly as there's clear blue sky away from the cumulonimbus cloud. Was still enough time to avoid what happened though
Apparently from what you can see is that they lost total controll over the mail sail and jib. Nothing they could have done in that situation but to hold on. The skipper is required to observe the weather development himself, to constantly reassess it and to behave in accordance with the general duty of care. If necessary, call at a protected area or port. At least noone got hurt.
First off, that’s not a spinnaker looks like a 150% Genoa which was completely idiotic to be running with that I would have brought down my main and used my storm jib.
@@deforrest383There is the pole still up. I reckon they just got the spinnaker down before the huge squall. Lack of anticipation? Who knows - anyway nobody would sail in this configuration on purpose in these conditions. Looks like they don’t wear any PFD as well. Totally caught unprepared, I guess.
The jib is the front sail and the sail itself started to RIP itself apart in the winds flapping the way it did. When the sails flap around so much the sails will slide against the cables that hold them in place and it acts like a saw. Something will give and thats what that looks like under thosr conditions. If you ever grab a piece of toilet paper and tear it to bits. Thats what the wind is doin to the 'jib'
Know the people on board. They got caught by the southerly buster. forestay snapped, sail blown out, major rigging and equipment failures including steering.
Alan Gale Hi Alan, that was indeed a comprehensive list of failures on the yacht.... Are you suggesting this could have happened for experienced sailors? I have a very hard time buying into that.
@@MrGentlebutfirm The ferry violated Rule 18... can't say ferry violated Rule 15 as the sailing vessel wasn't being power driven in the video, nonetheless to me it seems like a mistake on the ferry's part. That being said, with all the rigging and steering failures Alan Gale pointed out, the sailing vessel should have displayed the not under command shapes.
@simonabunker , the ferry is the bigger vessel. In America, semi trucks have right of way as they are the 80,000 Ibs vehicle. I'd assume its the same on the sea.
They skipper should have doused the head sail (or main or both) as the squall rolled in. That is obviously extreme high wind under squall clouds. IMO your comment is like saying "that guy that went off the road at 85mph in a foot of snow did a great job of missing the bridge abutment when he list control" ! :(
@@gilray1977in both cases choices have already been made. You have no idea if a halyard jammed, that boat could have a cable jib halyard. The guy couldnt go up, and probably couldnt get the steerage to go down. In that situation hes out of control. Sails were probably making too much lift to turn down. Anyway shoulda wouldna coulda. But he minimized that probably the best he could besides not going out that day. Squalls can happen very fast and most people dont expect the worst. I tend to like to prepare for the worst because its much harder to strip sails after its blowing that hard
Weather helm. He can't turn, due to the massive amounts of pressure on the sails from the strong wind. He may not have been able to slack the jib and that prevents him from steering starboard to the right. Once he gets it slacked or it rips, he may not have had the momentum to tack right and the mainsail could have them preventing him from jibing to port.
Weather helm normally forces you towards the wind, not away. If they sheeted that full main in a little with a flogging jib they would have headed to wind come rain or by rudder action or pivoting around the sunken Lee rail 😂
Closest to a comment I can agree with. I was in a similar situation in a dinghy except it was the shore. The guy helming had tried and failed twice to get about and we were in the shallows surrounded by rocks. As it was my dinghy I jumped out 😂
He is not near a lee shore, little traffic on the harbour from what can see in lots of ways he is doing the right thing (shame the ferry was there). Southerlies often moderate a little after the initial blast, ride it out, and then drop the sails. Have sailed on Sydney Harbour for about 60 years. Not an appeal to aurthority, lol, just my experience. The yacht looks to be in no immediate danger, sans ferry, santana 22s are a very seaworthy boat. Designed by Gary Mull.
The ferry has a "priority of other traffic signal" hoisted at all times. If it wants to go somewhere it will. Also thats a freshwater class ferry, and it takes quite a while to move one of them.
Tiller snapped off. Can't fall off. Sails all the way out, trying to depower. if they knew how to sail better they would have sheeted in the jib only and the boat would be pulled down wind. I teach how to sail without a rudder for this very reason. #Hoofersailing
It looked like a mere case of "bonk!" On impact as the boat appeared to be only going about 6, or 8 knots, but I'm sure that jolt was quite unmistakable onboard the sailboat.
Looks like a sudden squall during a race, look at the sky. Should have hove to on the other tack. But probably would have destroyed the genoa. Things probably happened a bit fast. Looks like they only scraped it.
Skipper of the sailboat had way to much sail up for the conditions. In that wind at most an experienced Skipper would only have minimal main sail up and no jib. But he will learn.
With as much sail as the skipper was flying, the gust front must have just hit. Really, there is not much he could have done. Falling off would have been dicey. Getting way to tack would have been difficult in short notice. A bit of fiberglass work, a new spinniker pole, and a new jib, and they'll be back in business.
Shame on the captain to not avoid a boat that has no control. Shame on the fairy that could have cost lives. No matter if they have rights you must always avoid especially with the vessel is no under control and you are really sad to see honestly 😢
That boat needed to sheet in the main a tad and head to wind. Even if they risked a knockdown. They clearly didn’t know what they were doing. Not a reef in sight for a Gale 😅
Wrong! Most Sydney Harbour Ferries always display an orange diamond, which is the 'Priority over sail' signal... All sailing vessels must keep well clear of any Ferry that displays that signal
There is no way a fiberglass sailboat is putting a hole in a steel ferry. Also by colreg the saling vessel under sails is the stand on vessel it was the OBLIGATION of the ferry to give way (change course) to whatever extent is needed to avoid the collision. Still colreg aside it is obvious that the sailing vessel is in distress and means even more so the ferry should have altered course to avoid. That is just common sense. If there is a vessel in distress out of control the vessel in control takes any and all actions to avoid a collision. The ferry was negligent but he did honk his horn a lot.
Yes does to me too, I own one. Small but strong boat. Looks like he got caught in a southerly buster near the Heads, Sydney Harbour. Not easy to reef in that strength breeze in most sailing boats.
@@penguinwhoosh I owned one for a couple years on the SF bay. Great boat. Looks like this skipper should have pulled in his main to gain some speed and then jibe
A bit unhappy with that ferry captain. The yacht was clearly not under command with the sails all off in a big gust. Either she wouldn't luff up, or steering gone. They were heading straight for the scene of the accident. The ferry could have bore away unless there was another vessel or obstruction to leeward.
Except when overtaking, or a power vessel not under command, or a power vessel restricted in ability to manouvre, or a power vessel constrained by draft, or a power vessel fishing..... etc, etc.
Ferry should have passed behind. Vessels under motor must yield to vessels under sail, and under sail yield to manpowered. At least in the USA that's the law, ferry's responsible for the collision
Nope. On Sydney Harbour there is a special law just for ferries. All small boat skippers know this. The ferry has Right of Way. This is just common sense. It is a lot easier for a tiny sailing boat to pull away or pull to, than for a huge vessel like a ferry travelling at speed to suddenly change its direction. Nevertheless our harbour sees a lot of exciting near misses on boatrace days, as the weekly sailing races are run right across the ferry lanes.The yacht skippers will challenge themselves to slip past the bow of a passing ferry, so as not to lose precious seconds in the race. It is super thrilling to watch this up close from a ferry deck on race day. The yachts also have to cross the path of massive cruise ships leaving and entering the harbour; again, big ships always have right of way.
c steam this is not a general rule imho, I don't know if the ferry is on a traffic separation though! I think that only commercial vessels restricted by their draft or fishing boats trawling fishnets will have right of way and not a ferry boat which is by far more maneuverable than a sailing boat under sail. With all respect
manokonono In Sydney harbour,ferries undertaking passenger operations will display an orange diamond on the mast which means ferries have right of way but do not overwrite the COLREGS.Manly ferries aren't very maneuverable.
If you really are a sailboat owner you know fronts come in faster than expected, stronger than predicted..or not predicted at all and ALL faster than the 6 knots kr so top speed of the boat...it's near certain by the lack of foul weather gear for all the tourists that the weather is just turning bad and wasn't when they started.
@@norml.hugh-mann As a responsible, safety minded sailor I read as many wind/weather reports as possible and would not take my boat out on a day like this.
Looked like he threw a anchor,but the sail mast looked like a joisting pole. Dont drive a boat if you aren't competent anough to navigate around anough to avoid a obstacle.derp.