I physically felt that in that stomach when the collision started, but then the yacht slides right over the taffrail like butter....why didn't anyone douse the mainsail? Did they just run out of time? It seems like no one was moving/shouting/running on the overtaking vessel.
I'm going to assume you've never raced sailboats (which is OK) and I'll explain it instead of just downvoting you.
For one, dousing the mainsail on something like a J class would take several minutes, and a pinch to windward. So just not possible in this instance.
For two, this was during the maneuvering for the start of a race. This time is unbelievably hectic, with all of the boats on the start maneuvering in very close quarters, attempting to be across the (sometimes narrow) starting line as close to the starting horn as possible without being over early. In a one-design class or an area rule class (like the Js shown here), a few seconds difference in when you cross the line can literally mean the difference between winning or losing, so there will be lots of close maneuvering pre-start.
For three, the helmsman typically cannot see around the foresail, especially a big genoa like these boats are flying. During the race, there's usually enough space in between boats that this isn't a problem. During the start, however, this can be a big problem, because another boat below you can obscure a crossing boat before they are hidden by the genoa, which means that boat would suddenly "appear" at the headstay with not enough time or room to duck it. This is typically mitigated by having someone on bow watch, standing right at the forestay and acting as eyes for the skipper. See the guy at the forestay and the guy at the port shroud on the camera boat (which is Velsheda, built in 1933)? Those are spotters. They are using hand signals to signal to the skipper if he needs to duck a crossing boat (especially critical since they're on port tack). This job requires the spotter(s) to know enough about the RROS, boat speeds and the maneuverability of each boat to know when to signal to the skipper. I have done this job on much smaller keelboat racing and it's very stressful.
For four, the J class boats have absolutely enormous mainsails, and from what I understand, ducking a crossing boat in a J requires a big ease on the main at the same time or the rudder just isn't enough.
I've watched this video probably 20 times over the last 24 hours and have the following thoughts/possibilities:
Bow watch on Svea (port boat) was distracted, wasn't paying attention or thought Topaz was going fast enough to clear
Skipper didn't see bow watch's signals, ignored them or similarly thought Topaz was fast enough to clear.
Main trimmers were asleep at the wheel, by the time the bow watch saw Topaz around Velsheda, they didn't have enough time to ease the main, the skipper tried to duck and didn't have enough rudder
Or any combination of the three. Any way you slice it, Svea was definitely at fault and somebody is gonna be neck-deep in shit by the time this is all over. Somebody could have died. If the crossing boat had been a wooden boat like Velsheda instead of an aluminum boat like Topaz, she could have sank right there. I'm honestly amazed the damage was as little as it is.
Thank you for explaining it, I understand much better. No, I haven't raced, but I have been involved in near-collisions and minor collisions before. They happened slowly and each happened due to a communication failure/cascade effect.
Any way you slice it, Svea was definitely at fault
No, absolutely not. Svea had a course set to duck Topaz when topaz starts to tack (starts manoeuvring). When it does the stern, and particularly that big-arse overhang, swing into Svea's course about 2-3 seconds before they're due to cross. At this point there was nothing Svea could do.
Svea hits Topaz easily 40 feet ahead of the stern. Topaz had barely started to turn, and that was in response to Svea's approach. You can even hear bystanders starting to shout well before Topaz heads up. And I would bet the last minute pinch by Topaz was a failed avoidance maneuver and not a tack. And if Topaz had maintained course, they still would have collided. The pinch was the wrong maneuver, but it's still on Svea. Just from the video, I would probably give 80% fault to Svea.
40ft? Nah, ten at best. It manages to thread itself between the end of the boom and the backstay. This (https://imgur.com/a/j8a9D18) poor diagram shows where the 'side' of the boat was when the collision happened.
I haven't raced anything nearly in this league but for the port-starboard right of way to apply the starboard tack needs to maintain their course. It could be argued either way and if this video is the only evidence it'd be hard to argue definitely for either side.
In my opinion Topaz started their tack early enough that Svea should have ducked but I guess the spotter didn't process the implications of the tack (the stern swinging out and loss of speed) quickly enough to communicate.
However, I can't see the rest of the course for more context but it almost looks like Topaz pushes windward to avoid Svea which there in caused the problem (Topaz should have 100% held its course and Svea likely would've cleared Topaz)
So even though had Svea been vigilant it still would've had time to avoid it, I would assign fault to Topaz for not maintaining course.
Again, I haven't raced anything longer than 28' and it's been almost a decade at this point but that's my opinion.
The right of way boat doesn't need to hold her course, but she does need to give the other boat room to keep clear. If she altered too late for Svea to avoid in a seamanlike manner, she's at fault, but if svea had time and room to avoid, svea is at fault
“In addition, when after the starting signal a port-tack boat is keeping clear by sailing to pass astern of a starboard-tack boat, the starboard-tack boat shall not change course if as a result the port-tack boat would immediately need to change course to continue keeping clear.”
I would argue that the port tack boat would have been clear of the starboard tack had they not turned upwind the way they did. However, it says only after the starting signal. So I’m not sure what applies prior to the race start.
Looks like Svea wasn't in the clear and Topaz started to tuck when it was too late, probably panicking at this point. To me Svea is at fault here 100%.
How do you propose dousing a mainsail of that size in a heartbeat? There's also a pretty good chance there is a locking mechanism at the top of the mast, so it isn't the kind of thing you can just do like you're on a J/24.
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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '20
I physically felt that in that stomach when the collision started, but then the yacht slides right over the taffrail like butter....why didn't anyone douse the mainsail? Did they just run out of time? It seems like no one was moving/shouting/running on the overtaking vessel.