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From: Arild Jensen (no email)
Date: Wed Sep 19 2001 - 09:51:53 EDT
At 09:04 AM 09/19/2001 -0400, Rosalie B. wrote:
> Large ships will still proceed on their impervious way knowing that they
will not be the one to sink.
>
>grandma Rosalie
Arild writes;
This seems to be a recurring attitude on the part of recreational boaters.
I can only assume it stems from a lack of understanding as to what is
really involved.
Large vessels cannot respond quickly; period!
It takes many seconds to even get th rudder turned, and then an eternity
for the hull to actually respond and begin to turn.
Even a so called "crash stop" with the engines going full astern will
take a lot of time and distance.
If the vessel is fully loaded, the stopping distance is measured in miles,
not feet.
When you see a commercial ship actually start to turn, the decision to make
that turn and the action to begin was taken several minutes previous.
By comparison, recreational boats seem to dart about like flies. Very
unpredictable and from the commercial ship bridge perspective apparently
oblivious to the ColRegs.
Unfortunately, those few small craft operated by competent and
knowledgable skippers who do know and observe the Col Regs are not marked
by some distinguising sign ( like a halo around the helm) so the big
ship officers know what to expect.
However showing the correct day shapes, and displaying the correct lights
is a good beginning.
One of my navigating class student once asked me "why do we have to run in
straight lines from turning point to turning point.
Why can't we just run in a big sweeping curve. I know where I'm going and
where I want to end up".
The answer is twofold. Calculating progress according to a formula is
easier if you follow a straight line from waypoint to waypoint.
More importantly, by following a straight course line, other vessels can
better determine where you will be in the near future and this allows
them to figure out how to avoid getting into a close encounter of the
collision kind.
Regards
Arild
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