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Not showing navigation lightsThis one really blows me away. I have met more than a few cruisers who don't show any navigation lights at night! When questioned, they say they turn them on if they see another boat's lights. Well, what happens if the other guy is saving a few amp-hours and hasn't turned on his running lights? Huh? In this day of GPS and herd mentality (what ever happened to the independent side of sailing?), it's not at all unlikely that several boats are on identical tracks, or are converging on the same GPS waypoint. The risk of collision is real. Collision at seaThink it doesn't happen? Guess again. There was a collision between two cruisers in the Society Islands, French Polynesia, back in 1990 that resulted in quite a bit of damage to one of them. The other vessel turned and ran away (nice folks, eh?) but were located the next day when it was the talk of the morning SSB radio nets. It wasn't long until someone spotted a new boat in their anchorage with some damage to the bow and paint streaks that matched the color of the vessel that was struck. "Collision? Moi? Non, I wasn't involved in a collision last night." Yeah, right. As far as I know, the gendarmes washed their hands of the whole affair, both boats claimed they were keeping watch and showing lights (and the other was not), and no one was compensated for any damages. Now, I don't know what really happened, but my guess is that one or both boats dispensed with their running lights (or weren't keeping a good watch). Collisions DO happen.
July, 2005: Haano, Haapai, Tonga. They still use horses and carts here (and also in Fiji). |
