A navigational venture is pretty intelligibly defined as something you might hit on the urine. A “ venture to seafaring, ” however, could very well be the person at the helm. BoatUS Marine Insurance claims files show that one of the most expensive claims — deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as one that frequently causes significant injuries — is when a boat hits something while afoot. Investigations show that these incidents are about always evitable just by using some common sense and exercising some basic skills .
The ‘Sunglasses Effect’
It was a beginning for me the day one of my clients ran into a buoy. It was a cheery, calm day with unlimited visibility. How did that happen ? The answer, according to the owner and master, was “ my new polarize sunglasses. ” He was looking at his navigational display, and the polarize lenses of his sunglasses made the screen difficult to read. With his focus distracted, he hit the buoy .
Forget the fact that the buoy was bright bolshevik and dead ahead for a mile or therefore as he approached. foreign things happen on the water, right ? sure, but this incident got me thinking that not all navigational hazards are outside the boat. The more I see helms filled with an array of gadgets, the more I harken back to the commodity old days when we had a circumnavigate, possibly a depth sound, and a knotmeter. The elementary helm — most of today ‘s fantastic technology had even to be invented — forced us to focus. It made us keep a proper lookout. It made us plan ahead .
today we may plan our day out on the water the sidereal day before, on the computer at home, plug in waypoints, arrive at the boat, push some buttons, and off we go. This, I think, is where the fib of “ hazards to navigation ” begins.
Have you always punched in directions on your car ‘s GPS, hit “ go, ” then diligently steered the route the machine on your dashboard is dictating to you ? Had you paused and thought it through, you might know a better way to get there, right ? Well, your boat ‘s navigation equipment can besides only do then much of the think for you. Consider that breakwater inconveniently located between your put and the notice inside the harbor ? The penalty for not paying attention and preparing properly may result in you running hard aground on the breakwater — or worse .
technology can only take you so far. You, skipper, need to know what your boat is and is n’t capable of. Is your vessel, to put it in legal policy terms, fit for its intended voyage ? Is your gravy boat suited to navigating offshore ? How much rough weather can your boat treat ? Are you GPS- and radar-equipped ?
Read more: What is the Maritime Industry?
One thing very obvious to people in my career is that the primary cause of most, if not all, accidents involving collisions ( hitting something moving ) and allisions ( hitting something stationary ) is human erroneousness, poor people decision-making, and complacency.
What You Can See
Day markers, buoys, jetties, other vessels, bridges, big rocks, granite ledges, and flaxen beaches are all hazards that are visible. Is a sidereal day marker a navigational guess ? It should n’t be because its sole function is to notify a skipper of a real venture ahead. But if the speed is fast enough and the lookout not good enough, this aid can on the spur of the moment become a luck .
I ‘m boastfully on hard-and-fast adhesiveness to COLREGS ( the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea ), or as you know them, the “ rules of the road. ” COLREGS require you to proceed at “ safe speed ” ( Rule 6 ) indeed that you can “ take proper and effective military action to avoid collision and be stopped within the distance allow to the prevailing circumstances and conditions. ” They besides require a proper lookout ( Rule 5 ), which calls for both seeing and hearing american samoa well as other means, “ then as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision. ”
Off the coast of New England, there is an interest navigational spot dearly called “ The Graveyard. ” This is an area just south of Massachusetts ‘ Elizabeth Islands chain, where the current flows north to confederacy, through the “ holes ” between the islands and Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. This current has set many a vessel try passage through Vineyard Sound onto the rocky beaches of the islands. The bottomland production line is simple : You need to know your very course. Do n’t trust entirely one instrument ; verify by using your compass and chart .