Anybody know what the two busiest boating weekends on the Bay are?
One is Opening Day on the Bay (the last weekend in April.) The other is Fleet week, which is the first week or two of October. This year, Fleet Week is October 7 – 14, with the main events taking place on Saturday the 12th and Sunday the 13th. There are times during these events when it feels like you can walk across the boats occupying the waters of San Francisco Bay.
Here’s a photo of a radar screen taken during a previous Fleet Week event. It’s easy to pick out the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the land mass that is the San Francisco Peninsula. The black rectangle is the exclusion zone. The rest of the green dots are boats!
Fleet Week Radar Plot
Personally, I think Fleet Week is the “worst” of the two. Not only are there a lot of boats, they are all crowded into a limited area and large areas of city front are closed, AND everyone is looking up at the air shows! An absolute recipe for disaster. I think my favorite example of the challenges Fleet Week can present came when the skipper of a sailboat was arguing with the Coast Guard over the VHF regarding who had the right of way … him or a container ship. Seems this guy believes he has the right of way because he is a sailboat and the container ship is a power boat. There was no convincing him that he was wrong.
With that in mind here is a quick review of the Rules, and the actions required by the Give-way and Stand-on Vessels.
- Not Under Command (don’t see this one very often)
- Restricted Ability to Maneuver (the Coast Guard may hold this type of traffic during the main events)
- Vessel Engaged in Fishing (don’t see this on the bay very much)
- Sailing Vessel (Port Tack gives way to Starboard Tack … If Same Tack, Windward Gives Way to Leeward)
- Power Vessel (includes sail boats if the engine is engaged)
Rule 16 – Action by Give-way Vessel
Every vessel which is directed to keep out of the way of another vessel shall, so far as possible, take early and substantial action to keep well clear.
Rule 17– Action by Stand-on Vessel (a) (i) Where one of two vessels is to keep out of the way, the other shall keep her course and speed.
(ii) The latter vessel may however take action to avoid collision by her maneuver alone, as soon as it becomes apparent to her that the vessel required to keep out of the way is not taking appropriate action in compliance with these Rules.
(b) When, from any cause, the vessel required to keep her course and speed finds herself so close that collision cannot be avoided by the action of the give-way vessel alone, she shall take such action as will best aid to avoid collision.
(c) A power-driven vessel which takes action in a crossing situation in accordance with Rule 17(a)(ii) to avoid collision with another power-driven vessel shall, if the circumstances of the case admit, not alter course to port for a vessel on her own port side.
(d) This Rule does not relieve the give-way vessel of her obligation to keep out of the way.
Check out Rule 17, Part b … to paraphrase … if the guy that’s supposed to give way doesn’t … you must get out of his way! It’s interesting to note the there is no “Right of Way” … there are Give Way Vessels and Stand On Vessels!
Any way it goes, if you are out there during Fleet Week you are going to have a lot of ColRegs practice … know the rules and be careful out there!
Again, well said, Don.
A very popular “rule” repeated on social media is the “rule of tonnage.” This means that you should get out of the way of bigger boats. This rule doesn’t exist and will be useless in court. Imagine if there were such a rule. Does a 150-foot vessel have to yield to a 152-foot vessel? How do you measure them? When you’re motoring around the cluster of boats on Fleet Week and avoiding one larger vessel may put you in the way of another larger vessel, what are you going to do? The rules are clear as clear can be, and do not involve any considerations of size.
There is also no mention in the Colregs of commercial versus recreational use except in the cases Don has listed above. Again, imagine if this were the case. Is a tug without a barge a “commercial” vessel? Is a Tradewinds sailboat in a class a “commercial” vessel? This distinction also has no legal standing.
We also recommend anchor balls when anchoring during fleet week. The last time I attended, my boat was struck twice and nearly missed a third time by people who either didn’t know how to set an anchor or weren’t looking where they were going. None of these involved anything but a minor scratch, but in anticipation of this, I had flown an anchor ball just to ensure that, in the event something untoward developed, I would be legally protected.