Any update on the Ferry/wood cruiser collision?

[BrianW]

That happened down under a couple weeks back?

[MarkC]

The parents of the missing 14 year old have held a memorial. They have vowed to help fund other upcoming ice-skaters.

The Govt. investigation will take a while.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

They did find the body, funeral was today.
Four dead, government announced a commission of inquiry into Sydney Ferries.
That should put the issue on ice for a few years.
Scuttlebut is that the union runs the ferries, not management or the government.
Buts thats all right because the unions run the government as well.
Cynical? Dont talk to me about cynical.........

[rufustr]

All these tragic accidents rrequire all the holes in the piece of swiss cheese to line up.
One of the unfortunate asides to the whole story was the mention of the fact that it was a wooden boat in every news report, when any small boat run down by one of these ferries at speed would suffer the same fate.

[MarkC]

Are these ferry captains seeing from their bridge? They are very fast and quiet. Too many accidents to be ignored.


One of the unfortunate asides to the whole story was the mention of the fact that it was a wooden boat in every news report, when any small boat run down by one of these ferries at speed would suffer the same fate.

I dissagree.


Hang on a minute - the facts are that the cruiser was wooden (Carvel?) and it did fall apart. That is newsworthy to me. It may influence what cruising boat I buy in the future.

If it was fiberglass then yes it may have desintergrated. If it was aluminium then it may have torn and if it was steel it may have cantered, rolled and wedged itself under the ferry (as happened here on the Rhein in approx 2002 and appeared as a shocking Photo in our local paper).

[BrianW]

Any word about the cruisers anchor light?

My sympathies to all involved.

[Tom Hunter]

I read up on it at the time, the boat was hit from behind while traveling at low speed. All the people injured or killed were in the stern.

The owners young son was asleep forward and came through pretty well because of that.

There is no indication that the boat was traveling without running lights, that appears to have been a rumor. At least that was the word a few days after the accident.

I don't know if the skipper was keeping a sharp lookout aft or not. Clearly the ferry was not keeping a sharp enough lookout forward.

Tony Curtis went below to make tea while I piloted his boat home under the bridge after a race. It was broad daylight and I nearly twisted my head off looking around, there is a lot of traffic in that area, much of it big and fast.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

One of the passengers, a lawyer, said the boat was "lit up like a christmas tree" and he and the skipper had personally checked that the navlights were on.
The ferry was returning to base at the end of the night. Reports say that it cut a corner inside a turning buoy and ran into the cruiser at full speed.
We will probably know the real story when the commission of inquiry reports in a few years.
Forty tons of ferry at 20 knots hit a five ton cruiser up the transom. No surprise it broke up.

[BrianW]

Thanks!

Guess I'm spreading false information too, mentioning an anchor light. :(