Report on the Loss of the Ouzo is out...

[Kim Whitmyre]

Ouzo was a 27' sloop that disappeared in August last summer: the bodies of the three sailors were found shortly afterwards. It appears that the quarter wake of one of the large ferries capsized the vessel in poor visibility. The watchman on the ferry reported taking action to avoid a small yacht, and presumed they were ok.

http://www.maib.gov.uk/publications/investigation_reports/2007/ouzo.cfm

[Gary E]

If your in a little boat, dont ya LOOK where the hell your going?
and LOOK at what's comming at ya???

[StevenBauer]

Gary, what part of "poor visibility" don't you understand?

Steven

[Thorne]

"poor visibility" + fast ferry = unavoidable trouble no matter how sharp your lookout is.

[Gary E]

Gary, what part of "poor visibility" don't you understand?

Steven

What part of going out in GOOD WEATHER didnt HE ??
If you cant see where the hell your going STAY HOME...

Take some PERSONAL RESPONCIBILITY for your own actions

Did this little boat have Radar?? was he using it?

[Dave Davis]

See http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/mwv/navrules/rules/Rule06.htm and http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/mwv/navrules/rules/Rule19.htm

Both vessels had particular responsibilities, especially if restricted vis.

Radar is not a requirement for putting to sea. Proper speed for the conditions to avoid collision is required by the rules. According to the synopsis, it's unknown how the vessel was lost, via collision or capsize. As in most incidents at sea, either way both vessels bear some measure of fault.

[SamSam]

What part of going out in GOOD WEATHER didnt HE ??
If you cant see where the hell your going STAY HOME...

Take some PERSONAL RESPONCIBILITY for your own actions

Did this little boat have Radar?? was he using it?

Maybe they were out and the weather got bad, maybe fog appeared. The ferry surely had radar, wasn't he using it? Doesn't the ferry captain need to take some personal responsibility for sinking and drowning 3 people?

[JimD]

Don't the charts for the area show ferry routes? Ours do.

[Gary E]

Maybe they were out and the weather got bad, maybe fog appeared. The ferry surely had radar, wasn't he using it? Doesn't the ferry captain need to take some personal responsibility for sinking and drowning 3 people?

Do you know how small a dot a 27 ft little blip of a boat shows and that's IF it has a METAL HULL? a wood or glass boat is for all intents invisable.
If it is seen it's easly seen as sea clutter... and ignored

It's a shame these 3 died... but they were in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong equipment.

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Is there one among you who has taken the time to read the report?
http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources/Ouzo.pdf


investigation has analysed why this should have been so, when the visibility at the time was good, it was a dark night and the stern light of the yacht should have been visible at a minimum distance of at
least 2 miles, and its side lights 1 mile.

[Gary E]

This is starting to sound like...
Kid.. dont bother me...go play in trafic... and they did

These guysw were CARELESS... and in the WRONG PLACE
give them the Darwin award

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

This is starting to sound like...
Kid.. dont bother me...go play in trafic... and they did

These guysw were CARELESS... and in the WRONG PLACE
give them the Darwin award

OK, you haven't read the report -and so it would be foolish to expect you to have understood it.

The guys on the yacht were alive, they're now dead - and the officer of the watch (a professional seaman for forty five years, with a master's ticket) is about to stand trial for manslaughter.

[Gary E]

So you got him hung out tio dry and convicted allready???

[Kim Whitmyre]

Gary, you really should read the report. A difficult situation for all concerned, but night-vision procedures on board the ferry were practically ignored. The report also concludes that the ferry should have initiated positive contact, as the presence of visible lights to the stern was not sufficient to confirm the Ouzo was seaworthy after such a close encounter.

Just prior to the collision/swamping of Ouzo, the ferry had made a slow turn, which the report said could have complicated avoidance on the part of Ouzo.

The report also mentioned that two of the inflated life vests were poorly fitted and recommended the use of crotch straps be strongly encouraged. I've got them on my pdf, after reading first-hand accounts describing the pdf practically popping off in a rough seaway. One of the young men, whose pdf was properly fitted, was estimated to have survived for 12 hours, so a waterproof hand-held vhf clipped to the person would have perhaps led to a more fortunate outcome.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

This is a very sobering report.

I would say that the following points stand out:

1. Reactolite sunglasses cut down light transmission by 20% or more (vs 5.5% for normal lenses and 0.5% for coated lenses) and may deteriorate further with age.

2. The octahedral type radar reflector is useless in the sea clutter created by a F5.

3. 10 to 15 minutes are required to regain night vision after any exposure to white light, no matter how temporary.

4. Ferries and cruise ships will often alter course very gradually so as to avoid heeling the ship and thereby disturbing the passengers.

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

I remain skeptical as to the importance of the Reactolite lenses - while 20% sounds like a large number, a few minutes playing with a manual stop-down SLR and the knowledge that 1 Stop = 50% - will convince most people otherwise.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

At night?

There surely is a reason why all good binoculars have coated lenses?

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

At night?

There surely is a reason why all good binoculars have coated lenses?

Good ones coat not only the front face of the objective, but all the other optical elements.

1 * 0.8 = 0.8
1 * 0.8^8 = 0.17 (an 83% reduction)

[Tom Hunter]

I did read the report, and plan to make some adjustments in my use of radar reflectors and white lights in the next sailing season. Fortunately a gaffer has a number of options for hoisting radar reflectors and increasing the radar target that are not available to a sloop.

I noticed that in several places the report says: "Good visibility" Kim says poor visibility, which may be a reference to the fact that this happened at night, but the report makes it clear the visibility was good in several places.

Gary E, the crew of the sloop had all the required equipment, various yachtmens liscences and some additional safety equipment that is not required. If you have read the report then you are arguing that people should not sail in waters that are transited by ships, which rules out all the worlds oceans and most of the larger lakes. If you have not read the report then shame on you.

Kim thanks for posting this, it is very helpful to read a really thourough analysis of what went wrong and how it could be fixed.

[Gary E]

Gary E, the crew of the sloop had all the required equipment, various yachtmens liscences and some additional safety equipment that is not required. If you have read the report then you are arguing that people should not sail in waters that are transited by ships, which rules out all the worlds oceans and most of the larger lakes. If you have not read the report then shame on you.

Kim thanks for posting this, it is very helpful to read a really thourough analysis of what went wrong and how it could be fixed.

Seems you to are among those who believe in GUILTY before a trial...
May that never apply to anything you will ever do.
As far as playing in waters where big boats travel... I stand by exactly what I said... WATCH OUT for them... they may not ever see you in your little pisssant slop or any other little pleasure boat. You want to play in the big waters where the big boats run?.. grow up, take some personal responsibility.

[Kaa]

You want to play in the big waters where the big boats run?.. grow up, take some personal responsibility.

Umm... who you are talking at? The people in Ouzo are dead, they did suffer the consequences. Who do you want to grow up?

Kaa

[Tom Hunter]

He still hasn't read the report.

[George.]

What part of going out in GOOD WEATHER didnt HE ??
If you cant see where the hell your going STAY HOME...



I won't even begin to tell you how many times I went out in good weather, with more forecast, and concluded a short coastal passage in poor visibility, blinding rain, rough seas, etc. And I am no experienced globetrotting sailor, nor do I livein a place prone to fog.

[Sal's Dad]

Three things in the report struck me:

The apparent "lack of appreciation" by the deck officer of the possible effects of a near-collision with a small craft. He didn't even consider that his wake might have caused damage or injury; as a result the crew spent up to 12 hours in the water, still alive. Even more troubling, the officer "was not so atypical as to exclude the possibility of similar behaviour from others in a similar situation" - in other words, many other deck officers are equally clueless.


Radar reflectors' near uselessnes: they are sold without detailed instructions; "if the unit is tilted even a few degrees from [correct] orientation, the reflected energy drops very significantly"; and "many of the reflectors come supplied with holes drilled for connectiong to a halyard, which encourages the units to be hung in the incorrect orientation".


The importance - and sensitivity - of night vision. "[A]s soon as a person's eyes are subjected to white light, their adaptation time starts again from zero." "[W]hile the observer may report a significant improvement in dark adaptation in the first 5-6 mins, this is subjective...visual sensitivity is still increasing...the [watch] handover period should be extended in a fully dark environment for 20-30 mins. "

The nav lights were first seen when the boat was too close to avoid. "[T]he lookout could have seen the [Ouzo's] light at that time, and not before, due to improvement in his night vision."

Sobering reading...
Sal's Dad

[George.]

"if the unit is tilted even a few degrees from [correct] orientation, the reflected energy drops very significantly"

And "the unit" is presumably meant for service up on the mast of a sailboat, in the open sea, a most stable platform... :rolleyes:

[Hwyl]

I read the whole report too,some interesting and scary stuff.

Stuff I noticed

1) The radar reflector was said to be 6", that's very small, and may be close to the wavelength of X band, looked it up, X bands operate on 2.5 to 4 cm wavelength, that's 1" to 1.5", still a small reflector.
2)If they were using their masthead light, the rear sector illuminated the top of the mast and part of the sail, it would be almost impossible to not notice it had gone out, especially if they were sailing.
3)The masthead light, I remember thinking these were a good idea, however in close to port situations now, I use deck level lights, because masthead lights give what I'll call a "false parallax" they can make the boat look much further away than it is.
4)They made a good point about having lights on their lifejackets

Scary stuff indeed.

[paladin]

When we built masts in Thailand I had several sheets of aluminum foil cut into 1 inch wide and 1/2 inch wide pieces and those pieces were then cut to 1 1/2, 3, 4 1/2, 6 inches long and epoxied inside the mast from the top set of spreaders up....then we crumbled more aluminum foil in loose balls and stowed it inside the mast. The yards never understood why I did this, but continued to do it.
A radar signal will echo back a stronger signal from something that is closer to it's electrical wavelength than a solid pice of metal...the various sizes are for different wavelengths....and they can actually overlap each other as long as there's a thin layer of epoxy separating them......also makes a better counterpoise for masthead mounted antennas.

[Zane Lewis]

Thats a good point re the tinfoil.
When we built Dad's wooden mast's for this wooden 34ft yawl we did the tinfoil thing. And then we tested it one day. It was a misty wet day and we saw a large car carrier heading down the coast a mile or so off in the rain. Called them up on the VHF and where amazed at the resposponce we got. We identifed ourselfs as being 1 mile off their port bow.
They came straight back with our point of origin 1 hour back when we left the enterence off Kawau Island, our speed and our course. (We would have been 5-6 miles of the coast at this point)

From this we have assumed that the tinfoil worked every well.
Cherer's Zane

[Bill Perkins]

I'm considering buying the "Plastimo Tubular Radar Reflector" :21.8 in. long by 1.95 or 3.9 in. diam . It sounds a bit like Paladins ' mast setup . Anyone heard feedback on these ? A mounting bracket is available for power boats ,which is why I got interested .

[Hwyl]

I've used them an d had reports from ships that we were giving a good echo.

[Bill Perkins]

Oh ; good to hear Gareth , I think I'll take the plunge . I don't wear an auto inflate vest with light and radio attached , but I'm open to that idea . Over New Years I traversed a Sound down here in the late afternoon on my 24 footer ( nobody out ). Sometime later that same day a mans' boat foundered there . He wore no PfD , and survived by holding on to his cooler . Fortunately the tide was coming in, and he washed ashore in the night . The boat is just "gone ", but he says he's keeping the cooler .

[carioca1232001]

For one thing, I shall wear no other but standard prescription spectacles for dusk/night-time use on the ocean . My 'varilux' specs should be fine for daytime use, though.

The threshold effects of a person´s vision getting into gear in dark surroundings when preceeded by vision in white-light were also very instructive, something that I knew nothing of (quite frankly !) and which I shall definitely take heed of should I be navigating at night.

A British Jewish friend of mine pursued post-grad medical studies at the Opthalmic Institute of University College London, following Oxford and a Jesuit Public School education. Now I know why !