Near miss, anchored pleasure boat and tanker

Chad Flaugher

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Jan 2, 2015
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392
Why the heck would you anchor a stalled boat in a channel? Why would you even THINK about taking your life jacket off next to that giant ship?? So much wrong with that! Thanks for sharing,
 
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alldodge

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They mention the anchor but in my review it was never down. Here is a pic when they came up on them and another as they first pass
Slide1.JPG
Slide2.JPG
 

Rick Stephens

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Aug 13, 2013
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I thought the fishing boat crew were hollering at the pleasure boaters to cut their anchor line. I could be wrong. Scary **** though. That tanker isn't going to swerve worth a dam^.
 

oldjeep

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feet away. Also an incredibly smart pro fishing boat captain engaging brain to assist.

Amazingly smart? He endangered everyone on his boat getting that close to the tanker. Good on him for trying to help, but the customers on his boat were just standing/no jackets
 

Rick Stephens

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Amazingly smart? He endangered everyone on his boat getting that close to the tanker. Good on him for trying to help, but the customers on his boat were just standing/no jackets

I've never worn a jacket on a commercial boat except in rough water. I didn't think he endangered anyone. Got close enough to A: give load speaker advice - good advice at that, and B: be in place to pick up anyone ends up in the water. I thought it was superb.
 
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bruceb58

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You could see the anchor at the bow of the boat..it wasn't down.

They were lucky that tanker wasn't going faster. They put up a huge bow wake.
 

oldjeep

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I've never worn a jacket on a commercial boat except in rough water. I didn't think he endangered anyone. Got close enough to A: give load speaker advice - good advice at that, and B: be in place to pick up anyone ends up in the water. I thought it was superb.

And I wouldn't have expected them to be wearing them normally, but he took that boat right up to a commercial tanker.
 

oldjeep

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You could see the anchor at the bow of the boat..it wasn't down.

They were lucky that tanker wasn't going faster. They put up a huge bow wake.

No kidding. I couldn't believe how bad the wake was from a barge/tug that I came upon in the river a couple years ago. Scary since it was at a bridge and we had to really work to get into a safe place.
 

bassman284

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You could see the anchor at the bow of the boat..it wasn't down.

They were lucky that tanker wasn't going faster. They put up a huge bow wake.
That's what I noticed. The wake was nowhere near as big as I thought it would be. I've gotten bounced worse than that on the local go-fast lake. I'm wondering if the tanker might not have been full astern power.
 

bruceb58

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He might have been slowing down for awhile. Bow wakes on ships that I have encountered are huge.
 

Old Ironmaker

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Dec 28, 2015
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Those guys were aware of where they were and yes so much wrong from the get go. But I can tell you it can easily happen. We are fishing 8 miles south of Nanticoke off the north shore of Erie here in Ontario on a bluebird sky clear August day. We had a mess when 2 lines tangled. My fishing partner in his late 60's is at the helm at trolling speed on my boat. I am tried to make some sense of the tangled leadcore from 2 rods on the deck of my 19 foot aluminum. I am concentrating on the carbunklement and apparently he's concentrating on me. I look up for whatever reason and I am staring at a lake freighter not 60 feet from us. I let out some kind of feeble screech and cranked the wheel hard to port while pushing him out of the way and throttled up. We came within 20 feet from colliding back the bow port side. They wouldn't even know we hit them or more like they hit us. Those things look slow creeping across the horizon but it had to be going 20 kts minimum. It was Canada Steamship Lines self unloader the "Toudesac" the markings are etched into my brain as clear as the day I saw it. They should have picked us up on Radar and sounded the horn but obviously did not. That was as close as I ever want to get. We headed in immediately as I thought Buddy was going to have a heart attach, I really was concerned due to his health. I did report it to the Canadian Coast Guard at Port Dover on the way back home. The crew of the vessel said they did sound a horn but I sure didn't hear it. CYA. 100% my responsibility. My boat I'm the skipper. Now I make it crystal clear that whomever is at the wheel must be driving the boat and let the fishing to those that are not. Piloting the boat does not mean staring at all the electronics. Erie looks like a big lake and it is but there are hazards here everywhere from freighters to commercial fishing nets. The worse offenders are the other recreational guys trying to troll so close to you they can hand you a bottle of water.

It can happen fast, real fast.
 
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