For the several boats and the several dozen SSSS sailors who brave the Swiftsure and other long course races each year, I thought I would share this tid bit I found on the Swiftsure web site. Having raced these races for the last several years, I always remember seeing large freighters, Tugs with tow, aircraft carriers, fishing vessels and General Electric products, i.e. submarines, comfortably in the distance. And then, a very few and short moments later, I see them from the opposite end. In light of the approaching long course races and our Navy’s demonstrated seamanship of late, I thought this excerpt from the Swiftsure web site might be of interest. It is a very good reason to have the crew sleep in shifts to achieve the most alert condition possible for all eyeballs on board. It is a conversation with a freighter that had just passed through a Swiftsure racing fleet.
Warning: stop now if you are nervous about large objects that go bump in the night.
A part of Swiftsure racing rules is the application of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea - in effect a worldwide treaty. Sailboats are not to impede larger commercial vessels. But the tide and wind do not always cooperate. Also, for most racers the rounding marks are on the other side of the shipping lanes.
In 1984, Swiftsure had some 385 participating yachts and the following transcript of a conversation between Seattle Vessel Traffic Control and the freighter Newark, that year, gives the view from the bridge of a big cargo ship. Channel 14 on May 27, 1984 at a half hour past midnight:
“Seattle Traffic, Newark.
Newark, Seattle Traffic. How do you copy?
Loud and clear. Newark, Seattle Traffic. Just for our information, we would like to know your observations as you transited through the Swiftsure fleet out there. Over.
This is Captain Dees on the Newark. Over.
Newark, Seattle Traffic roger. This is Lt. Schmied over at Seattle Traffic. How are you doing captain?
Well, I’m finally breathing a sigh of relief but I’ve never been in anything like that in forty years or since I’ve been going to sea and that’s ..., I don’t see why anybody could let anybody do something like that. They had this whole complete strait covered. Over.
Newark, Seattle Traffic roger. This is one of the reasons we are calling you is just to find out what the situation was aboard your vessel and if you would like to go ahead we’ve got this on tape. Over.
I was in that so thick that I had to maneuver back and forth around and finally went down to around 230 degrees to get out of them and still had to maneuver and finally I got outside of them. I’m back on my regular course of 306 now but I don’t see how somebody hadn’t been killed in that. Over.
Newark, Seattle Traffic. Roger Captain. Did you notice any rules of the road violations? Over.
Well they didn’t pay any attention to the rules of the road. They cut across your bow either way, showing a green or red. Over.
Newark, Seattle Traffic roger. It was pretty dark out there. You didn’t happen to get any sail numbers or vessel names? Over.
No. It was dark. All you could see were the lights, and that’s all. You couldn’t even see the sails, except once in a while one would shine his lights on the sails. I slowed my vessel down to 75 RPM so I could keep maneuverability but I was afraid I would run over somebody. Over.”
And the conversation continued.
I’ll be seeing you.
Dan Decker