Quoting from article:
https://www.google.com/amp/m.scmp.c...ers-speak-first-time-tragic-volvo-ocean?amp=1 "Race Control was unable to say what caused the accident. It is also not known if the fishing boat had its navigation lights turned on or was using Automatic Identification System."
30 nm from finish line.
If you were going to end a leg of your race near Hong Kong, how far out from the harbor would be reasonable? If you were just sailing past Hong Kong or a port city like Hong Kong, what would a reasonable off shore distance be to stand off?
I believe this is the fourth Volvo race that has sailed into or near Hong Kong. 30 nm is open ocean. There is no shore visible for another 15 miles of sailing, at least. This accident could have happened 100 nm off shore or 5 nm off shore. The chances increase as the density of the fishing fleet increases, so where's the line? This race is well publicised, even in China. Do these fishermen have no responsibility? Is it all on the committee? Could it not have been just a freak accident that no amount of planning or prep could have stopped?
If this accident had happened while approaching some tiny fishing village, instead of one of the largest in the world, wouldn't we be throwing around blame exactly the same way except, we couldn't say, "crowded" or "busiest". Instead, it would be, "tiny fishing boats", "poorly equipped fishing vessels". There would be some reason that should have made it "obvious" why the race committee should not have picked that port or why they should require their racers to reduce speed.
I look at the image of Vestas holed hull and wonder who was moving at what speed in what direction. It wasn't a small boat with 10 crew on board. Yet, they sank and Vesta survived to motor in under her own power.
24 knot winds, but the seas were not so great that Vestas, with that hole, couldn't help in the search and rescue efforts. Visibility was probably pretty good.
Were the fishermen running without lights? Where was the watch on the fishing boat? 10 crew aboard and they didn't see a 70' sailboat approaching from 5 miles out or better? Hong Kong isn't some back water third world village, they are as large and sophisticated as it gets. Why are the accusations, being tossed around, just aimed at the Volvo race? Doesn't the Hong Kong authorities, who allow unlit fishing boats with no radar detection, have some responsibility?
By the way, we don't actually know the fishing boat had no lights or radar. We don't know Vestas had lights or radar either. None of that information has been released. Was the fishing boat with 10 crew on board steel or wood. Why the hole above the waterline on a light weight composite hull, yet the fishing vessel sank. Did they overturn? Vestas had to have knocked them over, because it looks unlikely she holed them below the waterline. Maybe the fishermen were over crowded and overloaded. No information has been released yet.
But, we certainly seem to have no shortage of opinions about who's to blame.
- Will (Dragonfly)