Draw Bridge Etiquette

[Windborne]

John's Pass Bridge spans two Florida barrier islands in west central Florida along busy Gulf Boulevard. Because it is also an entryway to the Gulf-of-Mexico the bridge opens on demand. I've waited for the bridge as a sailor and as a driver.

Yesterday I came in behind a 33-34' vessel under mainsail and asym. in light winds. I motor sail through the bridge when conditions are favorable and occasionally with the engine in neutral but at the ready.

The bridge tender asked this vessel to slow for me so we could make the same opening. In the end the bridge tender was slow on the draw and the vessel had to jibe twice to stay off the bridge. I got close enough at one point to know without a doubt that her engine wasn't on. When the bridge opened she lost the wind and had to maneuver carefully to ghost her way through. I waited as did several other vessels. Surely car traffic was well backed up.

I give the captain an A+ for boat handling but an D- for consideration. He was not disabled or certainly made no claim to be. I thought there were specific Colreg rules governing a vessels conduct when encountering a drawbridge but was unable to find any regulations state or federal. Does anyone know specifics? Thank you.

 

[dlochner]

I think you're being generous on both grades. I'd give him an A. on both scores but it would be an abbreviation for a certain body part.

 

[Jackdaw]

\

I give the captain an A+ for boat handling but an D- for consideration. He was not disabled or certainly made no claim to be. I thought there were specific Colreg rules governing a vessels conduct when encountering a drawbridge but was unable to find any regulations state or federal. Does anyone know specifics? Thank you.

If there was it would not be COLREG but Inland Waterway Rules. But there is no such rule that prohibits sailing under a bridge; which is a good thing for sailboats that in fact don't have motors.

 

[Gunni]

The Federal law regarding drawbridges emphasizes that this whole business of transiting the draw is about smartly navigating and clearing the bridge. If you have an alternative to sail, you have to use it. That would include your paddle, oars or yuloh. Which means you drop your sails and motor through per the bridge tender's directives. No monkey business, no showboating, no fooling around. This situation is a good example why. The guy was one bad gust, or misread current away from ruining a lot of people's day.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

I have had at l east three experiences in Florida waters, where the bridge tender refused to open as long as I had ANY sail up. Insisted I motor through.

 

[Johnb]

On the San Joaquin/Sacramento Delta you are required to have the engine running. They don't seem to mind if you have a sail up (last time anyway). I am going to guess each authority will set its own rules.

 

[the_alpine]

Thats ballsy sailing through Johns Pass bridge... lots of current through there. I think we should not feel bad about holding up land traffic, as the waterways are supposed to remain navigable. Its not our fault they put a road there.

 

[SFS]

I had to read the OP three times before I gathered that the vessel's captain had transgressed by not starting an engine. Is that the thrust of the "etiquette" part of the question?

Why is the bridge tender not to blame? He a) asked the vessel to slow, and b) messed up the opening. Unless I've missed something, the first request alone would have cost extra time relative to the auto traffic. So the fact that the whole episode took long enough to be concerned on behalf of the automobiles was not entirely the skippers fault.

Does the fact that he had no engine running automatically put him into the disabled category? Is he required to claim disabled status under this premise. I feel like I am really missing the point here, or something. My questions are not to make a case in favor of any particular viewpoint, just to show where I am apparently reading the situation incorrectly.

 

[Gunni]

A few years ago while transiting the busy Maryland Eastern Shore cut of Knapps Narrows on Tilghman Island we experienced the typical weekend circus where the drawbridge cycled up and down as the tender juggled the weekend road traffic and the weekend boaters looking to make the Choptank River short-cut. Boat traffic backed up in the narrow confines of the cut and the ebbing current was sending boaters swirling left and right while they waited for the bridge tender to open the bridge. In one such maneuver a sailboater standing on deck apparently took a tumble and came down on top of the boat's primary winch breaking some ribs and initiating a punctured lung. Those of us who were on the other side of the bridge heard this from the tender on VHF radio. We were asked to standby for a prolonged hold on lift while an ambulance worked it's way to the scene - a very long drive from who know where. As 30 minutes stretched to 60 minutes I made a mental note - sailing around Blackwalnut point ain't so bad! Then comes on Ch.13 some fool, complaining to the world about his need to transit and giving the bridge Tender down the road for his lack of hustle. Not wanting to broadcast the medical emergency to everyone within 25 miles the Bridge Tender noted that we were awaiting an emergency vehicle arrival. Mr. Foolish opined that the Tender should open the bridge while we awaited the emergency vehicle. I stepped on the guy, gave our call numbers and announced that were were fine with a standby awaiting an ambulance. Several other boaters acknowledged they were good on standby and the radio squawk settled down. Point is, drawbridges can be high-drama locations, don't be the drama queen.

I heard the injured guy made it. Me, I sail around Blackwalnut Point these days. Don't need the drama.

 

[Jackdaw]

The Federal law regarding drawbridges emphasizes that this whole business of transiting the draw is about smartly navigating and clearing the bridge. If you have an alternative to sail, you have to use it. That would include your paddle, oars or yuloh. Which means you drop your sails and motor through per the bridge tender's directives. No monkey business, no showboating, no fooling around. This situation is a good example why. The guy was one bad gust, or misread current away from ruining a lot of people's day.

Very interesting! Where is this documented? How do they differentiate between different kinds of mechanical bridges ??

 

[Gunni]

U.S. Code 33, subsection 499.b -- Regulations on Drawbridges.

 

[Jackdaw]

U.S. Code 33, subsection 499.b -- Regulations on Drawbridges.

I'm aware of that law, it's an ancient rule designed to protect boat owners from unfair tariffs and drawbridge actions. But do you see a part of that that actually says that a person can't sail through a bridge ??

 

[capta]

I do believe that Fla has regulations regarding transiting drawbridges, but I don't remember them specifically.
However, unless things have changed since I was last there one is required to identify the vessel passing through the bridge and I'd certainly not want to be on any bridge tender's bad side if I had to transit a bridge frequently. Courtesy and respect are certainly in order.
Also, if traffic is held up frequently at a particular bridge, the bridge tender certainly gets an earful from his/her superiors, again creating fallout for those who would like a timely opening.
My pet peeve re: drawbridges and sailing boats were the times I was running the ditch on a tug with a hipped barge, barely on the edge of control, while some "sailor" screams at me on the VHF that he "has the right of way, being under sail", as I tried to squeeze through the draw! You can hear them cursing me for miles after they've had to put their boat in the mud to avoid dying. Yeah, like the barge has brakes.

 

[Gunni]

No vessel owner or operator shall signal a drawbridge to open for any nonstructural vessel appurtenance which is not essential to navigation or which is easily lowered and no person shall unreasonably delay the opening of a draw after the signal required by rules or regulations under this section has been given.

If you approach a drawbridge with a vessel which has no means of propulsion other than sail don't be surprised if the bridge tender directs you to step your mast or drop your sail and paddle through. Most of these folks are State or County employees with broad authority for operation of their bridge.

 

[Jackdaw]

Gunni. I get the point you're trying to make, but every word in that regulation is actually pointing at the bridge operator, and not the boat trying to go through.

The original question was was there a law. That's what I'm trying to figure out . Totally get the etiquette thing .

 

[Gunni]

No, the regulation is saying "we're running a busy public thoroughfare here so everyone needs to move post-haste". A bridge tender who hears your call for an opening and sees you bobbing about in a 420 is likely to ignore you, wait until she thinks traffic conditions can endure a 20 minute attempt at threading the wicket, or suggest that you simply step your mast and paddle through.

 

[Jackdaw]

No, the regulation is saying "we're running a busy public thoroughfare here so everyone needs to move post-haste". A bridge tender who hears your call for an opening and sees you bobbing about in a 420 is likely to ignore you, wait until she thinks traffic conditions can endure a 20 minute attempt at threading the wicket, or suggest that you simply step your mast and paddle through.

Yeah, but that's not what happened in this case. At least we're clear on the law.

 

[Gunni]

That law is the basis for the broad discretionary authority of Drawbridge Tenders. If they see you are an auxiliary-powered vessel and yet attempting to sail through their bridge they can and often do declare shenanigans. Somewhere I have a photo of a Navy44 that the Mids sailed into a bridge transiting the Delaware.

 

[Jackdaw]

I'm sorry, but now you have to quote me the part that Law you think it gives the BO wide and broad discretionary capabilities in this matter. I just don't see it, and that's not the way the laws generally work.

Anecdotes don't count

 

[PaulK]

No vessel owner or operator shall signal a drawbridge to open for any nonstructural vessel appurtenance which is not essential to navigation or which is easily lowered and no person shall unreasonably delay the opening of a draw after the signal required by rules or regulations under this section has been given.

If you approach a drawbridge with a vessel which has no means of propulsion other than sail don't be surprised if the bridge tender directs you to step your mast or drop your sail and paddle through. Most of these folks are State or County employees with broad authority for operation of their bridge.

If the wording of the regulation is as shown, I would have to agree with Jackdaw and interpret this entirely to the contrary. The mast of a sailboat is not a "nonstructural appurtenance" like a radio antenna or fishing rod. The mast of a sailboat IS essential to its navigation. It is not "easily lowered"- even in a sailing dinghy. The regulation continues to say that "no person" (which I believe in this case is referring to the drawbridge operator) "shall unreasonably delay the opening of a draw after the signal required by rules or regulations under this section has been given." That means that after a boat (or tug, or barge, or tanker, or whatever) has signaled for the draw to open, the bridge will open without delay, unless there is a reason for the delay. Vehicular traffic might be a reason for a delay, but the regulation cited here says nothing about whether the passage needs to be made under sail or power. For many boats, sailing through would be much quicker than paddling. The bridge operator's "broad authority for operation of their bridge" must come from somewhere other than the regulation quoted above. A directive for sailboats to lower their sails may come from ignorance more than anything else.