Near Miss in Port Huron

Jan 11, 2014
11,321
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Saw this video of a near miss at Port Huron. The folks on this boat are lucky to be alive. Wonder what they are thinking about their experience and seamanship (or lack thereof).

 
Feb 26, 2004
22,759
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Whew, hard to tell what really happened. Could be the carrier thought he'd turn to avoid the sailboat who should have been motoring away to begin with. What do you think?
 
Jan 4, 2010
1,037
Farr 30 San Francisco
The ship was changing course quite dramatically, at the beginning of the vid it looked like it would pass astern of the sailboat. What I don't see is any channel markers so maybe passing astern wasn't possible. The dudes on the sailboat took an awful long time reacting and looks to me like they did the wrong thing. I would have tacked away and hit the motor a lot sooner ( what is all this honking?) I have had a boat becalmed in the shipping channel with a motor that didn't start and a ship coming which was nerve wracking, it started on the 3rd try.
 
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May 9, 2020
135
Hunter Legend 37 Harrison Twp, MI
If I remember right, Intrepid has been around PHYC for some time... with the same owner. I think they would know the area well... I believe they race occasionally. I'm guessing there is more to the story, would be interesting to hear I'm sure.

Regardless, probably some laundry to do after that incident!
 
Aug 21, 2021
3
Hunter 35.5 New Orleans
I think I hear the Morse code letters U D R S H in the ship’s horn. What might that mean?
 
Jan 1, 2006
7,039
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
If you are going to sail in that area you should probably have a laundry service.
 
May 29, 2018
457
Canel 25 foot Shiogama, japan
OK I'll be an armchair captain.
To me, it looked as though the ship "Cuyahoga"turned to starboard to pass the sailboat port to port.
She may have been following markers or protocol for that section of the river.
I would guess that from the design she has limited speed capability and to stay under control in a narrow waterway needs to keep her speed up, therefore not capable of slowing down safely.

The sailboat reacted (by starting her engine) way to late. This is a case of as soon as you see an impending collision situation you need to act in a way that the other (larger) vessel is aware of your intentions.
The sailboat just bobbed around hoping to sail out of danger.

Gary
 
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Jun 21, 2004
2,532
Beneteau 343 Slidell, LA
Looks like ships Captain had mentality of “get out of the way or get run over.” Sailboat appeared to be making very little headway (perhaps current influence). Number 1 rule for small boats, regardless of Nav rules, is to stay the hell away from big commercial vessels. Yes, they are lucky to be alive. When sailing in those types of areas, should definitely have a cockpit remote for vhf or handheld vhf set to alternate between channels 13 & 16. Bridge to bridge communication should have averted this near miss.
 

Apex

.
Jun 19, 2013
1,197
C&C 30 Elk Rapids
looked to me like Cuyahoga made severe course corrections to allow the sailboat to escape. Note there is a bend the freighter had to navigate, and @JohnShannon is probably spot on with limited draft and useable channel. based on correction back to port following the miss I think Cuyahoga did a good job using all available room. Ships don't simply slow down quickly.
 
May 9, 2020
135
Hunter Legend 37 Harrison Twp, MI
Can add some context to those not familiar with the area. The camera is on the American shore, Canadian shore is the far side. Current generally runs left to right in the camera angle, and in that area a curve in the river means higher current in the American side, about 4-5kts.

The PHYC is basically at the right of screen, behind the white-cubeish building. Normal protocol for leaving PHYC, going up the St Clair River to Lake Huron is to hug the Canadian shore, and realistically, under motor. Even then most sailboats are doing 1-2kts SOG at times. This is Lake Huron funneling into the St Clair River after all... all the water of the Great Lakes goes through here!

Based on the beginning of the video, Intrepid looks to be close-hauled, heading almost due East... hard to say exactly based on camera angle, but watching it several times it looks clear they are not going North, but rather cutting across the river towards Canada. So they shouldn't be fighting the full current, but regardless, the water around them is moving pretty good.

Don't know what they were doing... if heading towards Lake Huron, they are too close to the American shore. If heading back to PHYC, which appears what they do after the near miss,don't know why they would have been heading East. Wind would have been North-East... when they gybe that seems to align with heading West towards the American shore.

It's clear when they gybed, they got the current and wind both working in a direction to move them out of the way, don't know why they wouldn't have headed towards the American shore earlier for safety... unless they really were trying to sail to Lake Huron and thought they could get to the East faster than they could.

Those freighters come-up fast in that area!
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,321
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Whew, hard to tell what really happened. Could be the carrier thought he'd turn to avoid the sailboat who should have been motoring away to begin with. What do you think?
It looks like the sailboat was caught in the current and while the sails were full, it was not making any progress. I'm not sure if the laker tried to avoid a collision or was just maneuvering to go under a bridge. A look at Google Maps shows a bridge at a bend in the river.

The sailboat seemed to take an excessive amount of time to get out of the way. It appears they did not start their motor to help escape the situation, which would have been the prudent action, start the motor and tack away.

They were fortunate it was a laker and not an ocean going boat. Lakers have the pilot house at the front of the boat where visibility is much better.
 

DougM

.
Jul 24, 2005
2,242
Beneteau 323 Manistee, MI
Looks like the freighter was upbound on the St Clair river below the Bluewater Bridge.
The Catalina may have been trying to cross an making no headway because of the current.
As others pointed out small boats try to head to the Canadian side because there is less current.
My question would be, because of the Canadian border being closed, are US boats restricted from crossing that imaginary line in the river? Then are they forced to try to move upstream on the American side?
Either way, the captain of the Catalina wasn’t using his apparently limited supply of brain cells.
 
Oct 26, 2008
6,043
Catalina 320 Barnegat, NJ
I'm not going to give the sailboat captain too much grief. First, it looked like the laker would clearly pass his stern and I'm supposing the sailboat captain thought he was safe where he was despite his lack of movement on the original course. Second, the sailboat was clearly helpless to move with the engine off in that current and lack of wind. It looked like he realized that turning slightly downwind would make the situation worse, so he was attempting to simply maintain position, except that the laker just continued to turn into a suddenly developing collision course. Before it was too late, the sailboat captain got his engine started and gybed quickly to get out of the way. After clearing the sailboat, the laker made another sharp course correction to port, this time. I certainly don't know the area, but the very sharp turn to starboard first, then the sharp course correction to port, suggests to me that there was plenty of room for the laker to pass astern of the sailboat. Perhaps the laker driver thought the current was carrying the sailboat into his path.

I'm going to suggest that the sailboat captain found himself in a precarious position with the laker fast approaching - perhaps he shouldn't have been there, but there he was. Perhaps the laker over-reacted by making such an exaggerated turn to starboard when he could have passed comfortably astern of the sailboat. I don't know, but I'll put that out there. The sailboat captain could have been taken by complete surprise that the laker was making such a drastic course maneuver. It doesn't really look like channel restrictions were overly tight in that location. I'll give the sailboat captain credit for getting out of the way, perhaps when he originally wasn't in such a bad position.

I'll also suggest that the laker captain realized that the current was dragging the sailboat back towards his original path. The sailboat may have been making progress away from the laker with sufficient wind, except perhaps the wind just shut down at exactly the most precarious time. I'll give credit to both captains for reacting to a surprising situation and getting away unscathed! I think around big ships, it can go from safe to precarious in a very rapid time when current and close quarters are involved.
 
Oct 29, 2016
1,915
Hunter 41 DS Port Huron
Intrepid was in a race back to the mouth of the Black River Port Huron Michigan against the St Clair's rivers 5-7 kt current. I don't believe the freighter was manuvouring to avoid collision but following the channel, there is a bend at that point in the river. Intrepid realizing the freighter Cayuhga was bearing down on them they attempted to start their engine to no avail, understanding their position, lack of wind (due to the freighter's shadow) they jibed to get out of their way.
For those unfamiliar with this area, there is alot of freighter traffic and the current is somewhat fierce. We race on the St Clair river occassionally and having to time your tack with the frieghters progress is tricky. I believe that the zoomed video also loses the distance betweent the frieghter and Intrepid.
 

DArcy

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Feb 11, 2017
1,690
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
I don't think I would have the balls to sail through there without my engine running. Is this a case of complacency, knowing the area a little too well and thinking "I've done this a thousand times..."?
It looks like the laker originally indented to go astern but then realized the sailboat was not making any way forward so had to alter course to starboard to go ahead. The 5 blasts are "look out, your intentions are not clear!!!" I'm a bit surprised the laker didn't give one blast when initially turning to starboard but the 5 blasts get the point across. I'm sure the laker could not slow down when the current is running like that so had to count on the sailboat to get out of the way. That sailboat seamanship was more lucky than good.
 
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Oct 22, 2014
20,989
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
This event is like cruising with @Stu Jackson up her in BC waters. You need to have your head on a swivel for like the "laker" there is a BC Ferry at every turn heading for Stu.
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May 9, 2020
135
Hunter Legend 37 Harrison Twp, MI
@DayDreamer41 - trying to understand your post... Intrepid is up-river from the Black River... if racing back to PHYC, there would be no reason for pointing at the Canadian shore at the beginning of the video, would there?

Not trying to argue, just trying to understand. They showed turning west/south they were able to move quiet quickly... which would have then been towards the Black River.

I do agree the camera zoom and angle make it hard to tell completely, I just can't see how they were going anyway but towards Lake Huron based on the beginning of the video.

Are you local to PHYC, any chance to get the full story?

Intrepid was in a race back to the mouth of the Black River Port Huron Michigan against the St Clair's rivers 5-7 kt current.