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Bayliner -- though not the specific one in question
Two boats went aground two weekends ago.
A Bayliner slid onto the beach in mid-afternoon just northwest of the Channel Islands Harbor entrance and a sailboat headed for that harbor went aground about three miles south of the harbor and somewhat south of the Port Hueneme pier at 0215.
Though the accidents are seemingly unrelated – a powerboat, a sailboat, day/night – both captains might have benefited if they did what the big boys on the big gray ships do prior to entering port: they set the special sea and anchor detail.
Lessons from the incidents:
The key lesson from the big boys is that they consider going in and out of port special, especially hazardous. The Special Sea and Anchor Detail comprises top personnel in every location that affects safe navigation. From the bridge to engine room, the watch-standers are the best and most experienced personnel on the ship – the best helmsman, the best nav team, the best engineers running the power plant. They are generally the most experienced and their qualifications are manifest in training records and gold hash marks on their dress blues. And the captain himself is on the bridge running the operation.
My experience aboard Nimitz taught me that entering and leaving port are never routine operations. Each is carefully planned and deviations from the plan are studied and critiqued afterward. The team, although they’re the best, is in continuous training and is prepared to handle the unexpected, from a runaway reactor to pirate attack. All systems are constantly monitored and in the days before GPS, the DR position plotted at least once a minute.
So how does that apply to the two hapless recreational captains a few weekends back?
Day/Powerboat
The Bayliner’s engine quit, and that requires immediate when close to obstructions or the surf line. Had this captain mentally prepared for entering port, he would have briefed his crew and readied his equipment.
What equipment? The ground tackle – anchor, rode, swivel, safety wire and attachment point. He would have made sure that it was ready to deploy instantly and showed his crew how to do that. As that story unfolded, he finally got that done, but only after the Vessel Assist Ventura captain offered that advice on channel #16. It never occurred to him before that.
Had he been prepared and acted expeditiously, he’d have kept his boat out of the surf and not gone for a dangerous swim when he got thrown out of his boat in the rough water. Fortunately, no one was hurt and Capt Randy Davis of Vessel Assist Ventura saved the boat from catastrophic damage.
Night/sailboat
It’s a bright night with a full moon and unrestricted visibility. There is a slight swell and not enough wind to sail. There is a crew of two aboard. This Hunter 36 is fully equipped: GPS, chart-plotter, radar, depth sounder, compass, hand-bearing compass as well as a chart table containing nav gear and local charts.
CI Harbor NW corner, Ormond Beach Power Plant SE corner. Sailboat grounded 500 yards NW of power plant.
The run home to Channel Islands Harbor is several hours long but the Hueneme Light was most likely visible within an hour of their departure. Certainly more than one of the oil platforms was visible when they got underway. Navigation couldn’t have been easier. The only obvious hazard they faced would be traffic in the coastwise traffic lanes between them and the mainland.
The captain put the crew on the helm and headed below to take a nap. It was late and he was very tired. He left instructions to wake him in a half hour. We don’t know what he told the crew about looking for traffic, what heading to steer or if he showed the crew how to adjust the lighting in the chart-plotter, which shows the ship’s position, land, fixed obstructions and points the way home.
According to sources, the captain woke up when he was thrown from his bunk. He raced to the cockpit to find the boat in the surf south of Port Hueneme pier.
They had collided with the Continent.
They abandoned ship and called for help.
Fire and police departments responded, the Coast Guard showed up. A helicopter flew in.
Vessel Assist Ventura drove up. They put a swimmer in the water and attached a hawser to the boat. They towed it out of the surf, got a pump aboard and headed for the harbor, making arrangements for the Anacapa Shipyard to stand by to haul the boat out as soon as they got there.
Before hitting the Continent, this boat was worth about $200k. Damage to the keel and hull make it doubtful that it will be worth fixing.
The crew tried to do the captain a favor by letting him sleep longer than he’d instructed. It was also reported that as he maneuvered around what he thought was Platform Gina he ran aground. His analysis at the time was that he’d mistaken the Ormond Beach power plant for the platform three miles offshore.
He didn’t see the surf in the light of the full moon – apparently, didn’t look at the radar -apparently, didn’t have the chart-plotter on – apparently, didn’t see the lights of Port Hueneme or the condos on the beach. And then he mistook a power plant for an off-shore oil platform.
You’ve just got to wonder what sort of preparation these guys did.
You’ve also got to wonder if investigators are believing any of this.
