Maltese Falcon vs Nordic 40, the tonnage rule
AIS is great, but it’s just a tool to help a skipper mind the rules of the road, including the “tonnage rule” being violated above in San Francisco Bay last week. I came across the “Starboard!” story at Yachting Monthly, Peter Lyons’s photo sequence is here, YachtPals has more info on the collision, and this Kiwi site claims that the mighty Maltese Falcon has had to issue the 5 blast danger signal “on far too many occasions” around SF. Oh, and my Sail mate Kimball Livingston was aboard.
Crew.org.nz also has the first Maltese Falcon bridge shot I’ve seen, and a description of owner Tom Perkins workin his “Wurlitzer.”
We were underway for about four hours, with Perkins driving and controlling the sail plan almost the entire time. The yacht is steered with a small knob, and the freestanding masts and 15 sails are controlled with the push of a few buttons. Indeed, Perkins looked as though he was playing a nautical version of a mighty Wurlitzer. (caption: Looking down on the console that controls the sails and masts. The grey knob is the 'wheel'. When under power, Falcon is controlled at the forward console.)
Doubtless this sad affair will wind up in the courts. We lack the complete story, of course, yet the photos seem to accuse (a) Maltese of failing to respect a starboard-tack vessel's rights, and (b) both vessel's failing their responsibility to avoid the collision.
The "Wurlitzer Effect" is a good turn of phrase, though...as applicable in an airplane cockpit as in the cockpit of a boat. In aviation we tend to equate "head down" with "head up and locked", which I suspect is the case here.