Maltese Falcon Involved in Collision

Maltese Falcon clearly on Port Tack, and clearly at fault.

Maltese Falcon restricted by size. Bay sailors... Either completely incompetent or had an agenda.

RRS apply when racing. It was the Leukemia Cup. Size not a consideration when Maltese Falcon made the decision to race. Maltese Falcon at fault.

He probobly figured his buddy could sell the photos for more than his boat is worth.

Look at the picture. The small sloop sails high up underneath the Falcon. The massive sails of the Falcon alter the local wind direction. Note in the first picture that the two boats are at about a 45 degree angle to each other and that the small sloop is just staring to notice that she passing head to wind. In other words, she was on Port tack and while sailing up to get a good look at the Falcon (who has to sail much much lower - because she's a square rigged ship and because she was going about 14 at the time) she got caught in the draft of the Falcon's sails. This backwinded the jib of the sloop and spun her around. Just to leeward of the Falcon, the wind is not going the same direction as it is to windward of her. So, with the headsail backwinded the sloop spun and even though the skipper of the sloop cast off the sails almost entirely (clear from the second picture), her momentum and the fact that he couldn't really get the sheets all the way out caused him to hit the Falcon.

Two reasons that the Falcon is not at fault.

1) A boat shall not tack so close as to prevent the newly disadvantaged yacht to keep clear. Obviously, the Falcon could not possibly tack in response to the sloop tacking so closely. Again - see the first picture where the sloop is tacking literally within 40' of the side of the Falcon.

2) Regardless of any port/starboard situation, in COLREGS (just like in the sailing rules) all skippers are required to avoid collisions if at all possible. This poor soul could have easily avoided the collision by simply heading down hard. But, he wanted to be close to the big boat to have a look.

I watched it - I was there. There was absolutely nothing the Falcon could have done to avoid, after the sloop tacked. And the Falcon was 100' (ONE HUNDRED FEET) past the sloop with it's bow when the sloop tacked and smacked her.

Beau

I can't really say who was at fault here, but I can say that boats get way to close to Falcon while she is out. Perhaps that she is a sailboat is disarming, because I just don't see other boats getting so close to other 250+ feet craft.

On Sunday I picked up Falcon just to the North of Alcatraz while windsurfing. I was beating upwind from Angel Island and she was headed down from Harding towards Treasure Island (leeward of Alcatraz). As I sailed up to her I thought of yelling 'leeward' as a joke, but pulled up 250+ feet away and let her pass. After she passed I got going again and sailed up behind her. I ended up riding her windward quarter wake for a minute or so, well behind the lee of Alcatraz. It was a really cool experience, I could have sat there for hours.

During that short time I saw a sailboat under motor pass within 25 feet of her stern at a 90 degree angle and another sailboat come within 100 feet of her to leeward. Given Falcon's size and sail area this is just way to close. I understand the attraction and wanting to see her, but getting close to a boat this size in a forward or leeward position is dangerous. The speed with which she travels and her massive wind shadow is very deceptive.

I sail on San Francisco Bay. Rule 8 , Rule 9 and Rule 18 are always formost in keeping watch for large vessels, races, vessels with restricted way and restricted navigation. On any given day there are dozens of Freighters, tankers, ferries, and tugs with and without tows as well as every size of sailing and motor yacht that you can imagine. In the case of the Maltese Falcon, I viewed her day-sail from above and there were literally 100's of boats on all sides of the yacht. She was absolutely restricted in her ability to navigate or turn in an emergency situation. The common sense factor was missing in this collision. Regardless of who was the stand-on-vessel in terms of tack, the smaller boat clearly had the reasponsibility and should have exercised common sense to remain clear and give sufficient room to the larger yacht to navigate. All that said, the legal folks will sort it out.

Have the captains made any statements?

Any idiot can operate a boat. You don't need to pass even the simple licensing exam that you have to pass to drive a car. The result is that there are too many idiots in boats, and they are too often drinking. It's surprising that there aren't more accidents.

This statement by Tom Perkins was sent to our photographer Peter Lyons:

A few minutes before this photo sequence, the Falcon had turned to port, to give the right of way to the smaller yacht, which was to leeward on the starboard tack. The "stann By" was originally on a roughly reciprocal course to that of the Falcon. Prior to the photos shown here, "Stann By" was bearing away, and the two yachts were on safe courses to pass roughly with a distance of 200 feet separation. After the "Stann By" had sailed past the Falcon's bow, the smaller vessel suddenly rounded up, possibly to tack in order to follow the Falcon, when she lost control, and with her main sheeted hard in, the smaller boat was unable to bear away to avoid a collision.

A San Francisco Bay Pilot, was on the Falcon's bridge overseeing the Falcon's course at all times. The pilot is also an experienced sailor and sail boat owner. Because of the Falcon's tonnage, a licenced pilot is required whenever the yacht is underway, approaching, or inside the Bay.

The "Stann By" did not stop after the collision. The Falcon furled her sails and pursued the 40 footer, under power, in order to determine her name and registration number. The pilot radioed the U.S. Coast Guard who intercepted the "Stann By" and boarded her.

The accident was caused by "Stan By"'s sudden change of course, which was much to quick to permit the Falcon to respond. The Falcon sustained damage to hull, capping rail, superstructure and main lower topsail, but fortunately there were no injuries to persons aboard either vessel.

Tom Perkins

[Editors Note: We received this statement yesterday from Peter Lyons, but since the statement was made to our photographer via an unconfirmed path, we found it necessary (as always with unconfirmed sources) to check with Tom Perkins that this was actually written by him before releasing the statement.  YachtPals recieved confirmation from Tom Perkins' office moments ago.]

I personally know the sailers of the Stand By, both gentleman in their 50's and 60's who have been sailing on the bay for decades. They are excellent sailers and they have said the Falcon turned in front of them. However, as they are not billionaires, they appear to be losing the battle of your opions. Immediately after the collission the two parties were in radio contact with each by radio. These gentleman are sick over this and do not deserve the some of the more negative comments posted.

From the statement it doesn't sound like they were in radio contact considering they had to drop sails and pursue them but maybe they were in radio contact and Perkins couldn't tell from the lido deck. Hopefully more details will come out

The MF is BIG,BIG,BIG and only a blind man could run into her and and not be at fault.

It appears from the photos that the Maltese Falcon is on a port tack and the Stand By is on a starboard tack, making the Maltese Falcon the "give way vessel".  It is also apparent that the Maltese Falcon is to windward of Stand By again making it the "give way vessel". 

As earlier stated, the Maltese Falcon was surrounded by small boats trying to get a closer look but those boats are not evident in the photos.  If those boats are, indeed present, it was quite irresponsible of the pilot and master to be sailing through them at 14-15 kts.

The only thing evident in the photos is the Maltese Falcon is in not displaying the day shape of a vessel restricted in its ability to manoeuver and thereby giving it the status of all other sailboat on the bay.  Its status as a sailboat is noted by its  failure to give way as prescribed by the Colregs.

Just because they are bigger, never assume they will follow the rules of the road better than you.

Jim

It is simple common sense. When a vessel of the size of MF is approaching, get out of the way and stay out of the way. Regarding MF's speed, every day cargo ships and tankers fly through the bay at 15kts plus. It looks as though Standby could have easily avoided the collision if her skipper had exercised better seamanship.

I read with interest various defences in relation to the above incident. Fair to say the lawyers will work this out, but it seems obvious that most people are on the Maltese Facon's side.
If we are to comment without being there, then it would look like a port starboard incident with the Maltese Falcon in the wrong. However if Stann By altered course at the last minute then Stann By is in the wrong. Stand By may have been affected by the Maltese Falcon's size and wind disturbance causing her to tack at the last minute = Maltese Falcon is wrong because she negatively affected the other boat and should have anticipated this.
We should straight away take away the vessel restricted in her ability to maneouvre defence, because if that was the case they should not have been sailing and secondly they should have reduced speed until they were clear of the restricting area. Also, if the Maltese Falcon does indeed attract such attentions, her captain if he is a professional should have anticipated this. My own experience of working on larger boats is you have to anticipate everthing long before you are close.
We all know that when there is a potential collision this can generally be anticipated in advance and it is why it is necessary to make your intentions clearly known well in advance, did this happen and I emphasise the word "clearly". Was there a radio call put out before hand? Remember, the Maltese Falcon is crewed by a team of Professionals.
You also have to find out who was really in control on the Maltese Falcon, was the owner onboard? Was the owner trying to show off in the bay area? Normally sail boats of this size would never put their sail up unless the owner or guests are onboard, because they are not allowed risk anything going wrong if the owner or guests are not there and also it can be major hassle to put these sails up.
On a simplistic level the Maltese Falcon is in the wrong - but in a court room, might tends to win out. Truth be told the owner of the Maltese Falcon can probably afford to repair so leave it at that.

I'n all my years of sailing and knowing the rules, there is one unspoken rule, but ALWAYS followed by experienced sailors. BIGGER boat has the right of way. Not because of rules but because it will crush/sink and possible kill you if you challenge it.

Restricted in the ability to manuever only applies to vessels that are restricted either by their draft in a shallow channel, or by their work, such as a fishing trawler in the act or fishing, or a dredge during operation. It does not apply to a sail boat out cruising in an open bay, no matter what the size. Both have to adhere to the rules of the road for vessels under sail. The most important rule in the book is the one that says to break any and all rules of the road to avoid an imminent collision. This is the one that was issed totally.

I have this motto in sailing (and in life) that "Everyone creates their own shit storms." So to that end I ask: What kind of complete idiot do you have to be to not see the Maltese Falcon and give way to her? Would you sail that close to a freighter? Um, no. Hello? Let's have another martini and go sailing and see if we can hit something BIG! Who cares what the rules are...ever heard of the "tonnage rule?" - He with the most tonnage wins! That rule and a little common sense was all that was needed to keep MF from getting, well...MF'd Up. This entire mess could have been avoided if Stann By would have just Stood By and waited for MF to pass with plenty of room. A 10 year old in a pram knows this much. I read that the crew of Stann By was "sick" about all this? Really? How about adding "and stupid" to that description as well. Good luck getting your insurance renewed. I hope the fun of being up close and personal with a Mega-Sailing-Yacht was worth the collision. I watched something similar during the Alinghi - Oracle races on the Bay a few years ago. Right as the two racing boats were coming up to the yacht clubs nearly beam to beam and heading towards the GGB this complete idiot in a new Swan decides to leave the harbor by the yacht club entrance and come right into the path of the two Cup boats. Brilliant. I learned one interesting thing that day: Money can buy a boat, but for some people it can't buy a lick of sailing skill. They don't sail themselves you know. Just learned that one...again.