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#1
10-07-2008, 12:06 PM
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Maltese Falcon speared- ouch!
The Maltese Falcon sailboat is a clipper sailing luxury yacht owned by American Tom Perkins, and is the largest privately-owned sailing yacht in the world at 289 feet (88 metres).
http://sailboats.wordpress.com/2008/...vate-sailboat/ http://lyonsimaging.smugmug.com/gall...86640428_3beFJ Here's the Maltese Falcon entertaining paying VIPs to raise funds for the Leukemia Cup. It was a beautiful day for sailing. But what everyone will likely remember most is getting t-boned by a 40 foot sloop near Treasure Island. The pictures here are not previewed or edited; I was in a hurry to get them up, knowing people were eager to see them. 
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#2
10-07-2008, 06:18 PM
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I have been sailing for years before I got into powerboating and noticed the Maltese Falcon does not have right of way in this situation and should have tacked away.
 This information is from a sailing rules web-site. "The third rule is the "starboard tack rule" when two boats are sailing on different tacks with the same point of sail, the one on a starboard tack has the right of way. The port tack boat must yield. " However, you would have to be an idiot to think if you are in a 40' boat that you have right of way over a 289 foot yacht. My guess is that there was no one at the helm of the 40' sloop. Expensive lesson there. 
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#3
10-07-2008, 06:59 PM
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#4
10-07-2008, 07:01 PM
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I've read a ton saying the MF was at fault according to the COLREGS but this guy makes a lot of sense as well:
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. http://yachtpals.com/maltese-falcon-...collision-3074
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#5
10-07-2008, 07:20 PM
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Quote:
 It just doesn't seem possible. 
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