Sailboat question

[Alpo]

Didn't want to hijack the other thread.

 

Guy told a story on another board. Sailboat cutting back and forth in front of a power fishing boat. Running over the fishing lines. This annoyed the fishing boat captain. After telling the failboat to shear off several times, he took out a flare gun and shot at the sailboat.

 

Setting the sail on fire.

 

All of the responses to this post more favorable towards the fishing boat captain.

 

I asked whether the fishing boat captain ended up in the hospital, or the jail house, or the morgue. Arson being a felony in most localities.

 

I know that if you set my boat on fire, one of us will either be going to the hospital, the jail or the morgue.

 

I'm pretty sure, however, this story is an urban legend.

 

But it made me wonder about the flammability of a sail.

 

Could your standard Orion 12 gauge fireball ignite a sail? Logic says it would hit the sail and bounce off. If it did not bounce into the water - PHFFSSSST - it would land on the deck and might set the deck on fire (not so much the wood, but the varnish).

 

But maybe sails are treated with something, that would make them flammable enough they just being brushed with that fireball would set them off? Maybe??

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

Alpo,

     Unable to address the flaming sail situation;

     however, the fishing boat captain may have been better off by...

 

       

[Cliff Hanger #3720LR]

One, the sailboat is in front of the fishing boat.

How did the fishing boat get it's lines to be n front of the fishing boat?

 

Two, Sailboats have international right of way.

  BUT tonnage wins every time.

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

Sort of reminds me of the old saying: " I had the Right of Way! But the other guy had a truck."

  

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

Shoot a flare at my boat, fire or not, and I'm calling the Coast Guard and reporting your registration number.  Good luck explaining that to the Coasties.

 

Most modern sails are made of polyester (Dacron) with some sporting sophisticated racing sails in carbon fiber or Kevlar.  

 

Dacron is flammable; contact with sufficient heat will cause it to melt and burn.  Think plastic milk bottles.  But I suspect that the contact would need to be more than momentary, and unless the burning flare got caught up in a fold or a reef, it would probably end up harmlessly bouncing onto the deck or into the drink.

 

Time for Mythbusters.

 

LL

 

 

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

2 hours ago, Father Kit Cool Gun Garth said:

Alpo,

     Unable to address the flaming sail situation;

     however, the fishing boat captain may have been better off by...

 

       

 

Yeah; good luck explaining that one to your insurance company; "But..but...but...I had the right of way!!!!"

 

Moron!

 

LL

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Quote

Here lies the body of Jonathan Gray,

He had the Right of Way

He was right, dead right,

But he’s just as dead as if he’d been wrong.

USAREUR driver’s manual, 1966.

[MizPete]

YOU DO NOT RUN OVER A BOAT'S LINES!!!

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

41 minutes ago, MizPete said:

YOU DO NOT RUN OVER A BOAT'S LINES!!!

 

Assuming that you can see them, or estimate their location with some accuracy.  Problem is, a lot of boaters, power and sail, don't understand how far out the lines can be.

 

LL

[MizPete]

Then they should learn.  You can easily see the lines coming off the boat and determine the direction they're going.

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

I have boated and owned them for 60 years and know the rules....sail vs engine. But these really get blurred with the small, multi hulled sail boats (commonly called Hobi Cats). Most of the riles were put in place years ago when sail boats were slower than power boats. They also were a lot less maneuverable than power boats....not the case today. I've seen collisions between them causes buy excessive speed of the sail boat. In lots of harbors they speed limit is 5 to 10 mph. Power boaters obey, but these small multi hull sail boats go 15 to 20 mph tacking into and out of the marinas. Never once seen them cited for speeding. Just don't seem fair.

[Curly McCrae]

The very first line of the story sounds like BS. "Sailboat cutting back and forth in "FRONT" of a poweer fishing boat. Running over the fishing lines". In what world does a boat push a fishing line?

[Alpo]

Just 'cause it's a power boat don't mean it had to be moving. They coulda been sittin' still, or even drifting, fishing off the bow.

 

Ain't you never watched a fishing show? They fish off the bow all the time.

 

[Alpo]

12 hours ago, Father Kit Cool Gun Garth said:

 

 

       

Until I blew the picture up a little, I thought I understood what was going on.

 

The girl with her back to the camera right at the gunwhale - something about her stance makes me sure that's a girl - is wearing a fluorescent orange life vest. Before I blew the picture up it looked like she was wearing a red shirt.

 

To her right, in the shadow of the Bimini, are two guys standing real close to each other. They are both wearing blue shirts. Before I blew the picture up I did not realize it was two guys. I thought it was one fat guy. Wearing a blue shirt. And he appears to be wearing a yachting cap.

 

Skinny guy in red shirt, fat guy with blue shirt and yachting cap. Hmmmm. Gilligan and the Skipper.

 

I thought the Minnow was bigger than that, though.

[Subdeacon Joe]

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

9 hours ago, MizPete said:

Then they should learn.  You can easily see the lines coming off the boat and determine the direction they're going.

 

In my experience, the issue is not so much where they are going as it is how far do they extend.  Once the line enters the water, it's darned hard to tell how far it extends behind the boat.  50 yards?  100 yards? More?  Depending on the type and weight of line, the type and weight of the lure, and the speed of the boat, it's very easy to misjudge the length of the line.  I fish mainly for stripers and blues.  Sometimes they are top feeding, and we are casting light lures into feeding frenzies within 30 yards of the boat; other times they are sitting near the bottom, and we are trolling 200' of lead line or wire and a  big bucktail.  No problem estimating line position in the first scenario, good luck in the second.  

 

Bottom line - assume the worst, and leave plenty more room.  

 

Now, about those big power boats that throw huge wakes as they pass sailboats in the channel........

 

LL

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

10 hours ago, Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life said:

I have boated and owned them for 60 years and know the rules....sail vs engine. But these really get blurred with the small, multi hulled sail boats (commonly called Hobi Cats). Most of the riles were put in place years ago when sail boats were slower than power boats. They also were a lot less maneuverable than power boats....not the case today. I've seen collisions between them causes buy excessive speed of the sail boat. In lots of harbors they speed limit is 5 to 10 mph. Power boaters obey, but these small multi hull sail boats go 15 to 20 mph tacking into and out of the marinas. Never once seen them cited for speeding. Just don't seem fair.

 

Sailboats are subject to the same speed rules as power boats, especially in posted harbors.  The same is true for so-called "personal water craft" - jet skis.  I see a heck of a lot more jet skis breaking the speed rules than sailboats.  Now, that may be a function of what types of craft are popular in your area, but around here, most jet skiiers don't know what "headway only" means, and rip up channels and through mooring fields like their pants are on fire.  It's an education and enforcement problem, often aggravated by a day of drinking on the beach.  "No Wake" means no wake, but there is almost no enforcement in my area, and it sounds like the same may be true in yours.  Complain regularly and loudly to your Harbormaster; and next time you see it, take some video that includes registration numbers.

 

LL

[MizPete]

16 hours ago, Curly McCrae said:

In what world does a boat push a fishing line?

In no world.  But if you're stopped for bottom fishing the lines may drift anywhere they want to.

Loophole LaRue: I know blues are fun to catch (especially if they're top feeding) but you can't eat them.  Our favorite targets were dolphin and mackeral (or however you spell it).  My personal favorites are black bass, grouper, and snapper off the bottom.  Maybe not as much fun, but they are sooooooo good to eat.

[Cypress Sam, SASS #10915]

I raced sailboats for many years before giving it up for CAS.  Got pretty good at it too, winning the national championship five times.  In the case of right of way, a sailboat generally has ROW over power boats (not ships).  The rules specifically say that a sailboat must stay clear of trailing fishing lines though.

 

So, the sailor was in the wrong by fouling the fishing lines.  The fisherman was wrong by firing a flare gun at the sailor.  Had he been caught the sailor would have been subject to a fine similar to a traffic ticket and be held responsible for damage to the lines.

 

By the same token, firing a weapon (flare gun) at the sailboat constitutes a crime, assault with a deadly weapon.  Or maybe even attempted murder?  Seems to me that the people on the sailboat would have been justified in returning fire.

 

In direct answer to your question, yes Dacron sails will burn.  I’ve never seen it done but I would think that a flare could easily set a sail on fire.