idiots in Sale Boats.

[shortie]

On saturday Jeff F and Myself went for a troll along the Indooropilly stretch of the River.

Had a great day apart from idiots in sail boats that thought they owned the river.

copy of Email sent to Oxley sail Boat club.

On 19/04/2008, Richard Allt wrote:

I was out today Saturday for a leisurly trip up the River in my Boat.

I came across about 20 boats from your club in the river.

All sail boats were on the port side of the river if you are heading to the city.

I proceeded down the other side.

Your course that was set out did not allow any room for other vessels to pass along the river.

My intensions wer clear as to were i was heading.

With no time there were numerous sail boats on top of me.

Yes power does usually give way to sail.

I had poeple yelling and sreaming at me.

I was told in no polite terms where to go by the little power boat accompanying the sail boats.

They quiet unpolitelly tried to give me instruction that power boats give way in all circumstances.

The sail boats were given basically a whole river width to avoid other boats.

The colision rules also state:

You should always make your movements clear and deliberate so that other masters can see your intentions. Never assume the master of another boat will observe the rules; always be prepared to take action to avoid a collision.

This also applies to sail boats.

Quite frankly the attitudes of your clubs sailers was dangerous and selfish. It is a public river and to have a course blocking the whole river is stupid. To be given a mouth full of abuse by people more interested in completing a course at all costs, regardless of safety was quite concerning. They should be taught safety not arrogance.

Richard.

We were taking all care in avoiding these guys and in the end were given no real choice in the direction we were to follow.

Yachties really do think that the river is theirs alone. IT is also their responsibily to exercise common sense and avoid collision or not put themselves in the situation where they are in danger.

Loud mouthed, arrogent arseholes. Hope the Bull sharks get a good feed.

[Shrimpo]

Good on you for standing up for yourself.

[Leighton]

you have my back up and support mate, they $hit me

[jeff f]

it was bloody amazing the whole fleet of the rotten little things changed course as 1 and came charging straight across the river at us with a 25kt wind up thier arses. shortie had to slam the boat into reverse and stick it to it to stop these idiots hitting us

[Nastymind]

I've always wanted to bolt a steel bullbar on the front of my boat.

Can anyone photoshop that.

That'd be great to see.

[brisbane_boy]

i remember one time wen i was fishing at bretts wharf with flathead there was some sail boats it looked like they coudent even controll the boat they were goin all over the place and tangelin with our lines:angry:

[Feral]

Sounds to me like you gave way and they kept coming, I'd be getting onto the port authority and the water police and putting your complaint in writing to them telling them that this mob's activities were unacceptable use of the river.

After they gave me a gob full, it would have sugar sack over the boat rego and a bit of high speed circle work.

[will]

sounds a good idea feral :laugh: u have to be fair to all on the water u guys have my backing as well go get em

[shortie]

Got a very short email reply. Its been forwarded as you can see.

Richard,

this is to acknowledge receipt your message and let you know that it has been forwarded to the Oxley Sailing Club committee.

Doug Freckelton

[will]

like feral said i think u want to report them to the police

[shortie]

will wrote:

like feral said i think u want to report them to the police

The only problem with that is 20 sail boats, 2 people in each boat. 1 tinny with 2 people. 6 people on shore belong to sail club.

Jeff and Richard in my boat.

Not real good odds.

[will]

thats why im no betting man shortie .p.s mate r u going to hinze dam on the 18/19

[shortie]

Yeah mate i will be there. I will be the fat loud guy. Come introduce yourself.

[faulked]

just slowly troll through with 80lb line and old crap lures itll be funny watching the lead sail boat slow down and go backwards i managed to land a 14ft hobiecat when fishing from bribie island the buggers ran over my shark line at least a dozen times

jason

[will]

i will and we will still meet and go to the bar as well

[werewolf]

mmm let us know if you get any further response Shortstuff. It would be interesting to know whether their "committee" will ever see it, and even give it any consideration.

[shortie]

The official Bar will be my camp site. PLenty in the keg for everyone.

[will]

c u there :cheer:

[bootyinblue]

Not all yachties think along the lines of owning the river ;-) (I dont sail in the river)

Its good that you have got a reply acknowledging your email though as now you have a name you can hunt down in a few weeks times, requesting a response from the committee. But if its has caused such an issue then complete a police report for negilent navigation. The odds may sound against you at the moment, but when it comes to signing the Justices Act Acknowledgment on the bottom of the statement their attention is drawn to the penaltl clause which includes 'up to 2 years imprisonment'. That normally stops people telling furphy's that they matter be called to give as evidence.

[Feral]

shortie wrote:

will wrote:

like feral said i think u want to report them to the police

The only problem with that is 20 sail boats, 2 people in each boat. 1 tinny with 2 people. 6 people on shore belong to sail club.

Jeff and Richard in my boat.

Not real good odds.

Ok. Get Jeff to sit it out.

[webbfunk]

Did you guys catch anything decent?

[benno573]

as a former member of oxley sailing club (back in the day) and a regular motor boater, i often questioned the sense of placing courses where they do. the club has permission to do it and flaunts the right to place a course as if they own the river. some of the guys in that club think they are world champions as well and their attitudes show it, hence, i am not a member any more...

however, if a motor boat has taken a reasonable course of action to avoid the fleet and the fleet then tack and change direction, it is the fleet who are in the wrong. in lodging your official complaint, i would construct a small diagram of the area and your course and the course of the fleet. nothing beats reasoned argument.

[shortie]

Got a reply much quicker than i expected

See below.

Richard,

We are sorry that your enjoyment of the River on Saturday was marred by this incident.

It is good though that you have written promptly with your concerns.

As I was the first sailing boat to approach the buoy at which your where stationed I am reasonably well qualified to provide you with a reply, and as there was not a collision I can state freely:

Firstly on our part:

We will review the way we set our “reaching†dogleg course at our next meeting as formal racing has now finished until September. This is not an admission that there is any fault with it.

For your part, we perceive,

That you had attempted to do the right thing by keeping out of the way of sailing boats.

That you followed our requests to give more room at our buoy.

That you manoeuvred with appropriate caution and at low speed.

But that:

You approached a buoy immediately adjacent to the sailing club during a sailing race when boats were sailing in an upstream direction toward you; you failed to consider that the buoy could be part of a racing course which competitors would be obliged to round.

When boats rounded in the previous mark (at some speed due to the strong wind) and headed in your direction you failed to take action to immediately remove your vessel from the vicinity of the buoy where your stationary/drifting presence in the limited space could have been hazardous especially in the strong conditions.

Your situation was compounded by the tidal flow and your proximity to the bank which limited your manoeuvring options.

In regard of our on the water communication with you:

We say that there was an immediate imperative to advise you to move your vessel was such that there was not time for niceties. I myself yelled “keep clear†followed by “move back!â€Â. If there was any component of abusive language from any of our boats this is unreservedly apologised for. In particular I do not believe same emanated from officials on our yellow rescue motor boat or from our Starting Platform at the club.

We think we can both learn from this experience. We find most motor boats use the Northern 1/3 of the river whilst we are sailing which has calmer water and less wind.

Cordially,

John Price

President, Oxley Sailing Club

[Terry H]

Mate doesn't look like they're taking any blame.

They're saying its you.

That's how I read it...

[shortie]

I read the reply as. Fault on both sides we will all learn something from it.

However the only statement i didnt like was.

When boats rounded in the previous mark (at some speed due to the strong wind) and headed in your direction you failed to take action to immediately remove your vessel from the vicinity of the buoy where your stationary/drifting presence in the limited space could have been hazardous especially in the strong conditions.

Immediatelly is very difficuly when their are trolling lines out the back with 30lb. and the boat motor is worth 15K.

I should not have had to remove myself they should of not approached so close as to limit my options.

Their safety boat should of been letting power boats know that a race was in progress. We didnt even realise it was a race until we were being yelled at. Just thought that the sail boats were out playing.

[shortie]

In the end i had my whinge they had theirs doesnt look like its worth pursuing any further as no 1 or property was injured.

Richard.

[bootyinblue]

You could always ask where and how is it communicated that the sail boats have exclusive right on the course? Cause if they dont, then normal rules would apply and if you were not under any form of propulsion then they have to give way to you...

[jeff f]

Feral wrote:

shortie wrote:

will wrote:

like feral said i think u want to report them to the police

The only problem with that is 20 sail boats, 2 people in each boat. 1 tinny with 2 people. 6 people on shore belong to sail club.

Jeff and Richard in my boat.

Not real good odds.

Ok. Get Jeff to sit it out.

aww but why the justice department loves me i've given them loads of money and even a little time over the years;)

[tomca]

Sounds like next time they are racing, it might be a likely spot to drop anchor. Then they can give way :laugh:

[Nastymind]

Sounds like there is a communication break down on the clubs behalf.

They need to know this to prevent similar incidents re-occuring.

I think you should take the report further

[webbfunk]

So doe sthat mean for the Brisbane river classic this year we can just have our own 1/3 of the river?

[werewolf]

yeah since when can you block of a piece of public river, because you are a club?

[bootyinblue]

Not sure about up here but in NSW clubs can apply to close sections of river for certain times for race events.

One that most comes to mind is the Bridge to Bridge WaterSki and Powerboat Race. Its 100 odd km so they close the river as the boats approach. All upstream traffic stops at a marshalls boat till the boats are passed and then allowed to continue, and as for downstream traffic, well good luck trying to catch these boats when they are up and running.

But these are once a year races and not weekly or bi weekly events.

[werewolf]

bootyinblue wrote:

Not sure about up here but in NSW clubs can apply to close sections of river for certain times for race events.

One that most comes to mind is the Bridge to Bridge WaterSki and Powerboat Race. Its 100 odd km so they close the river as the boats approach. All upstream traffic stops at a marshalls boat till the boats are passed and then allowed to continue, and as for downstream traffic, well good luck trying to catch these boats when they are up and running.

But these are once a year races and not weekly or bi weekly events.

The point being clearly designated marshell boats. The boats on the water the other day reckon they were nearly apon the boats before they realised it was a race!