Christmas Parade Dangers

[lwarden]

We've been doing the parade of lights thing for years. I've learned to put a man on the bow with good eye (made of coal) to make sure there are no barges in tow, or unlighted bouys, lobster pots, etc. He did a stellar job last weekend and we had no accidents.

BTW, must be Covid related but I've never seen so many people out viewing the parade, there were tens of thousands along the shores of San Diego Bay. Of course it could have been the beautiful night also that brought them out.....

 

[rslifkin]

I'll happily join a light show while docked, but no chance of me doing one of those parades. I'm already fussy about where and when I'm willing to run at night. Open water run in an area with no lobster / crab pots and not much traffic? Sure, I'll be pretty comfortable doing that. But confined areas with lots of traffic, I want nothing to do with that. Especially when many of the other boaters are of questionable skill.

 

[High Wire]

The lights on boat parades are no longer the little incandescent bulb strings of old that just blink on and off. Blinding strobes and high output leds are now normal. Just a matter of time before something really bad happens.

 

[Phyrcooler]

Two times a year my boat specifically stays in her slip… Christmas boat parades and 4th of July after dark. Way too many inexperienced and/or impaired (or just idiotic) boaters out. We’ve seen completely unlit kayaks and small rowboats get nearly run over with cursing from both parties. Nope! I’ll watch the circus from the shore!

 

[Gypsyjon]

Tugs stopping

I've watched the Seattle Christmas ship parade both from shore and while onboard a working boat. Almost all of the time all goes well though I have seen that some of the boat operators appear to be confused and make what seem to be bad decisions. What you witnessed was a close call that fortunately came out OK. The search light shown in the windows of a boat headed into a dangerous situation is an almost universal signal that needs to be taken seriously.

Your telling of the close call reminds me of one that did not end so well. A bayliner crossed between a tug and her tow with the loss of 5 lives. If you take the time to read the Transportation Safety Board of Canada's investigation you'll find there was plenty of blame to go all around. This accident also happend at night with lots of distraction from a fireworks show.

https://tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/marine/1999/m99w0133/m99w0133.html

Please everyone, when operating at night in areas used by commercial traffic, especially when there is lots of distraction around pay attention.

I know there are some experinced tow boaters among the TF membership. They can explain why it is difficult to stop or quickly change course when towing. in many circumstances it presents a danger to the tow boat and crew.

Well, having run tugs for many years, one big reason you can not stop when you have a barge on the wire is the fact that the barge WIIL RUN RIGHT OVER YOU!!

 

[Sharpseadog]

Lights

Last night I was on a friends boat for a Christmas parade in Seattle's Lake Union. Lovely evening for a parade. After the parade we were headed back to the marina and were beginning to transit the ship canal which is about 250' feet wide. We noticed a tug coming up the canal towards us displaying 3 lights on their mast so we knew it had a tow. It's common in our area for tugs to bring 75 foot wide gravel barges through the canal so we were expecting to see a black barge behind the tug. We moved over to the side of the canal. There was a boat ahead of us with a ton of lights on it and a very noisy portable generator. It looked like a 24' aluminum sport fishing boat with a hardtop on it. The skipper was driving from inside the covered area of the boat and looking through all the lights they had on the bow sheer line, brow of hardtop and lighted display on the deck of the bow. They did not notice the barge and proceed center channel dead straight for the tug and tow. My friend looked at me and said what are they doing, I said they can't see because of their lights. We tried to get the attention of the people on board but didn't succeed. About 40-30 seconds to impact the tug shined his spot light through their windshield and that got their attention. I am guessing the spot light might have blinded the skipper because he didn't move out of the way very quickly. It was like watching a slow motion train wreck that thankfully didn't happen. It turned out the tug was towing about a 200' fishing trawler with a second tug assisting on the stern of the fishing boat.

So for those newer folks jumping into various Christmas parades be mindful you'll be operating with other boats with restricted visibility because of lights and decorations, in addition to skippers distracted by guests. Expect the unexpected.

We led the Bellingham Yacht Club lighted boat parade this year. As we did last year, I arranged all the lights forward of my pilot house so they were below rub rail and out of sight. Also had only one of my 4 red pilot house interior lights lit and most of the interior lights off. GPS and instruments dimmed and in night mode. And my radar was adjusted to pick up objects in the water. It was an overcast night with no moon and it was still a bit scary even at 4 kts. I saw a row boat on our route with no lights at all! I normally avoid cruising at night, but 1st Mate is BYC Vice Commodore and leading the parade was obligatory. ??

 

[Slider70]

Christmas Parade or Running at Night

I spent a good portion of my life running at night as I was a commercial fisherman for three decades. It took me a while to get comfortable and safe, or safer, running at night. The world is displayed differently, with or with out radar. It takes a bit of experience to improve your safety but as best it is still far, far more dangerous than day running.

So almost thirty years of running at night mostly on the coast of BC without the background lights of a major city which made most of my night cruising safer. By definition more folks in the parade will be dealing with lots of back lighting from the land. This makes night running far more dangerous. It requires major concentration and best not done by those having not done much night cruising.

 

[Gdavid]

I participated in our local lighted boat parade last night, I had a boatload with 12 onboard, including myself and while we had a couple surprises along the way, we had a great time.

Deale, Maryland is home to a number of great marinas, boat builders, boat yards, waterfront restaurants and bars. Like so many places along the Chesapeake Bay, Rockhold Creek means a great deal to me, especially because I earned much of my college tuition on charter boats running out of this Harbor for close to a decade (I took the 7 year undergrad program). Some might say that Deale is a town of functioning alcoholics, with more bars and liquor stores per capita than any other town in Maryland. Considering that 2 of the 18 entries in the parade are literally floating tiki bars, that is probably a fair assessment of the town.

The couple of surprises included a center console losing sight of me and approaching my port bow. We had been holding station for over 20 minutes next to each other, so I'm not sure how he lost track of me, but it was getting pretty tight by that point. Fortunately he heard me shout down from my bridge over his 2 stroke outboard, so no harm, no foul, no fiberglass work. The second surprise was a boat that had lost steering in the middle of the creek that I ended up towing back to the nearest fuel pier and ramp. Unlike his crew, his steering lines ran dry and became inoperable. I couldn't figure out why they were wandering in an indiscernible manner and was focused on getting by them safely when I finally understood the situation. It was a brief tow, maybe 1/4 mile at 2 knots and no big deal, but the thought occurred to me that I was simultaneously engaged in multiple activities that most on this forum would classify as dangerous (lighted boat parades and non-professional towing).

Both of these minor incidents probably reinforce the consensus on this forum that lighted boat parades are dangerous, and I agree but with a little situational awareness and vigilance, a good night was had by all. We ended up taking second in class and most importantly, we had a great time.

I did a couple things to increase my confidence and might be worth sharing: I ran the course at night in advance to renew my bearings and familiarity. This was particularly helpful in identifying the ends of piers, stray pilings and unlit boats on T-heads. I also ran a strictly dry boat with mandatory life jackets with chemical lights affixed. I also avoided overtaxing a bow thruster in the staging area, I did this by not owning one.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. Gd. Wow. It must be difficult towing with a floating Tiki Bar. Glad you had a good time. Merry Christmas.

 

[Gdavid]

Greetings,
Mr. Gd. Wow. It must be difficult towing with a floating Tiki Bar. Glad you had a good time. Merry Christmas.

Unlike my boat, the tiki bars have a positive cash flow

 

[Delta Riverat]

No thanks, it's really cold outside now -

 

[RustyPBucket]

Interesting thread.
Two boats that we know went in our local boat parade this year. Neither of them have any experience traveling at night. It‘s about an hour and a half for me at 6 knots from where we are tied up to the parade route. On the way back the lead boat had left his lights on, which had two boat owners on board who suggested that he turn them off but he’s the type of guy that knows best and left them on. The second boat had his off.
On the way home both of them had the “I wonder why the power went off on part of the island” experience. By the time the lead boat realized that he was almost being run over by a freighter coming down the harbor to anchor, it was almost too late before he turned away. The second boat figured out what was happening earlier and cleared the ship. It was all laughs and giggles when the story was being told but commented it was kinda scary. Yes I would imagine it was and I hope you learned something from it I thought.
I wondered why they didn’t see the ships lights but after talking to the two boat owners on the lead boat they say the same things as all do in this thread, that the lights on the railings create a glare that you have a hard time seeing past.
As much as I’ve would like to enter the parade I don’t feel very comfortable knowing that some of the skippers may be drinking or had smoked a big fat one and won’t be on top of their game, if they were even there to begin with.

 

[AlaskaProf]

But confined areas with lots of traffic, I want nothing to do with that. Especially when many of the other boaters are of questionable skill.

Slight shift in subject: Many years ago, I happened to be cruising my sailboat in BC as Canada Day approached. We anchored out in English Bay and had a fantastic evening, even had music synched with the fireworks...


And then the thing ended! A Star Wars battle scene of hurtling boats in a dash to get back to the marina/ramp. I swore off "mass boating" and don't miss it.

We've actually been back for Canada Day a couple times since, at the bar at the Vancouver Rowing Club.

 

[Viking Princess]

Gig Harbor parade.

The Gig Harbor parade was very dangerous with the three or four derelict sail boats with no lights or markers on them. I think the Gig Harbor should do something with them or at least add a solar powered light on them for safety.
A friend with his 72 foot boat came 20 feet from running one of them and we also came close. So next year we will park the boat and watch.