Kachina's big owie

Kachina back on land the evening after receiving her big hit. During Saturday's third race, a port-tack boat t-boned Kachina, which was the stand-on starboard tack boat. The port-tack skipper and crew were relatively new to the boat and perhaps didn't keep an adequate lookout or lacked coordination to turn the boat quickly. The sound of crunching fiberglass could be heard 400 feet away in spite of the noise of wind and waves in the brisk 14-knot conditions.

we were up the course when the incident happened and responded to a radio request to provide assistance by ferrying the boat owner/master boat wrangler from the committee boat to the marina. The crew of Kachina heeled the boat over and duct-taped the bottom of the hole to prevent the boat from taking on water and sinking before motoring back to the boat ramp, where the boat owner quickly prepared the trailer for retrieving Kachina.

Skippers and crews of port-tack or other give-way/burdened/no rights boats need to be extremely mindful of their position on the race course at all time and should take early, decisive action to avoid a collision and the attendant risk of liability for damage, sinking, injury, or other grave consequences. It's also important for skippers and crews to be very aware of how their boats perform under different conditions.