[troy McClure]

Corrupt Sheriff Dept charges Skipper of sailboater after Under Sheriff kills Sailboater in high speed powerboat crash into sailboat

This guy need our help.

http://www.catsailor.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=146340&an=0&page=5#Post146340

[sofaman]

Reads like it was written by a five year old. And the headline makes absolutely no sense.

[snarkytart]

huh?

[NoLibZone]

Doesn’t the non powered craft have the right of way?

[Grunthor]

“Lake County Shrieff Hit boat Kills Boater Skipper on Boat hit is charged with manslaughter.”

The headline makes little to no sense.

[Waco]

headline written by AP

[papasmurf]

He needs the help of a qualified marine accident attorney.

National and International law requires the right of way be given to the least maneuverable vessel. That is the basic accepted premise on which all laws of navigation are based, whether on land, in the air, or on water.

I was in a very similar situation in ‘87. I was hit while anchored at night. Long story made short, I prevailed.

Get a good attorney.

[SpaceBar]

Prosecutors still insist that the person with his hand on the tiller of a drifting sailboat was at fault for being hit by a speeding powerboat in the dead of night.

These "prosecutors" are clearly ignorant of maritime right-of-way.

[Ezekiel]

Here's an example of an article written in Babelfish. The author is fluent.

[cva66snipe]

I would not want to be on any small craft doing 40 MPH at night especially on a lake. I've been around boats all my life and night time is no time to be in a hurry in one. I think the investigator has it right the police boats speed was the biggest factor in it. Boat rules are the same as automobiles in the sense you do not drive above a safe speed for the conditions. The best of boaters can make mistakes at night that's why most ones with any common sense throttle down. The only way I'd blame the sail boat operator is if his lights were out.

Some people think hey I'm on the water not asphalt so it's safe. I've nearly been ran over by a cruise ship before in severe fog. Thanks to the good Lord and the cruise ships electronics it was a miss although the ship was in the channel moving at a good speed. When you're on a 50 footer Utility Boat and are close enough to suddenly see inside the passenger cabins and the people in them that's too darn close.

[Hi Heels]

I lived in Lake County for a number of years. First of all, It's Clearlake. One word. Second, the lake is famous for drunk boating. Many of the bars have piers and it's a regular thing to anchor, drink, boat, anchor, drink, boat. In fact, DRINK is the County hobby. I took my better half up there recently. Deliberately, I drove him by the home of a certain citizen. This guy has a 18 foot trailer on his property of about 20 acres. Next to the trailer is a doughboy pool, 15 foot across, 4 feet deep. As he empties beers, he tosses the cans into the doughboy. He also raises goats for food and sale. I didn't say a word to my BH, but just drove by. He turned to me and said, "did I just see a swimming pool full of beer cans and a goat smack in the middle chewing on one?" Why yes, yes you did. The hermit was special. A friend of the good old boys, so he has lived like that for 25 years that I know of. Cashes in his cans once a year to pay his property tax. He also collects roadkill deer and elk off the freeway and slaughters it to sell. No one says a word.

Then we had the old lady. She drives an old buick, and can't see. So she, and I ain't kidding, drives down the road with her head hanging out the window real slow so she can see the lines on the road. Gawd help you if you get behind her. 20 mph in a winding no pass zone for 1/2 the lake front. But she's the mom of one of the city council, so it was overlooked. On the trip, we pulled into the only eating place open after 8PM (locals are in the bar or at home with a 12 pack by 8-specially if they have a couple DUI's to contend with), Pirate Cove Pizza in Upper Lake (population 600 hillbilly drunks). We're sitting there eating when in walks a guy who evidently showered during the Carter administration, just filthy dirty, in torn overalls with pee stains, who burps loudly and yells out to his friends in the back of the room playing pool and drinking "WELL, I GOT RID OF THE OLD LADY." Now, is she dead at the bottom of the lake, or did she just move to Ukiah? We don't know. My BH looked at me and said, "we've gotta get out of here before these retards start playing banjo and making pig sounds *insert Deliverance theme song*".

One of the town doctors has been accused over and over for illegally prescribing "diet pills" and assorted other items. It was fairly common knowledge up there. He ever get charged? Nope. Just can't prescribe medicine for a couple of months a year. I won't even MENTION the conditions at the Indian reservations at the government housing tracks. eeesssshhh.

This is the Appalachian district of California. And this story doesn't surprise me at all. For a place who's known for the world famous "bar stool races", the good old boy network is alive and well. But if you want to FISH, that's the place to go.

[4buttons]

where is it?

huh?

like, in a state?

[Eagles6]

save

[R. Scott]

Lake County never heard of the Inland Rules of the Road?

[CJRun]

1] The applicable rules are the Inland Rules.
2] The powerboat was traveling too fast, obviously, to maneuver away from a collision within it’s stopping distance.
3] The seating position on the sailboat is irrelevant to determining whom was at the helm. The cockpit is a rectangle, with the tiller in the middle. The lady that was killed was sitting on the starboard side, the guy charged was on the port side, the tiller was equidistant between the two. Had there been enough wind to be moving the sailboat, the person sitting on the side from which the wind had been coming would have likely had the tiller, but that can’t be established if the sailboat was drifting.

The Rules seem complicated, but they are really very simple: if you hit something, by definition you failed to maneuver to avoid collision and broke the most basic Rule of all. This is true regardless of whether the sailboat was lit or any other issue. The other vessel may also have contributed, (e.g., if it had been unlit), but that would only mean additional charges and would not absolve the operator of the powerboat.

[Travis McGee]

Damn!

[Admin Moderator]

To prevent duplication, please do not alter the title. Thanks.

[libstripper]

Under maritime law the most important issue here is whether Beats Workin' II had her running lights on. If she did, it should be a slam dunk for the defense, since sail boats have the right of way over power boats. As a power boater (Sea Ray 240) and a sail boater, I just can't see any legitimate reason for a power boater to run his vessel at nearly full throttle on a pitch black night; there are just too many things you cn hit that can seriously damage or destroy your boat..