Meanwhile in Sint Maarten - Yikes

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As with flying, pilots/captains have to know how to override the computers, if that is what happened. In a similar situation in northern Michigan, a large, not mega, plowed through a dock and was headed to the lakeside home. The captain had a seizure and fell with the throttle forward. Nobody hurt fortunately.
 
UPDATE! Hits Dock Twice




A megayacht worth more than $ 90 million crashed into the dock of the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, in the Caribbean.
The ship is the Turquoise Yachts GO, 251 feet in 2018, owned by Hans Peter Wild, whose value is estimated at about $ 90.5 million.
The incident occurred as she was leaving Simpson Bay Lagoon from her mooring at Ile de Sol Marina. The boat crashed on the dock of the Sint Maarten Yacht Club twice. The second was the most serious collision with Go hitting the wooden pier and then breaking the concrete.
According to the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, the impact has caused significant damage and at the moment, the pier remains closed until further notice.
The incident was due to a computer malfunction. The Go was being operated by a learner driver, and when Go retires, she can see that she also suffered some damage.
Go is powered by 2 Caterpillar 2,575 hp diesel engines and has a top speed of 18 knots, with a range of 5,500 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 12 knots. It has a spa, steam room and gym, swimming pool and jacuzzi, heliport and garage for tendering, cinema and beach club. Your accommodation is for 16 guests and 19 crew members.


 
The US Navy has gone from some of these “sail by wire” electronics to the old engine order telegraph (EOT) used for decades and decades. The bridge gives the command and the engine room executes.
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Agree on Dover Sole at Santa Fe.
As to the ship captain, a well written article about his decision making process.
We knew an Indy race car driver during the peak of his career. Whenever he had an accident or ‘malfunction’, he would wink at us, and always say it was the fault of the car- never driver error. Pilots, captains, drivers... are not going to blame themselves for damage done if there is another way out. It always seems to be the computers, vehicle design, the weather but not human error. And when successful outcomes such as Scully’s occur, it is the human actions that are lauded overcoming the initial problems that the computers, weather etc. caused. It is difficult to figure out who or what is responsible but easiest to blame the inanimate. The owner of GO absolves the captain, but one often wonders.
 
We knew an Indy race car driver during the peak of his career. Whenever he had an accident or ‘malfunction’, he would wink at us, and always say it was the fault of the car- never driver error.

:laughing-cry:

That reminds of this quote from the great Yogi Berra: I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?

For more Yogi quotes: https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/03/the-50-greatest-yogi-berra-quotes
 
Notwithstanding all this fun, I tend to believe that this experienced captain (40 years), 28,000 mile and 267 port visits underway with this vessel, encountered a situation that was unrecoverable. He had the presence of mind to use the bow and stern thrusters to slow the way, but something was badly broken with the main propulsion. I'll assign Izzy the follow-up with the insurance company.
 
Notwithstanding all this fun, I tend to believe that this experienced captain (40 years), 28,000 mile and 267 port visits underway with this vessel, encountered a situation that was unrecoverable. He had the presence of mind to use the bow and stern thrusters to slow the way, but something was badly broken with the main propulsion. I'll assign Izzy the follow-up with the insurance company.

no E-stop!
 
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