According to Navigation Rule 3(k, or j of Inland) “vessels shall be deemed to be in sight of one another only when one can be observed visually from the other.” If you can see the other vessel only on radar
According to Navigation Rule 3(k, or j of Inland) “vessels shall be deemed to be in sight of one another only when one can be observed visually from the other.” If you can see the other vessel only on radar or AIS, it is not in sight. Many of the Navigation Rules apply specifically to when vessels are in sight of each other. The text of Rule 3 is available at www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=navRulesContent.
Sometimes this is a difficult decision because there’s a schedule to keep. The skipper may feel obliged to get to another location because a person aboard has a flight from there, friends are waiting, the boat must get back to the charter company, etc. The decision to turn back or stand on shouldn’t be primarily influenced by any schedule, real or imagined. It should be based on a careful assessment of the factors affect