# If a gigantic orange ship is blowing its horn 4 times, what does it mean?



## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

The guy in the big boat had one of those horns you see on youtube that they used to fracture mountains with. The guy in the sailboat is likely going to need new drawers. Somehow, the sailboat got over enough and that big orange ship turned enough that both of them escaped with no paint being swapped. That big boat's horn was loud enough to hear at least 3 or 4 miles. I gotta get me one of those. It would be great fun in the Kemah channel on Saturday evenings.  Remember, 4 short blasts means get the hell out of the way or kiss your butt goodbye.


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## mstrelectricman (Jul 10, 2009)

My kids have train horns on his truck. They are hilarious. We want to put some on the boat. These things will actually make some people wet themselves!


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## Mrs Backlasher (Dec 19, 2004)

Oh, man! What a contrast, in so many ways. What a frightful experience that must have been.


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## Bily Lovec (Sep 26, 2005)

were they as close as they look in the picture ?


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## chickenboy (May 5, 2008)

Holy cow!!! Everytime out on the water is an education.


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## 6.5 shooter dude (Jan 8, 2008)

I thought the sail boat had the right-away......lol


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## texas32 (Jun 16, 2005)

Makes you wonder what the 'blow boat's' knotmeter surged up to when the tanker's bow wave caught up to it


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## FAT TIRE (Nov 25, 2004)

Jay Baker said:


> I thought the sail boat had the right-away......lol


LOL...I think the law of gross tonnage applies in this case.


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## coup de grace (Aug 7, 2010)

*wow,he will have to clean them undies...*


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## seabo (Jun 29, 2006)

means gthootwq! unless ,the wind just so happened to lay, and the kicker wont crank, then =4 blasts back


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## lovethemreds (Mar 23, 2005)

Anybody who was sailing with that dude will probably never go with that dude again.


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## SEAHUNT186 (Dec 24, 2004)

What in the world was that guy thinking... It's not like that ship just sneaked up behind him. Wow, some people...


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

Looks like a miss by 20 yards...still those weekend sailors should have moved out of the way. The big ship can't stop for a half mile.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Years ago a friend had his engine die as he was crossing the channel. He was able to get going again and his experience was not as close as your picture, but he said "it looked like the whole Galleria coming at me."


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## Navi (Jun 2, 2009)




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## chickenboy (May 5, 2008)

June is the crazy month. Can't believe what all I see when all the once a year folks show up.


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## Privateer (Nov 28, 2009)

looks like redfish island... the pilot of the tanker was using international signals in-shore...the international signal of 4 short blasts means I'm going to pass you on your starboard side (2 whistle) the 2 short blasts in front of it is the international signal for "hey, I'm going to signal my intentions"... I don't really know why he would use that set of signals inside the demarcation line...


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## iridered2003 (Dec 12, 2005)

that ship BURNED that sailboat


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

The more I look into the signal involved, I am not sure it wasn't 5 shorts, which is imminent danger. The tanker sounded off when he was about 3 to 5 boat lengths (his boat, not the sail boat) away. I heard the horn going off and grabbed my throw down boat camera and got that and one other pic by the time it turned on and focused. 

I seriously thought they had collided. Another small boat (center console) came flying in from the back/other side right about the time I took that picture, which at the time, I thought was going to be plucking people out of water. I do know the wake that ship threw went completely over the top of the south end of Redfish. 

The wind was really howling today and between the time I left the house and the time I got to Redfish, the forecast was updated to a small craft advisory. 

It was also pretty funny to see the guys in the sailboats trying to use their outboards on the way out and seeing the entire lower unit, prop and all clear the water on every wave. The screenshot is a grab from my favorite upper bay weather station right after I got back home this afternoon.


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## REELING 65 (Aug 18, 2009)

FAT TIRE said:


> LOL...I think the law of gross tonnage applies in this case.


Wow is right!...that my friend's is what cutting it close means...lol.


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## Bocephus (May 30, 2008)

"Ship Channel" means what it says....if you venture into the ship channel, expect there to be SHIPS in it !!!!

That doofus is lucky to be alive !


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## Cody C (May 15, 2009)

Saw something similar to this last summer in Port A, just outside the marina. A boat was cutting across the channel when a ship was coming. His engine died mid channel. The Ship sounded off and apparently radioed the Pilot boat (that was close by.) The Pilot boat came up to the boat slowly and T-Boned him, pushing him out of the way. A little drastic, but it prevented a collision. 

Cool to watch, but dang you know they had a pucker factor of 12!


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## BullyARed (Jun 19, 2010)

They could use this horn to keep those air traffic controllers stay awake


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## Wolf6151 (Jun 13, 2005)

4 short blasts of the horn means, I'm a million times bigger than you are get the hell out of the way.


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## Cap-N-Red (May 21, 2004)

Most likely an ex-editor of "Tide" magazine


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## Morris_II (Dec 28, 2010)

Blow boats always getting in the way! :rotfl:


Never fails, coming through the channel from Clear Lake to Galveston Bay under the Kemah bridge we end up stuck behind a 25-30' blow boat slowly cruising a long causing us to take the sport fish in and out of gear. Patience is a virtue but when we have to take the boat in and out of gear it's getting ridiculous. Usually when they realize the bow of a 60' sport fish is on their ***** they get the hint to maybe speed up their little push motor. :rotfl:


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

I blew a power head leaving the end of the dike in the channel w/ a ripping outgoing tide a few years back. A captain of one of those ships thankfully changed course instead if turning me into shark poop.


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## captnickm (Feb 16, 2011)

Im thinking that it was 5 short blast as you mentioned....



Morris_II said:


> Blow boats always getting in the way! :rotfl:
> 
> Never fails, coming through the channel from Clear Lake to Galveston Bay under the Kemah bridge we end up stuck behind a 25-30' blow boat slowly cruising a long causing us to take the sport fish in and out of gear. Patience is a virtue but when we have to take the boat in and out of gear it's getting ridiculous. Usually when they realize the bow of a 60' sport fish is on their ***** they get the hint to maybe speed up their little push motor. :rotfl:


I would hope that you cycle in and out of gear in the Clear lake channel! Most sportfish idle at 6.5knts clutch in. Thats to fast!


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

I just charted the distance, and it looks like I was about 1600 feet from the ship when I took the picture. When we were on our cruise, the Captain of that boat stated it took 3 miles to be able to stop the ship at speed. What's not in the picture is another ship coming from the other direction that was nearly as big. The orange boat not only had to miss the sailboat, he had to be ready for the "Texas dodge" maneuver they perform to pass one another on the channel. There have been some pretty nasty collisions in that area over the years. The barge tow operators are the ones that really have it bad, because those barges don't have a keel to make them track straight.


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## Morris_II (Dec 28, 2010)

captnickm said:


> I would hope that you cycle in and out of gear in the Clear lake channel! Most sportfish idle at 6.5knts clutch in. Thats to fast!


It's more about inconvenience than anything else. :rotfl:


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## Long Pole (Jun 5, 2008)

Jay Baker said:


> I thought the sail boat had the right-away......lol


X2...they were there first.


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## Privateer (Nov 28, 2009)

this was taken about the same marker..52-53 the only thing worse than seeing these guys up close is... not seeing them at night...just their Nav. lights, and a huge yellow blip on your radar screen within the 100 yard range line...


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## Privateer (Nov 28, 2009)

Morris_II said:


> Blow boats always getting in the way! :rotfl:
> 
> Never fails, coming through the channel from Clear Lake to Galveston Bay under the Kemah bridge we end up stuck behind a 25-30' blow boat slowly cruising a long causing us to take the sport fish in and out of gear. Patience is a virtue but when we have to take the boat in and out of gear it's getting ridiculous. Usually when they realize the bow of a 60' sport fish is on their ***** they get the hint to maybe speed up their little push motor. :rotfl:


I hear ya...if you are running a 60'er and you have a following tide...you have no steerage at all under 5 kts.


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## REELING 65 (Aug 18, 2009)

Privateer said:


> I hear ya...if you are running a 60'er and you have a following tide...you have no steerage at all under 5 kts.


...and understand the aggravation.


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## Capt. Billy (Mar 6, 2010)

5 short blasts is the danger signal. Switch to VHF 13 sometimes when you see this and listen. It gets interesting. I worked in that channel for 8 years before Sea Tow assiting those ships to and from the dock. I have seen quite a few close calls. Even a run away boat one time that was about a 18ft that was blocking the channel by Morgans Point. The Coast Guard finally called out the tug that I was on and told us to do whatever it took to stop it. The captain at the time just crushed it. You should have seen the guys face, but it was blocking 4 ships and about 12 barges from entering the port.

View from my old office


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## capt. david (Dec 29, 2004)

after the week we had billy, are you missing that office view??? lmao!


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## wampuscat (Jun 30, 2009)

Saw a ship coming in one afternoon with a mast and sail hanging off the ancor, kind of wondered what happened to the rest of the boat.


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## MikeV (Jun 5, 2006)

Been me, I would of got the sailboat up to ramming speed and knocked the ship off course just to show them who was boss, but then that's just me. As they say, it isn't the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog!


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## Privateer (Nov 28, 2009)

your best bet is to do what Capt. Billy said...know where you are and what the proper working channel is on your VHF for that part of the water...that way everyone is on the same page...if you are in the vicinity of large ships use channel 13(VHF) to know what's going on...and to be able to talk to the big dogs...ya might be able to talk your way out of a fight with them...


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## FAT TIRE (Nov 25, 2004)

Morris_II said:


> Blow boats always getting in the way! :rotfl:
> 
> Never fails, coming through the channel from Clear Lake to Galveston Bay under the Kemah bridge we end up stuck behind a 25-30' blow boat slowly cruising a long causing us to take the sport fish in and out of gear. Patience is a virtue but when we have to take the boat in and out of gear it's getting ridiculous. Usually when they realize the bow of a 60' sport fish is on their ***** they get the hint to maybe speed up their little push motor. :rotfl:



I call BS on this.....most sail boats don't leave a wake under power and usually pass most power boats trying to get through a no wake zone. Its usually some Richard Head in a sport fisher or big cruiser plowing along down the middle of the channel in clear lake causing the problems. The blow boat in the OP was clearly at fault because the deep draft was restricted in maneuverability due to shoal water on both sides, on a flood tide with 20+ knot south winds he had to have it cranked up just to maintain steering. I could run my bay boat through the channel on plane throwing less wake than some of the weekend warrior yacht drivers that don't have a clue about the rules of the road!


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## Privateer (Nov 28, 2009)

FAT TIRE... it's about helm response...powereboats(especially large power boats) can't maintain steering below a certain speed, where sailboats are built to move and maneuver at slow speeds...the sailboat in Monts picture looked to be under sail...they just happend to be close to each other in one of the narrowest parts of the ship channel...if it were me on that sailboat, I would have made better plans for transiting that stretch of channel...if you are making 5 knots of headway...you better be looking 5 miles ahead...and 5 miles behind...


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## Capt. Billy (Mar 6, 2010)

capt. david said:


> after the week we had billy, are you missing that office view??? lmao!


YES!


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## FAT TIRE (Nov 25, 2004)

Privateer said:


> FAT TIRE... it's about helm response...powereboats(especially large power boats) can't maintain steering below a certain speed, where sailboats are built to move and maneuver at slow speeds...the sailboat in Monts picture looked to be under sail...they just happend to be close to each other in one of the narrowest parts of the ship channel...if it were me on that sailboat, I would have made better plans for transiting that stretch of channel...if you are making 5 knots of headway...you better be looking 5 miles ahead...and 5 miles behind...


I understand this, maybe my post was confusing I was talking about two different scenarios. A north bound deep draft going through the skinny part of the channel is restricted in maneuverability, he is north bound with a cranking south wind on a flood tide so he had to have more headway to steer through this skinny part of the channel the sail boat dose not have right of way do to the deep drafts restricted maneuverability. Comparing this to the Kemah channel is just stupid and a sore point with me due to the uneducated boaters on the lake.


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## Privateer (Nov 28, 2009)

the same rules apply in both scenarios...narrow channel...low steerage...


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## FAT TIRE (Nov 25, 2004)

Privateer said:


> the same rules apply in both scenarios...narrow channel...low steerage...


Negative, not even close you can run clutch in the clear lake channel in most conditions, its protected from the wind, and the currents are not that bad. It dose not take a mile to stop your pleasure craft. Yes the same rules apply but that's not the problem here. Its more about not knowing what the hell your doing and lack of situational awareness.


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## SpikeMike (May 16, 2007)

when I sailed a lot, we learned this acronym S-L-O-W for right of way:
S - boat on Starboard tack has right of way
L - Leeward boat has right of way after that
O - then boats Over 65 feet have right of way because they are less maneuverable
W - then Watch out because other people don't know right of way and crazy stuff happens.


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## Privateer (Nov 28, 2009)

FAT TIRE said:


> Negative, not even close you can run clutch in the clear lake channel in most conditions, its protected from the wind, and the currents are not that bad. It dose not take a mile to stop your pleasure craft. Yes the same rules apply but that's not the problem here. Its more about not knowing what the hell your doing and lack of situational awareness.


I give up...and BTW, WTH is a friggin clutch? boats have gears... you're either in forward, neutral or reverse...you can either steer, tractor a twin screw or alternate the gears and use throttles to maintain your course...you can not down shift to slow your headway...or shift to a higher gear to speed up...in the *Kemah* channel or any other body of water


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## FAT TIRE (Nov 25, 2004)

Privateer said:


> I give up...and BTW, WTH is a friggin clutch? boats have gears... you're either in forward, neutral or reverse...you can either steer, tractor a twin screw or alternate the gears and use throttles to maintain your course...you can not down shift to slow your headway...or shift to a higher gear to speed up...in the *Kemah* channel or any other body of water


You should give up. Boats have clutch's its a friction disk part of the transmission before the reduction gear, many different makes twin disk, zf, velvet drive........ oh and some boats have trolling valves that slip the clutch so you don't have to jockey the sticks. If you have any other ? just pm me I dont want to hijack Mont's post.


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## Boatflounder (Mar 12, 2007)

I currently drive 2 different boats, one is a 22' sea hunt and the other is a 550' crane ship, so i know both side of the scenario. All I can say is the law of gross tonnge is the on ethat should be most adhered to.


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

> most sail boats don't leave a wake under power and usually pass most power boats trying to get through a no wake zone


Every weekend, I see exactly what you describe. The blow boats come through that channel as fast as they possibly can, passing up all the power boats. Then, at the mouth of the channel into the bay, the power boats all pass them back up and the blow boats all raise hell about it on 16. It's as old as dogs chasing cats.

It's funny how you can never, ever raise a blow boat on 16, but pass one and put a wake over them, and all of a sudden they turn into the local *c*rybaby *b*roadcast *s*ystem with some brilliant remark like "you are responsible for your wake". Get real, it's freakin' Galveston bay, not anyone's personal swimming pool. The best is the ones that think they should be able to sail that channel and tack back and forth across the traffic lanes doing so instead of simply powering through there and waiting to sail until it's safe.


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## Morris_II (Dec 28, 2010)

FAT TIRE said:


> I call BS on this.....most sail boats don't leave a wake under power and usually pass most power boats trying to get through a no wake zone. Its usually some Richard Head in a sport fisher or big cruiser plowing along down the middle of the channel in clear lake causing the problems. The blow boat in the OP was clearly at fault because the deep draft was restricted in maneuverability due to shoal water on both sides, on a flood tide with 20+ knot south winds he had to have it cranked up just to maintain steering. I could run my bay boat through the channel on plane throwing less wake than some of the weekend warrior yacht drivers that don't have a clue about the rules of the road!


 I'll record it on video the next time it happens to show you the situation. That will keep you from making your senseless assumptions. Boat was only in gear not "plowing" down the channel and was taken OUT of gear many times for the blow boat's pace. His motor couldn't have had much more rpm than idle which you would have witnessed having been there.

We should just throw the biggest wake possible to every blow boat in the bay for your remarks on the subject. Might as well live up to the reputation you have so honorably bestowed upon us. Good thing we are better than to act in such a manner.


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

I think people would be surprised at the number of boats that can record video these days. In fact, I have a new mount coming for my Go Pro today that should vastly improve what I can record both at idle and on a plane. It's funnier than hell when someone gets right up on me and realizes they are on video.


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## jdusek (Apr 7, 2006)

Mont said:


> I think people would be surprised at the number of boats that can record video these days. In fact, I have a new mount coming for my Go Pro today that should vastly improve what I can record both at idle and on a plane. It's funnier than hell when someone gets right up on me and realizes they are on video.


Yep me and my brother both got Go Pro's. I got the one with the head band, he got one that can mount on a boat with different mounts. We need to get a stick so we can submerge them too. But I say come by us and smile cause you are on not just one but two cameras.


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## Spirit (Nov 19, 2008)

Its scary when those big boats - er ships - are bearing down on you! We had the cat out off the TC dike and when we tried to tack to get out of the way we flipped the cat. Had lots of room so we righted the boat but the jib sail was twisted all to heck (with jelly fish dropping off of it) and we couldn't turn the boat. Tim unshackled the jib and handed me the shackle to hold while he fixed the sail. By this point the shipped looked much bigger and his horn was much louder. Tim reached for the shackle and my face was white ... I had dropped it in the middle of the ship channel ... which left us VERY limited turning capabilities. And the ship drew closer. I was finally able to hold onto the sail good enough for us to turn and get out of his way. Ship horns are really, really loud and ships are really, really huge when they are towering over you. I swear we missed getting hit by less than a minute. I was terrified!! 

But we also used to take our little 15' tri hull and go out to the channel and surf on the ship wakes. As ya'll know, they push a wake and they are so much fun to play on!! Chug up the wave, surf on the crest, then whoosh down the wall face. SO muc fun!! We played on them a lot back before kiddos when we were young and crazy.


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## lordbater (May 21, 2004)

Speaking of sail boats having the right of way, this only applies when they actually have the sail up right?

We had a clown give us grief when he tangled our trolling lines in his kicker (sail was down) and told us he had the right of way.

either way, I told him where he could stick it, I'll bet he had fun de-tangling 80lb wire leader and stingers from his kicker..

a


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## lordbater (May 21, 2004)

Haha, I've had the ships give me a few blasts when cooking across the channel in the cat.. can make first time passengers a little nervous too..



spirit said:


> Its scary when those big boats - er ships - are bearing down on you! We had the cat out off the TC dike and when we tried to tack to get out of the way we flipped the cat. Had lots of room so we righted the boat but the jib sail was twisted all to heck (with jelly fish dropping off of it) and we couldn't turn the boat. Tim unshackled the jib and handed me the shackle to hold while he fixed the sail. By this point the shipped looked much bigger and his horn was much louder. Tim reached for the shackle and my face was white ... I had dropped it in the middle of the ship channel ... which left us VERY limited turning capabilities. And the ship drew closer. I was finally able to hold onto the sail good enough for us to turn and get out of his way. Ship horns are really, really loud and ships are really, really huge when they are towering over you. I swear we missed getting hit by less than a minute. I was terrified!!
> 
> But we also used to take our little 15' tri hull and go out to the channel and surf on the ship wakes. As ya'll know, they push a wake and they are so much fun to play on!! Chug up the wave, surf on the crest, then whoosh down the wall face. SO muc fun!! We played on them a lot back before kiddos when we were young and crazy.


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## Capt. Billy (Mar 6, 2010)

Mont said:


> The best is the ones that think they should be able to sail that channel and tack back and forth across the traffic lanes doing so instead of simply powering through there and waiting to sail until it's safe.


I love when they do this while we are in tow.


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## FAT TIRE (Nov 25, 2004)

Morris_II said:


> I'll record it on video the next time it happens to show you the situation. That will keep you from making your senseless assumptions. Boat was only in gear not "plowing" down the channel and was taken OUT of gear many times for the blow boat's pace. His motor couldn't have had much more rpm than idle which you would have witnessed having been there.
> 
> We should just throw the biggest wake possible to every blow boat in the bay for your remarks on the subject. Might as well live up to the reputation you have so honorably bestowed upon us. Good thing we are better than to act in such a manner.


My senseless assumptions were based on my daily observations working on the water the last 22 years. Also you were not accused of anything unless you are claiming to be one of the richard heads I described in my other post.:biggrin:


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## Bigwater (May 21, 2004)

Have you wondered what the different ship horn meant? When approaching or leaving a dock, coming close to another ship, or entering a narrow channel, ships blow their horn or whistle to signal something to the port or to other ships. And if the signal goes out to another ship nearby, that ship has to respond by also blowing the same horn or whistle to indicate that she understood the first ship.
The ship horn meaning is the same throughout the world as set by the International Maritime Organization, Collision Avoidance at Sea Regulations. And the organization set two pulses of ship horn: short blast, which is about a second duration, and prolonged blast, which is about 4 to 6 seconds duration.
Here are the meanings of ship horn when two ships are approaching within close range:
One short blast – “I am changing course to starboard.”
Two short blasts – “I am changing course to port.”
Two prolonged blasts and one short blast – “I intend to overtake you on your starboard side.”
Two prolonged blasts and two short blasts – “I intend to overtake you on your port side.”
And the overtaken ship is expected to reply with one prolonged blast, one short, another prolonged blast and another short in exact order.
So Mont to answer your question I guess four prolonged Blasts would be" If you Keep it up your dead meat,"


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

Bigwater said:


> Have you wondered what the different ship horn meant? When approaching or leaving a dock, coming close to another ship, or entering a narrow channel, ships blow their horn or whistle to signal something to the port or to other ships. And if the signal goes out to another ship nearby, that ship has to respond by also blowing the same horn or whistle to indicate that she understood the first ship.
> The ship horn meaning is the same throughout the world as set by the International Maritime Organization, Collision Avoidance at Sea Regulations. And the organization set two pulses of ship horn: short blast, which is about a second duration, and prolonged blast, which is about 4 to 6 seconds duration.
> Here are the meanings of ship horn when two ships are approaching within close range:
> One short blast - "I am changing course to starboard."
> ...


Amazing! COLREGS summed up right there...let's do 10 minutes of fire and go home boys! :rotfl:


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## Bigwater (May 21, 2004)

Harbormaster said:


> Amazing! COLREGS summed up right there...let's do 10 minutes of fire and go home boys! :rotfl:


I found that on an old parchment paper that was in your book. You left some notes from your 60 ton license in the pocket. It was signed and dated.

Biggie


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## Capt. Billy (Mar 6, 2010)

Bigwater is close, but you have quoted the signals for overseas. In the US one short blast means I intend to leave you to my port side or pass port to port and two short means I intend to leave you to my starboard side or pass stbd to stbd. The other vessel should sound the same signal of one short or two short if in agreement or sound 5 short blasts. These signals are only used if meeting, crossing, or overtaking less than a half mile. You may also hear one prolonged which means a power driven vessel is leaving a dock or berth. 3 short means a power driven vessel is backing its engines and another vessel is approaching with a half mile. Sound signals are also not required if an arrangement has been made over the radio.


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## lordbater (May 21, 2004)

None of this applies to me, know why? I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that can hear my horn...

a


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## Morris_II (Dec 28, 2010)

FAT TIRE said:


> My senseless assumptions were based on my daily observations working on the water the last 22 years. Also you were not accused of anything unless you are claiming to be one of the richard heads I described in my other post.:biggrin:


You could have been on the water for century and it wouldn't make a bit of difference in the matter.

P.S. You quoted me and responded but yet you weren't talking to me. Good one. :spineyes:


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## Privateer (Nov 28, 2009)

Morris_II said:


> You could have been on the water for century and it wouldn't make a bit of difference in the matter.
> 
> P.S. You quoted me and responded but yet you weren't talking to me. Good one. :spineyes:


 Give it up kid...some things just ain't worth it...


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## FAT TIRE (Nov 25, 2004)

*Seriously man*



Privateer said:


> Give it up kid...some things just ain't worth it...


 How can you compare the two situations. The deep drafts have to stay in middle of the ship channel due to depth, but the markers were moved a few years back so the barges and smaller boats can run the flats but still be inside the dayboards. If your draft requires you to get in the middle at redfish then you should be checking in with vts and making passing arrangements with other traffic. In the channel leaving clear lake its all the same depth, unless you cut the corner across from sun dance grill, or get to close to the old train bridge on the outbound side. Also the channel is deeper than the lake or bay it connects so any vessel in it is not going to be restricted by draft. Oh yea man the clutch thing, every captin since I was a kid has used the term clutch ahead, or astern. Referring to fwd or rev detent, so basically your in whatever gear but the engine is still at idle. :brew:


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## lordbater (May 21, 2004)

FAT TIRE said:


> How can you compare the two situations. The deep drafts have to stay in middle of the ship channel due to depth, but the markers were moved a few years back so the barges and smaller boats can run the flats but still be inside the dayboards. If your draft requires you to get in the middle at redfish then you should be checking in with vts and making passing arrangements with other traffic. In the channel leaving clear lake its all the same depth, unless you cut the corner across from sun dance grill, or get to close to the old train bridge on the outbound side. Also the channel is deeper than the lake or bay it connects so any vessel in it is not going to be restricted by draft. Oh yea man the clutch thing, every captin since I was a kid has used the term clutch ahead, or astern. Referring to fwd or rev detent, so basically your in whatever gear but the engine is still at idle. :brew:


So clutching refers to slowing the motor while the boat is still moving faster than it otherwise would under the throttle given??
or is this one of those inside jokes that is passing me right by?

Excuse me, I gotta go change my piston return springs..

a


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## FAT TIRE (Nov 25, 2004)

lordbater said:


> So clutching refers to slowing the motor while the boat is still moving faster than it otherwise would under the throttle given??
> or is this one of those inside jokes that is passing me right by?
> 
> Excuse me, I gotta go change my piston return springs..
> ...


You know when you move the throttle out of neutral in to FWD, it goes into gear but the engine is still a idle. That would be clutch ahead


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## Never easy (Mar 20, 2006)

funny, I have been on that ship many times!


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## lordbater (May 21, 2004)

FAT TIRE said:


> You know when you move the throttle out of neutral in to FWD, it goes into gear but the engine is still a idle. That would be clutch ahead


Groovy, I've never heard it referred to that way..

a


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## Greg E (Sep 20, 2008)

I've worked in and around the houston ship channel since 1999. I've never had or heard a ship use a horn for meeting or overtaking another vessel. They now use radios. If a ship is blowing its horn someone needs to get out of the way.


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## JayTray (Jan 8, 2011)

YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!!!:doowapsta


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## paraletho (Mar 31, 2010)

Vessel constained by draft has the right of way, besides that I don't think I want to argue about it.


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