[Capri25]WYC Capri 25 Fleet Capt Letter

[Bruce Tam]

To All WYC Capri 25 Fleet Members

 

We have just finished our fifth weekend of racing and the weather is finally getting to the point where shorts and T-shirts are replacing the pants and fleece jackets.  The warmer weather is also bringing out more boaters, which brings me to the main subject of this letter,  When the weather was cooler the only traffic on race days was primarily other WYC sailboats all going in the same direction.  Now we will be sharing the Lake with power boats, kayaks, fishing boats etc. and we need to practice all the navigational rules and courtesies required on a busy lake.

 

Hopefully you are thinking  'I always follow the rules' why the letter?  Unfortunately WYC received a letter detailing at least one lapse in navigational rules.  

 

The body of the letter follows:



I am writing this email asking for your support.  Last weekend, on Sunday, May 30th at approx. 3:00 PM, our boat was almost stuck by one of your Capri 25 members boat.  The incident occurred in Wayzata Bay as we were at temping to go through the buoy markers.  

 As we approached the markers, there were three Capri 25's that were all under power, driving side by side of one another, taking up the entire channel.  As we all know, this is illegal and dangerous. As we approached to enter the markers, we noticed that one of the Capri 25's was not giving proper right of way to us, so we put the boat in idle, hoping to let them pass.  As the Capri 25 got closer (approx. 40 ft. away) we noticed that the skipper was to busy gossiping with the boat next to hers and was not paying attention to where she was going.  Once we noticed the skipper not paying attention, we started yelling to the skipper, to watch out. Unfortunately, the skipper did not hear or see us until her boat was approximately 10 feet away from ours.  Once she noticed our pan iced voices and saw how close she was, she quickly turned her boat with approximately two feet to spare to avoid collision.  

 On our boat we had three small children, all under the age of 4.  If her boat would have stuck our boat at the speed of which she was traveling, the likelihood of someone getting injured or possible death is high.  Her negligence of paying attention to proper boating rules not only jeopardized her entire crew, but also my entire family.  At the end of the incident, we were given the finger by one of her crew members.



As I said above, I am asking for your support.  I am asking that you talk to your respective fleets, make sure your members are following proper boating rules, and most importantly, paying attention so accidents like this do not happen.    

 The lake is for everyone to use and enjoy. At the end of the day, I do not want to become a statistic nor do I want any of my family members to become statistics because someone is not paying attention or following the proper laws.



 

In closing I would like to use an quote that my company's safety director uses in his summer driving newsletter.



 Aggressive driving only leads to more aggressive driving. In general, the more courtesy you give to others, the more you get back

 

Bruce Tam

Capri 25 Fleet Capt
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