[ApS]

Originally Posted by jrc

"...While Mr. Morris's opinion is interesting and contains some good general advice, it is far from law or common practice to have dedicated look-out with no other duties on private recreational vessels..."

IMHO, a dedicated look-out should become a common practice—particularly at night. A passenger can be scouting ahead without interference from instrument lighting—which ruins night-vision in very short order.

Originally Posted by jrc

"...Anybody who sails alone violates the letter and spirit of this excerpt, as no sailing boat has an all around view from the steering position...Is it your opinion that sailing alone is always a violation of Rule 5...?"

Thanks (in part) to a clear vinyl "sail window", my present sailboat gives me a 360° view, as did each of my four catamarans. (Five, if including a rental catamaran on Lake Winnipesaukee). The problem is, I don't have a 360° neck!

Originally Posted by jrc

"...If you get stuck out at night without proper lighting, due to equipment failure, loss of wind, whatever, with or without stupidity involved. You are now a danger to yourself and others, find away to be seen and get to the nearest shore..."

Sailboats, with headway-speed being their normal operation, are always a hazard as the strikee, rather than being the striker. Depending on circumstances, I can see an "ejected-boater" being a natural outcome of a collision with a sailboat—especially at night.

Originally Posted by jrc

Hitting something because you didn't see it, is always a rule 5 violation.

If you read Rule 5 again, it's the skipper who is generally responsible for "all available means":

“Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision.”

One prevailing condition is darkness, so one needs to use depth-alarms and radar, if equipped with any of those aids.

(Ears, too, as the sailboat could have been issuing a warning signal ).

A passenger could be "deputized" as a crew member to assist in navigating through night traffic: given the above apparent hazard, I don't think they'd mind too much.