Target

We have had a surprising number of deep draft vessels passing by us on this passage. Vessels traveling both northbound and southbound, and often from or bound for China. We have had to follow each one and in some cases communicate with the crew, to ensure safe passage of both of our vessels. Our AIS has been a fantastic tool!

At least half of these close encounters occur at night. Last night we had three vessels that passed within 1-1.5 nm of Carina within the span of about an hour. One of these vessels was going to hit us until we alerted its crew to our position and they politely agreed to alter course and pass 1 nm on our starboard side. All three of these vessels appeared on our 12 nm AIS screen simultaneously, surrounding our position. Lest you think these vessels are of minor concern, their statistics show they are generally over 200 meters long and moving at 14 knots. In this same patch of sea, were also two purse seiners, one of which had come right at us at full speed, NOT putting out an AIS signal but trackable on radar. It only passed behind after we cranked up the diesel and fled south at maximum RPMs and put a mile between us.

At 8/7/2016 and 5:45 UTC (GMT) our position was: 00°07.55'S / 144°24.31'E.
We were traveling 214T degrees true at 2.7 knots.





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