The Rules you can ignore
Excellent article by Andy du Port in the April edition of YM. At times light-hearted but always very clear instead of giving a boring full printout of the Colregs. Bravo Andy!
I still have a question. I have crossed the Channel many times, and hit most of the TSS between Dartmouth and the Adriatic when I sailed my boat from Dartmouth to Dubrovnik. Fortunately I have both radar and AIS (Tx & Rx) so it is easy to see the ships travelling along a TSS in each direction. As Andy du Port said of TSS in general it was like ‘crossing the M25 on foot’.
I have found myself often facing a long line of ships in the TSS and wondering how on earth I can get across. Yes, I am fully aware of the need to cross with a heading as near as possible to 90°. On occasions I have found ships making a noticeable turn of maybe 5° towards me so it opens up a space behind the ship in front of them for me to safely pass. After which I call on VHF with a ‘thank you’. On other occasions I have had to alter course to run parallel to a long line of ships until I can see an opening. Having successfully crossed the first TSS section the exact same problem occurs on the other side of the TSS. I have had this problem around Brest and also Gib and the Adriatic.
So having crossed the first half of the TSS I am then stuck and have to await an opening on the other side. While going around Brest in fog a crew member of mine said it was safest to stay in the no-man’s-land between each channel of the TSS. So what are the regs for the no-man’s-land between each of the TSS directions? Can we use it? What are the Colregs? Do ships lose their TSS priority if they stray out of the designated channel? Andrew Geddes
Andy Du Port replies:
Many thanks for your kind comments about the Colregs article. You raise some interesting issues. To take your various points in turn:
I would be very wary of a ship altering course while following a traffic lane in a TSS. It may be that she is doing so to give you more room, but it is also likely that she is just adjusting her course to maintain her planned track or to open up the CPA of a ship she is overtaking – regardless of your presence. Rule 10 (j) tells us that we should not impede the safe passage of a ship following a TSS traffic lane, but the ship is still obliged to take avoiding action if necessary to avoid a close quarters situat
