Lack of respect at sea

Now that the boating season is almost in full swing, though this paper I would like to appeal to large motor boats owners to respect slow moving sailing boats. On Sunday evenings at around six, one can usually witness an armada of boats travelling down towards Marsamxett harbour. In this armada one finds a gaggle of boats, small and large, fast and slow. It is not uncommon to see large fast motor boats weaving their way at high speed in between the smaller slower sailing boats with the consequence that these smaller boats have to constantly take evasive action to prevent being washed by the large wakes created by these motor boats. It is also not uncommon for these motorboats to overtake the smaller boats at a nerve wracking distance of only a few metres.

Last summer while motoring at around four knots round Tigné point, the entrance to Masamxett, two large motor cruisers sped past my boat at some 20 knots one on either side effectively swamping my boat because there was no place to take evasive action - on the one side were the rocks, while on the other were boats entering the harbour.

The other evening the same was going to happen again and only due to my wild gesticulations for them to slow down did one actually decide to slow down and put some distance between us, while the other forced its way through the very small gap (about 10 metres) between my boat and Tigné point at a reduced speed. Now I can understand that slow boats can be rather frustrating to faster boats but the sea belongs to everybody and the only way that situations like these are avoided is by everybody showing some respect for their fellow sailor, be it on a large fast boat or a small dinghy. Unfortunately in Malta it's often a case of I'm OK... Needless to say, I have often encountered respect from larger vessels which have kept a decent distance from smaller sailing boats and they are an example to others.