Lessons learned from a boat collision

The thing I remember most about the initial boat collision was the noise.

The seconds before impact, the whole crew had gone silent. No more yelling of ‘starboard’ or expletives, just acceptance that we were about to sustain a hit. Not a glancing blow, but a full-on crash.

What followed was a cacophony of tearing fibreglass and stainless steel as the anchor flukes of the Bavaria 40 locked onto the pulpit of our UFO 34 Unicorn and proceeded to, almost hungrily, tear down the starboard side of the boat hull, ripping and gouging at the gelcoat and devouring the uprooted safety rail stanchions from the deck.

Upon reaching midships of our vessel, the Bavaria rose high over the toe rail, almost as if she was attempting to get into the centre cockpit and turn her malevolence on the hapless crew. – Full report