Dave wrote:
On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:28:40 -0700, Alan Gomes said:

It's pretty hard to see what difference the sobriety of the guy at the
helm would have made in the case of a drifting sailboat being rammed by
a powerboat at 40+ mph.

I dunno. Maybe if he had been sober he would have realized he should have
had his navigation lights on.
There were witnesses at the scene who said they were, in fact, on. Even
if they weren't, it's clear that at least SOME of the blame (and I would
say nearly ALL in the case of a vessel going 40 mph at night) goes to
the powerboat, whether or not the sailboats lights were on.

--AG