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On 19 Aug 2008 13:39:02 -0500, Dave wrote:

On Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:22:53 -0700 (PDT), said:

Turn on his navigation lights?

There were plenty of witnesses, including the forensics examiner, who
said the sailboat's lights were on. They were excluded from giving
evidence by the police & by the prosecutor.

Yes, according to the article. The article also admits that some witnesses
said they were off. I'm not resolving the issue. Just pointing out that it's
not an open and shut question

.... Assuming he's sober enough to see and hear
the other vessel

Now there's a clearly unbiased statement.

Hey, there was no dispute but that his blood alcohol was 50% over the CA
limit.

, shine a light on his sail to make sure he's seen?

A good idea, but a bit time-dependent. When you're on a small lake and
a powerboat is aimed right for you at 40+ knots, there's not a lot of
time to rummage around for a flashlight.

Especially if you've been hitting the bottle.

Here's a funny thought.... your saying that the sailboat should have
made himself visible to the powerboat is a tacit admission that the
collision was the powerboats fault. In other words, the sailboat needs
to rely on the powerboater's situational awareness & following ColRegs
(and common sense).

Nope. It's a suggestion that it's not a clear case of just one party's being
at fault. Have you ever been on the bridge of a large vessel at night and
been surprised to see a sail boat suddenly show up in close? I've seen it
happen even with two full-time lookouts on the bridge. It sure helps if the
sail boat operator uses a bit of common sense.

Try to imagine, difficult as that might be for you, that the sailboat
was drifting unmanned and unlighted, except for two children under the
age of 7. Their father is below decks, incapacitated, becasue he is
dead from a heart attack. If a powerboat struck it at an estimated 40
mph, don't you think that possibly the powerboat would be at least
partially to blame for the collision? I think there is an excellent
chance that they would be found to be more to blame than the unmanned
sailboat.