Saw this horrific news this morning . The tragic death of Artem Akimov, the leader of the Russian RS:X Youth Team. My son was a friend of Artem and raced with him on numerous occasions.I will always remember his always smiling face .I can still clearly picture Artem playing fusball with Alex in France 18 months ago like it was yesterday . My condolences to his family. He will be sadly missed in Techno and RSX communities. RIP

[admin: link removed]

That is terrible news, so sorry for his family. The RSX and Techno communities sound shattered by the news, only 18 years old. RIP

KA360, I think you should edit your post and remove that link in respect to the family.

Select to expand quote

jusavina said..
KA360, I think you should edit your post and remove that link in respect to the family.

It will no longer let me, Maybe Laurie can do that.

That boat looks like it was moving real fast. It is not that tall and with a hydrofoil likely quiet as well which likely explains why the windsurfer did not see or hear the boat. Accident waiting to happen by the looks of it.

Had it been a larger ferry travelling at that speed the accident would very likely not have happened.

RIP Artem

Select to expand quote

KA360 said..

jusavina said..
KA360, I think you should edit your post and remove that link in respect to the family.

It will no longer let me, Maybe Laurie can do that.

Sad to hear and see someone so young.
The video is not graphic , it's very far away . It could create awareness on our part.
sailing at Hood River Oregon, barges are common, I still have a huge respect for looking for them, after 1 scary episode .i would leave the video .

I agree with forceten. Leaving the link to the video may help to save someone else from a similar fate in the future. It seems hard to imagine that a windsurfer in this situation would not see the ferry, but it happened to a very good windsurfer at a spot that he was familiar with - so it could happen to anyone!
I (hopefully) will remember this video every time when crossing our shipping channel, which also has high-speed ferries, and be even more cautious then before.

Horrible accident

But I'm kind of surprised by that offical statement.
"In this case, the MOE stated that the surfer violated the Maritime Code by approaching the route of the ships"


As a sailor he would have had right of way. If it would have been a small sailing dinghy crossing the ferry, the ferry would have had to stop too. If the ferry can't stop in time well than the ferry was not going at safe speed and did not have proper lookout.


source: colreg (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea)
"(a). The word "vessel" includes every description of water craft, including non-displacement craft, WIG craft and seaplanes, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water."

"(a). A power-driven vessel underway shall keep out of the way of:
(iv). a sailing vessel. "

But this happened in russia, so I'm not surprised by the government statement :/

It is the same with cars and bikes. Just because you have the way of right with your bicycle does not mean that no car will hit you. Always expect the failure of others :/

My condolences, a sad time indeed.
In Nsw there is the "priority over sail" orange diamond for vessels such as Sydney ferries.
Is there such a thing there?

It's a shipping channel - Sail craft don't have right of way, nor do power craft crossing perpendicular to the channel

If you are crossing a shipping channel you have to give way to all vessels

Rivers and channels

A boat must always be navigated on the starboard side (right) of a river or channel.

I read that hydrofoil boat has huge blindspots when it's up on the foil.

Select to expand quote

ausbinny said..
It's a shipping channel - Sail craft don't have right of way, nor do power craft crossing perpendicular to the channel

If you are crossing a shipping channel you have to give way to all vessels

Rivers and channels

A boat must always be navigated on the starboard side (right) of a river or channel.

Shipping channels don't matter in the colregs, all vessels are equal, even leisure crafts. And colregs even apply to you in australia

www.msq.qld.gov.au/Safety/Collision-regulations
"All boats using the waterways must thoroughly understand and apply the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (Colregs)."

You can read the colregs here
www.jag.navy.mil/distrib/instructions/COLREG-1972.pdf

It is only important if the other ship is restricted by draft. But only very few ships are actually restricted by draft, even in narrow channels, usually that would be tankers or cargo vessels that are accompanied by tugs.
Next time you are at the ocean or river try to find a ship with the following symbols, either a black cylinder during daytime or 3 red lights atop of each other, I doubt you find many (that is the sign for a vessel restricted by its draft).



"(b). A vessel of less than 20 metres in length or a sailing vessel shall not impede the passage of a vessel which can safely navigate only within a narrow channel or fairway. "

so you can cross a small ferry all day but you should not cross a big tanker in the channel. And even if you crossed a big tanker they would probably still still be in a lot of trouble if they went just a little too fast for the situation.
If this accident happened outside of russia the ferry captain would be in jail.



Would be nice if more people would read about this stuff.. it also has some common sence parts about safe speed and look-out.
Pretty much always both parties will get the blame if a collision happens at sea. It is not like driving a car where only one person can be at fault for a accident.

After watching the video yesterday i am almost too scared to windsurf again on waters that are popular with boats.

Pelican Point - I would not even consider in the slightest.

With your back to the wind you are obstructed looking in a downwind direction by your sail - this is the danger side as you are largely putting the onus on the person navigating the boat to do the right thing.

A boat heading upwind - the noise it makes will also be going against the wind so you are unlikely to hear it till it's too late and likely not at all.

For busy waters frequented by windsurfers / kite surfers etc perhaps a speed reduction to 10 knots by boats should apply.

Also,some sort of beeping noise that can be heard up to a minimum of 200 - 300 metres away should be fitted to all boats and must be turned on when sailing through narrow channels like rivers etc.

With those two legal requirements the accident would very likely have been avoided.

This young sailor's death is certainly a most tragic event. My sincere condolences to his family.

Can we please discuss the ColRegs in a separate post. This terrible event raises some very important safety issues, but I think it would dishonour this young man's memory to discuss them here.

I disagree with removing the video. It is not disrespecting Artem or his family.

It will bring much needed awareness to other windsurfers of the dangers of boats

If it saves only one person from being on the end of another collision with a boat then I'm sure that is what Artem would have wanted.

I find it hard to believe I'd miss seeing something so big when sailing along . I've never come close to anything apart from a kiter that doesn't give way .
Please don't go hating me , it is with abosolute sadness that this happened .
It just goes to show that you think you've got it covered ....

Select to expand quote

MikeyS said..
This young sailor's death is certainly a most tragic event. My sincere condolences to his family.

Can we please discuss the ColRegs in a separate post. This terrible event raises some very important safety issues, but I think it would dishonour this young man's memory to discuss them here.

Agreed.. there is nothing to discuss about them.. the rules are what they are and they can't be interpretated in a different way. The problem is just that people don't even know the rules.


This tragic accident is also a reminder that you should always expect failures of others, we windsurfer should keep that in mind because we are the ones who will be hurt.. not the boats or the people on board.

As a windsurfing instructor, we are ALWAYS hitting very hard on safety. As a sailing craft, yes, we have right-of-way over powered craft in most situations. The problem is, right-of-way does not keep you uninjured or alive if there is a collision.

Just ASSUME the powered craft does not see you, and sail accordingly.

By the way, big heavy barges on the Columbia River, when in their shipping lanes, do indeed have right-of-way for the simple reason that they cannot stop within a short distance. I don't have the regulation in front of me, but that is how those encounters are adjudged if it ever gets into a legal tussle.

So, rubber-neck your surroundings and just ASSUME nobody else out there sees you. That includes other windsp?rtler.

May the memory of Artem be a blessing.