On August 30, 2016, just before 6PM, a commuter ferry collided with a group of nine kayakers, shortly after departing from the NY Waterway terminal at 39th Street on the Hudson River in Manhattan. Four of the kayakers were injured included the group guide who suffered a nearly severed arm. Now, the Coast Guard’s report on the accident concludes that blame for the accident was shared by all parties.
The Coast Guard faulted the kayakers, a group organized and led by Manhattan Kayak Company, for a lack of communication with the ferry operators, NY Waterway. The Coast Guard determined that Manhattan Kayak Company acted negligently “by not taking action early in the trip to avoid collision and not notifying ferry operator they would be traveling in the area.” The leader of the group of kayakers did not have a marine radio, so did not have the means to make the ferry captain aware of their presence.
The Coast Guard also faulted the captain of the ferry, Jersey City, who was blinded by sun glare at the time of the accident and could not see the group of kayakers. The report concluded that “the vessel captain did not maintain a safe speed or a lookout once the sun glare existed and was also at fault in the incident.”
The area in which the collision took place is particularly congested. The West Midtown Ferry Terminal at Piers 78 and 79 is used by NY Waterway ferries and is one of the busier terminals on the Hudson, while three block away, Circle line boats operate from Pier 83. Pier 84, only one block away, is the largest public pier on the Hudson and was designed to allow for human powered craft — kayaks and rowboats. Manhattan Kayak Company operates from Pier 84.
First off, I believe finding fault in both parties is not a wrong finding. I have not seen the report yet, haven’t had time to look yet.
However, you point out that the kayak leader did not have a marine radio. So what? While this may have eased communication, or have been used to be able to communicate with the ferry at some point prior to the accident, you have left out an important fact. Regardless, there are other means of signaling. A whistle, air horn or other suitable sound making device (as required on board any vessel as per 33 CFR 83.33) could have been used in an attemp to contact the commercial vessel.
Furthermore, as per 33 CFR 83.36, any signal, whether light or sound, may be made as long as it’s not confusable with a standard signal.
I do think the blame on this accident is fair to be shared by both parties. It was an accident chain that both parties allowed to build. However, the Coast Guard should have called out the kayakers for not following the above mentioned CFR’s, if that is the case. Light and sound making devices are usually immensely simple for boats under 39′ in length. Their use hopefully requires no training, and they are immensely simple to understand.
Simply following the law regarding minimum safety equipment, which in this case should be fairly common sense, could have easily averted this incedent.
I have kayaked with the NY Waterway ferries and am reasonably confident a VHF radio was the only effective means of communicating with the ferry captain.
The ferry terminal is one of the busiest on the Hudson, with boats pulling in and out constantly. The ferry boats are bow loaders so they don’t tie up. They use their engines to hold the boat against the dock while passengers are lading and unloading. There are five or six slips, side by side at the Pier 79 terminal, and at 6 PM on a weekday are all likely to be loading or discharging passengers. The terminal is also on the West side highway. The sound of the ferry boat engines as well as traffic noise make the loudest whistles and horns close to useless.
The kayakers were following the accepted practice of staying bunched together so as to make as large and visible a target as possible. The problem is that the captain was blinded by the glare of the sun off the water. The kayakers waved their paddles at him but he couldn’t see them.
As audible and visual signals were not effective, the only effective means of communicating with the ferry captain would have been by VHF radio. Whenever I kayak in the Hudson I always have a handheld radio clipped to my PDF. To lead a commercial kayak tour past an extremely busy ferry terminal without a radio is a very bad idea, as this collision demonstrates.
As an escort on trips for the Downtown Boathouse, I was sent ahead of the group (with a radio) by the trip leader, to make sure that the group could pass safely. It would seem some protocol need be established to assure that kayakers, and other small craft, may traverse these areas safely.