Kids couldn’t escape fatal barge hit

With legal action underway following the youth sailing program accident that killed three people in Miami, Peter Swanson reviews some of the information in this report for Loose Cannon:

The Hobie catamaran run down by a barge late last month was effectively adrift and unable to get out of the way, even though her skipper could see the 200-ton commercial combo coming at them, according to the lawyer suing on behalf of one of the victims.

The barge ran over the 17-foot Hobie, capsizing it and resulting in the deaths of three girls, ages 7, 10 and 13, who had been learning how to sail. They were participants in a sailing program sponsored by the Miami Yacht Club and under the tutelage of a 19-year-old camp counselor.

Attorney Judd Rosen of Miami represents one of the survivors, a nine-year-old. (Six were on board. The counselor and a fifth girl also survived.)

Rosen said the engineless Hobie was unable to maneuver to avoid the barge because of light air. “They could see the barge. They just couldn’t move the boat to get out of the way,” he said. – Full report