Opinion ID: 700042
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Overtaking or crossing situation

Text: 10 Paterakis first challenges the district court's finding that the VASSILIOS was required to give way to the VIRGINIA. When two ships are on converging courses, their respective duties are determined according to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), 33 foll. U.S.C. Sec. 1602. Which vessel has the duty to give way depends on how the vessels are approaching each other. An overtaking situation exists when one vessel com[es] up with another vessel from a direction more than 22.5 degrees abaft her beam. COLREGS, Rule 13. Technically, an overtaking situation exists when the target angle 4 between the two vessels is greater than 112.5 degrees. Otherwise, a crossing situation exists. 5 When an overtaking situation exists, the vessel approaching from behind must give way to the forward vessel. COLREGS, Rule 13. In a crossing situation, the vessel which has the other on her starboard side must give way. COLREGS, Rule 15. The vessel that has the duty to yield is called the give-way vessel, and the other the stand-on vessel. The parties agree that the VIRGINIA and VASSILIOS were situated so that the VASSILIOS was the give-way vessel if a crossing situation existed, and the VIRGINIA was the give-way vessel if an overtaking situation existed. Therefore, a critical issue at trial was the target angle between the VIRGINIA and the VASSILIOS. 11 At trial, Paterakis' argument that an overtaking situation existed was based on the testimony of his expert witness, Captain Cockcroft. Cockcroft testified that the VASSILIOS turned to starboard at 0428, and that its path from the point of its turn to the point of collision would have created a target angle of 113 degrees, and thus an overtaking situation. The United States' expert, Captain Hickey, testified that the radar readings from the VIRGINIA showed that the VASSILIOS turned at 0439, and that the resulting target angle would have been 55 degrees, creating a crossing situation. Hickey's scenario would have required the VASSILIOS to have traveled at nine knots from the point of its turn to the collision site. Ioannis Paterakis, the captain of the VASSILIOS, testified that his vessel had a maximum speed of five or six knots. 12 The district court determined that a crossing situation existed, and that the VASSILIOS therefore had the duty to yield. Whether an over-taking situation exists is a factual issue that we review only for clear error. Newby v. F/V Kristen Gail, 937 F.2d 1439, 1441 (9th Cir.1991). We see no reason to disturb the district court's finding. The determination of the time the VASSILIOS turned simply involved a credibility judgment by the district court. The district court explicitly chose to believe Hickey, whose testimony was corroborated by the radar readings from the VIRGINIA, rather than Cockcroft. It explicitly discredited Paterakis' testimony regarding the maximum speed of the VASSILIOS. Furthermore, Captain Hickey testified, and the district court found, that even if the VASSILIOS turned at 0428, the resulting target angle would have been only 109 degrees, or just shy of the 112.5 degrees required for an overtaking situation. Accordingly, the district court did not err in finding that a crossing, rather than overtaking situation, existed and that the VASSILIOS therefore had the duty to give way to the VIRGINIA.