I can't agree with that.
Maybe the officer of the clock should have logged it but you have to remember he had every reason to believe that he had passed close to a yacht; nothing more.
Then he and the lookout saw the lights of the yacht astern and they made the assumption that there was nothing more to worry about. After all, these ferries and other vessels in those waters have to put up with idiot yacht and speedboat owners pushing their luck with close calls all the time.
Last Friday, a large containership was coming up the Thron Channel into Southampton and the Southapton Patrol boat had to do a very swift U turn to intercept and turn back a large yacht that had turned 90 degrees and was heading straight across the channel and the path of the container ship.
If a captain had to go about and look to see if anything had happened every time they pass a yacht in the dark, the ferries would never get beyond the Isle of Wight.
I think the MAIB report is typical of modern incident investigations; it seems to be driven by an absolute need to find someone, any one and the more the merrier, to blame.
In the end, the report didn't really blame anybody so I am not sure what evidence they will provide to back up the manslaughter charges against the officer.
The report also treated the issue of the possibility of blame on board the yacht very delicately.
All the terms used in describing the yacht's crew, journey, fitness of equipment etc were very "iffy" and woolly.
I have sailed across the Med from the southern coast of Spain in a yacht of similar size with really poor electrics, rubbish lights etc and I know what it is like when a large ferry comes hurtling round the corner. In my case, my mate and I left the coast as it was going dark and about an hour after wading through the smaller fishing boats, we found ourselves in the track of the ferries going round the Spanish coast toward Malaga. It was difficult to figure out the exact track of the ferries as they were constantly changing as they followed the coast. So we got out of the way. Still, the ferries passed close enough to leave the yacht stinking of diesel fumes!
I am convinced the MAIB report is the best effort to come up with a scapegoat and take care it is not too critical of the yacht crew.
By the way, the ferry was in no hurry to get home; it was just leaving Portsmouth at the start of a 3 day round trip.
Kelvin