49 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

Thanks for that. Didn't realise the rule was different at sea in Thailand.

I'm fairly sure international maritime regs, and in Australia,  state that you pass to the starboard.

No wonder there are so many collisions here.

you have two internationally recognized navigation/driving systems,

IALA-A and IALA-B

Most countries in the East apply IALA-B (left-hand-drive)

Europe and Americas IALA-A (right-hand-drive)

 

But Thailand employs IALA-A in all inland waterways.

 

there are no international maritime regs for vessels, that is just a very common misunderstanding

of the legal situation for the rulez.

all maritime regs are national regs but they are pretty well harmonized world wide

 

I do not understand what you mean by "pass to starboard",

but in a right-hand-drive-system (IALA-A) approaching traffic would normally

pass on your left hand side, also called red-to-red

 

opposite, in IALA-B systems, meeting traffic pass on your right hand side, green to green

 

what I see in Bangkok +++ is that drivers understand this and drive accordingly

 

---

I have been visiting Koh Chiang and Koh Payham in western Thailand a zillion times,

what I see in the Ranong area is that longtail boat drivers understand the rulez and

drive accordingly, drivers of larger displacement ferries understand the rulez and

drive accordingly,

speedboat drivers, the unruly mob, drive all over the place

---

Having rambled about the above

I would never go near a speed boat anywhere along the Eastern Seabed.

Or anywhere around Phuket Samui Full moon party place.

Not safe.

Well, whenever in Pattaya I visit Bali Hai and study the hauled speedboats along the beach,

I feel the hull surface

I knock on the hull and the bottom and listen to the sound

I study the chines

I find and study cracks in the fibre coating

I look feel and knock where different parts of the body are put together,

transom-bottom + bottom-hull + transom-hull

am not at all impressed, not safe.

 

I stay away.

 

 

 

 

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