What the heck is going on here?

I think I know what's going on but I was wondering what you all think the issue is here.

We were coming in to Harbour Island the other day and this large steel trawler was following us in. Now I know the vessels name and manufacturer but I'm not going to post it.

The boat exhibited the steering behavior you see in the videos the whole way into HI and it was not as you can also see a rough day.

In fact I didn't get a chance to catch some of the more extreme course changes and extreme listing it was doing as it turned back and forth in our wake. When our pilot finally asked the skipper if he was having steering issues he said "No this boats always been hard to steer". To say the least.

When I spoke to the pilot again two days later after he'd lead the boat back out, he said the skipper stated the same thing. But the boat steered a bit better as they where using the autopilot.

I can't even imagine what it's like to ride on it hour after hour slewing back and forth while tilting from side to side. Nor can I imagine how hard the autopilot must be working trying to keep the thing in a straight line.

After what I witnessed I'd have handed the thing back to the builder and told them to call me when they've fixed or return my money if they can't.

What do you folks think?

Hmm... It should just go to my Photobucket. That's the way it's worked in the past. Sorry if this is not what is happening.

It was the most amazing thing to watch this boat try to steer a straight line. I would just shoot over in one direction and the heel way over as the driver corrected towards the other direction.

The more I watched it the more it appeared to me that the CG was way off and it looked like it was bow steering.

This boat seemed to steer the same whether fast or slow. Shallow or deeper. And as I said, the skipper said, with out any sarcasm or humor in his voice, that it just steered badly. And he repeated that a couple of days later from what I was told.

This would not be the place you would allow a child or inexperienced person to man the helm. In some sections of the passage if you vear off towards one side or the other you could hit something.