Are you afraid of the fog?
- Thread starter Ken Cross
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I am north of you off the northeast coast of New Brunswick. I am also very old school, no GPS, a watch and a knot stick. I have a Macgregor 26. It is impossible not to be out in fog occasionally.Amen, I am not at all afraid of fog. I am however afraid of the morons who would never ever be out in the fog if it were not for their GPS.. It is NOT the fog I am afraid of but I am afraid of morons...
Here's my take... If you did not venture out in the fog BEFORE electronics such as GPS, radar and AIS you have no business being out there solely because of them...
In fog, the binoculars are always at the ready, lights on, occasional complete stops and listen if we are on motor, half speed, on sail reefed or jib only, horn every now and then. Radar reflector and we stay away from shipping lanes. We always wear our lifejackets. Am I afraid - no but cautious.
But once we were out a bit and got caught with a sudden zero wind with the ocean like glass and fog so thick there was about 30 feet visibility. Dead slow on the motor. Did all of the above including shouting ahoy occasionally when we stopped. Bit of a surprise, to pass within 20 feet of an idiot fishing in a 16fter with no lights, no horn, nothing! He must of thought it was a good time to go out a bit to fish, completely unexpected.
As all sailors know, the unexpected happens so be prepared for it.
Here's a photo taken two mornings ago at about 7:45, it's the M/V Macuru Arrow and is 225M long (~738 ft.) the ship is about 500 - 600 feet from our house with a trailing tug. It was only within sight for a couple of minutes, but we heard it coming for the better part of an hour beforehand.
A thread that I started recently drew several replies that on a sailing trip, one would do well to not try sticking to a particular schedule. Fog would be the FIRST thing that would keep me at the dock or would cause me to change plans (and I did just that to stop in Anacortes rather than cross Rosario Straight in the fog this past August).
A thread that I started recently drew several replies that on a sailing trip, one would do well to not try sticking to a particular schedule. Fog would be the FIRST thing that would keep me at the dock or would cause me to change plans (and I did just that to stop in Anacortes rather than cross Rosario Straight in the fog this past August).
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I heartily second the ideas put forth here by Stu! most the latter, "its not what you know how to do, its the less prudent , less considerate, less capable gent, in the high dollar yacht who certainly did not intend to split your boat like firewood, and most assuredly is quite the repentant; AFTER!!
Yes, it is definitely the boaters going too fast in fog that scares me, not so much the fog. We had a guy die when a 40+' powerboat, traveling way too fast, rammed into the shoreline in very poor visibility. The driver now faces homicide charges in an upcoming court date. His alleged response was that there was trouble with the electronics and they were supposed to be driving the boat. The boat was equipped with auto pilot, radar, gps and a night vision camera, all of which didn't save the life of the guy riding along. What a bogus response or excuse, I thought. I have been in thick fog (sometimes not by choice) and have negotiated shipping lanes while racing (and almost got run over) and on power boats trying to find my way to my destination with lots of fishermen out there doing their thing. It would be crazy for me on a powerboat to have any speed underway in poor to nill visibility. So, putt along I did and no one got hurt.
Learning to sail on SF Bay, long before small craft radar was available; fog was pretty much the standard. We learned to identify the navigation marks by their sounds and developed an intuition for what was around. On one trip we sailed from Nova Scotia to Kingston, Ontario, in fog so thick we couldn't see the bow from the cockpit; not once on the trip.
I love fog. It may be very tiring, requiring maximum attention and diligence, but the feeling of satisfaction and achievement when you complete a voyage and slide alongside a dock you can't see until you touch it (using radar), is hard to beat. It's quiet, peaceful and a bit scary, but fun at the same time.
Read the preface to the American Practical Navigator about the author's exploits in fog, back in the days of sail. Amazing!
I love fog. It may be very tiring, requiring maximum attention and diligence, but the feeling of satisfaction and achievement when you complete a voyage and slide alongside a dock you can't see until you touch it (using radar), is hard to beat. It's quiet, peaceful and a bit scary, but fun at the same time.
Read the preface to the American Practical Navigator about the author's exploits in fog, back in the days of sail. Amazing!
I've had two unpleasant experiences: one as a captain and the other as crew. Fortunatley as a captain, I shut everthing down once I didn't feel safe; threw the hook and waited it out. As crew, we met a barge on the Ten-Tom and ended up grounding. Once the behemoth passed and the water levels restored themselves we were able to rock the diesel enough to release our selves.
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