Best practices for entering a new harbor

[Kings Gambit]

Not mentioned yet, and certainly not a routine strategy, is the possibility of escort by the harbor master or harbor patrol. After the Pacific tsunami of March 2014 caused by the earthquake at Fukushima, the channel markers of the approach to Ventura Harbor were either washed away or displaced.

We were traveling Long Beach to Ventura that next day. I radioed Ventura to get the status of the harbor entrance. The HM said that it was safe to enter but it was, to be honest, still a little bit dicey, plus one of the markers was out of place and two others had gone missing. These were red markers that kept you off the shoals along channel’s leeward boundary. Sensing my apprehension, I suppose, the HM offered to meet me seaward of the sea buoy, R2, and escort me safely into harbor. I declined b/c we were just abeam Channel Islands Harbor with a better entrance, so we went in there. The next day we went on to Ventura Harbor and got in w/o need for escort.

I supposed then, after that experience, it was OK for a boater to request escort. Thinking about fog now. I’m sure they’d rather come escort you than drag you off the shoals.

 

[All U Get]

And how do you know the boat you are following is being driven by a sober competent person?

Good point, but then he shouldn’t stop too quick with me behind him.

 

[All U Get]

I also review the tide chart when in thin water like Georgia’s ICW. Mid to high plus 1 hour then anchor. It took us a week from Charleston to St. Mary’s but we never saw less than 9 feet. We did dredge a row as we hauled out on the York River, Va. The depth reading was 6.8 feet and as we were raised by the travel lift, mud was dropping off the bottom of the keel.

 

[capta]

Good point, but then he shouldn’t stop too quick with me behind him.

Unless he hits something.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Is Waggoners still available as a free download? Hope so, thats an amazing reference for free.

Sorry, nope, not anymore. The new owner is a troglodyte and doesn't understand the power of the internet. Most folks I know here downloaded it but ALSO bought the hard copy. Now they stopped buying it at all. Might have a little to do with the fact that except they changed the hailing channel for marinas, I showed them not much has changed since my 2000 version!!! Les Troyer gifted me his "old" 2014 edition. I have the 2014 hard copy on the boat, the 2000 is at home and I have the last downloaded 2016 on my laptop.

 

[Stu Jackson]

drop a few waypoints to guide yourself out the next day.

I use my own tracks for that. I find them easier to follow than switching waypoints in close proximity.

 

[All U Get]

Unless he hits something.

Ha ha ha, then he becomes an aide to navigation.

 

[Jackdaw]

Unless he hits something.

Doesn’t even make the chart.

 

[Jackdaw]

I use my own tracks for that. I find them easier to follow than switching waypoints in close proximity.

This often works quite well, especially because the repeatable/relative accuracy of GPS is higher than it’s absolute positional accuracy.

But talk about your head in the plotter!!! ;^)

 

[dlochner]

I use my own tracks for that. I find them easier to follow than switching waypoints in close proximity.

That works if you have been there before.

 

[Jackdaw]

Here is another best practice we use, and we took it from the aviation business. Its the notion of the 'sterile cockpit'. Descending below 10k feet, pilots drop the chit-chat and only talk about landing the plane. We do the same, the boundary depending on the complexity of the harbor and how well we know it. At WYC our SOP is 'no talking while we're docking' when we cross the entrance buoys to the marina. At bigger harbors with mixed traffic, much father out. Only talk involves arrival and boat safety.

 

[capta]

Doesn’t even make the chart.

We got pics covering the whole wreck, from the week she hit until March 2019.
Ship was sinking in poor weather. Captain chose to put her there instead of having her sink at sea. Saved the crew and cargo. End of story.

 

[Jackdaw]

We got pics covering the whole wreck, from the week she hit until March 2019.
Ship was sinking in poor weather. Captain chose to put her there instead of having her sink at sea. Saved the crew and cargo. End of story.

Good to know the back story. Seemed improbable that they simply ran aground there, with the 360 flasher 400 feet away.

 

[jon hansen]

the hindsight thinking about the edmund fitzgerald sinking up here on the great lakes was that knowing he was in deep trouble he would have drove the boat full speed ahead straight up on the sand beach on whitefish point. he was just 15 miles away.
years earlier, a US steel boat was rammed by a salty in the mac straights. the captain tried to save the ship. she sank and killed most of the crew, but the captain lived. they were just a mile from shore. most of the crew were from the same town as was the captain. he was hated for the rest of his life. hind sight was he should have beached the boat.

 

[Stu Jackson]

This often works quite well, especially because the repeatable/relative accuracy of GPS is higher than it’s absolute positional accuracy.

But talk about your head in the plotter!!! ;^)

Nope. I don't have a chartplotter. I use a Garmin GPSMap 76Cx handheld. I am NOT staring at a big screen TV in front of my helm, and most times I run my boat from in front of the wheel.

I have made the point in the past that a handheld is just a mini-chartplotter but those big screen guys haven't let me get away with it!

 

[Jackdaw]

Also check pilot guides for any approach formalities, in particular if there is a TSS or a harbormaster that must be contacted before entering a harbor. This is common in Europe, in particular where there are high speed ferries.

Had a couple of PMs asking about TSS, So... TSS are Traffic Seperation Schemes, 'roads' and rules create to keep traffic safe in busy waters. There is a basic set of rules common to most, like crossing at 90 degree headings to the lane, and some that are specific to the area, like if you must contact before doing so. Near Athens the Saronic Gulf TSS does not mandate contact, but I might contact the RICARDA via a DSC call and let them know I see them, and plan to take their transom as I cross. A common curtesy that might save some heartburn on their bridge when they see us moving toward them. They are 800 feel long and moving at 15 knots.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Here's a good example (link below) of likely not paying close enough attention on entering a new harbor; or perhaps one that you've visited previously but where something has changed. After reading this report I checked Coast Pilot 7, Chapter 5 (Channel Islands) which is dated May 26, 2019; just a few days ago. Regarding Harbor Reefs it said: "The reef is marked by a light on the east side and a lighted buoy on the west side." So, previously, there was a several-meters-high pole on the east side with a white flashing light that could be seen well. That is evidently what was destroyed by winter storms, and that, evidently, is what CP is referring to. Now there is a white BUOY on the east side with a flashing light very near the water. Thus, the very latest version of CP 7 is evidently not up to date. But who reads it?

I've passed that reef many times entering and departing Isthmus Cove. The passage between it and the rocky shore to port (east) would seem narrow and "off center" to someone coming in from the Channel. So, it's not surprising that boaters would favor passing that shore a bit further west, which is what puts them right on top of the submerged reef. At the typical level of boater skill out there today, who would interpret a small flashing light on the surface of the water as a hazard marker? You'd definitely have to be looking at your chart, but you still would not see the high pole marker w/ flashing light indicated as being there.

https://www.thelog.com/local/boater-beware-isthmus-reef-strikes-again/

 

[All U Get]

How are you getting those chart pictures to post?

I like when I race at 6 kts to cross while they throttle up and tell me they can’t change speed or direction.

 

[Kings Gambit]

The TSS is mostly for the "Big Bruisers" transiting along the coast between commercial ports of entry. We have a couple of sets here at Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. The recreational boaters are not bound by rules regarding the traffic scheme beyond the usual COLREGS as far as I know. However, one does not want to be inside the boundaries long, although the purple strip is a "divider" between the lanes. So if you're in there you wouldn't be fouling the commercial traffic. It's good to know that the Bruisers will follow the lanes--that tells you where they will go. If you are not in a lane with a ship approaching, then you would not be at risk of being run over with an unexpected (to you) course change of the ship.

 

[Jackdaw]

The TSS is mostly for the "Big Bruisers" transiting along the coast between commercial ports of entry. We have a couple of sets here at Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. The recreational boaters are not bound by rules regarding the traffic scheme beyond the usual COLREGS as far as I know. However, one does not want to be inside the boundaries long, although the purple strip is a "divider" between the lanes. So if you're in there you wouldn't be fouling the commercial traffic. It's good to know that the Bruisers will follow the lanes--that tells you where they will go. If you are not in a lane with a ship approaching, then you would not be at risk of being run over with an unexpected (to you) course change of the ship.

Think that they are, just like in most places.
According to the SoCal TSS,
https://www.mxsocal.org/assets/usermanual.pdf

Its says that all vessels (even so-called 'non participants') MUST follow COLRREGS TSS rule 10, which in part says:
(c) A vessel shall, so far as practicable, avoid crossing traffic lanes but if obliged to do so shall cross on a heading as nearly as practicable at right angles to the general direction of traffic flow.

This is very typical.