Any suggestions for radios? Purchased set of cobra frs radios. Will not provide enough volume through the ear buds to hear on calm day let alone in windy conditions when we really need to communicate.
Communication from helm to bow
- Thread starter Tim Musolf
- Start date
My wife and I like hand signals, particularly for communicating from the bow to the helm. We have different (but similar) signals for pointing in a direction and "I want you to put the boat in that direction". We also trade places every so often for anchoring and docking, so we kinda know what is going to happen in each place.
What type of information or instructions are you passing from the helm to the bow?
What type of information or instructions are you passing from the helm to the bow?
Most often it's when to let ho the anchor. Sometimes when picking up a mooring which way to head etc.
add me to the hand signal person, I have tried several radios, headsets, and buds - and none are reliable for us. Hand signals are cheap too.
It takes about 10 minutes to teach someone the basics, and the Admiral has a whole vocabulary that we have developed over the past 30+ years or boating, many are used at home or traveling, as well.
It takes about 10 minutes to teach someone the basics, and the Admiral has a whole vocabulary that we have developed over the past 30+ years or boating, many are used at home or traveling, as well.
As a solo sailor, yelling, radios, hand signals, et al, has little affect on what Belle-Vie decides she wants to do at a given moment.
I would vote for handle signals. The reason being I was a crane driver in the war and I couldn't see shit, but my spotter could use hand signals and I could balance a 100 ton block on a cross tie, it's all in the agreed signals and most importantly the SPOTTER has gotta be good!!
I only know one hand signal. I never use it to communicate with my wife. Other drivers occasionally use it to communicate with me.
When to let go the anchor ... Helm person is in-charge. They motor (or sail, for the adventurous) around a spot and check the chart, depth sounder, etc. to figure out the target spot. Turn head-to-wind and idle the engine or luff-up as a signal to prepare anchor locker. Occasionally, the helm may shout out the depth if it's not apparent. When the boat stop moving, the bow person usually knows before the helm and let's go. When the chain runs out, the helm starts backing down very slowly. The bow decides the scope, so that person cleats off the rode whenever they like. We don't really have hand signals for this set of maneuvers, because we don't have information we need to pass.
Which way to head to a mooring, or up to the anchor line, or around an obstacle, is instructions from the bow to the helm. If it is directional, we use an extended finger like pointing out a MOB. If it means to motor to a spot, we put motion into a whole hand movement, like a karate chop. When the anchor chain is straight up-and-down and we want to hold position to give the windlass time to work, we move a fist up and down rapidly a few times. I've seen variations of these, but they're pretty common. The biggest problem is the bow person taking the time to make a clear signal while handling rode, clearing chain, tying off rode, etc. The helm has much more time.
I have a set of Motorola FRS that work well. I have them programmed and locked to one channel and one scramble and they have a VOX feature that I set and the entire radio is locked, none of the buttons work but the send. They chirp one another and you can ring the other to get attention. I turn them on, hang them around the binnacle and the other around the bowman's neck... work well. If I have experienced crew we use hand signals.
A friend introduced us to a bluetooth headset. We use have been using these: https://www.sena.com/product/sph10/ for several years. They're one of the best purchases that we ever made for the boat. We put the headsets on and connect via their intercom feature and then just have a normal conversation during the entire operation, whether docking, anchoring, or picking up a mooring buoy. I tried to go cheap on our first set, and they just didn't have sufficient range. Whoever is at the helm picks up some noise when the person on the bow is right up next to the headstay, but that's it. The cheaper model (with shorter range) would be all static and no conversation by the time we were more than half a boat length apart.
Know who's in charge. Anchoring, helmsman is in charge, giving commands to bow. A short yell is sufficient, like "drop it." Approaching a mooring, bow is in charge. Hand signals for continuous commands, like left or right as you're approaching a mooring. Helm should know to go slow, and when to try to stop. Bow can shout "we're on!"
Leaving a dock, discuss first. Then helm can direct to throw bow, breast, or stern lines.
I saw a captain dock a boat without ever saying a word. Deck hands looked to him, and he signaled with one, two, or three fingers. Very classy. I was on the boat, Shamrock V, an America's Cup J-boat, 120' on deck.
Leaving a dock, discuss first. Then helm can direct to throw bow, breast, or stern lines.
I saw a captain dock a boat without ever saying a word. Deck hands looked to him, and he signaled with one, two, or three fingers. Very classy. I was on the boat, Shamrock V, an America's Cup J-boat, 120' on deck.
A few years back when first boating we learned the hand signals but than saw these rabbit ears
at boat show and they are like ear mufffs and work great and take the 9 volt battery out when
not using them long term and even put lube on battery contacts and been using electric lub on all battery equipment on boat and RV for years now.
But they are great and make things so easy but I don't think on the market any more and now the new type are very $$$$$$$$$.
Nick
at boat show and they are like ear mufffs and work great and take the 9 volt battery out when
not using them long term and even put lube on battery contacts and been using electric lub on all battery equipment on boat and RV for years now.
But they are great and make things so easy but I don't think on the market any more and now the new type are very $$$$$$$$$.
Nick
We burned up two pair of headsets and I've learned to get the boat in tight before I follow any hand signal from my wife. Her focus has gotten better since we don't point to dolphins, jellyfish, or other women's fashion while we pick up a mooring. Hand signals usually are creative since the few we agreed to use frequently require more preciseness because just turning to port doesn't describe how we should feel. (Marry a school teacher and you have to have a staff meeting before any landing).
I used the crane signals a lot when I worked on bridges as a youth, very simple to learn. Many cruising friends have very simple signals that work well, we just haven't found the ones that expresses my wife's thoughts.
All U Get
I used the crane signals a lot when I worked on bridges as a youth, very simple to learn. Many cruising friends have very simple signals that work well, we just haven't found the ones that expresses my wife's thoughts.
All U Get
Mine too, Mr. Gambit. After reading the replies I figured I was doing things backwards. That's generally true of most things for me.
We generally use hand signals but I can see the utility of a headset when things hit the fan, in the middle of the night, in a thunderstorm.
We had such an experience a few years ago when a storm hit, in the middle of the nigh and the anchor dragged. Between the rain, the wind and the darkness, communication with the bow was tough to say the least, but we managed given that we had 4 experienced people on board. In the same scenario, with just my wife and I comms would have been almost impossible and a headset would definitively make things easier.
We had such an experience a few years ago when a storm hit, in the middle of the nigh and the anchor dragged. Between the rain, the wind and the darkness, communication with the bow was tough to say the least, but we managed given that we had 4 experienced people on board. In the same scenario, with just my wife and I comms would have been almost impossible and a headset would definitively make things easier.
With my old manual windlass, one hand was cranking the windlass and the other hand was spraying the mud off with the washdown hose. I had to drop trou to provide something to signal with...until I bought headsets. YMMV