Navigation anomolies
- Thread starter higgs
- Start date
Another fog story: On a club cruise to CT the group was planning to trip back to LI the night before our departure. Fog was predicted. I had radar on my 356. I was asked when I was leaving in the am because boats without radar wanted to follow. I said, "When the fog lifts. I don't leave the dock in fog". No one was happy with that. I had previously learned from professional mariners that amateurs out in fog were a hazard to them and were not appreciated. I waited. Many left in fog. Everyone made it. I sailed in sunshine and good visibility. They had a scary trip and had to deal with the ferries in Plumb Gut (Terrifying). I don't travel in groups anymore.
I have done numerous foggy trips, but on my own boat with proper preparations. All you really need is a chart, a depth sounder, a compass, a radar reflector, and a radio. My first fog encounter was the worst I have had. We could hear a freighter, the 572 ft EW Holloway (now scrapped), and were able to raise him on the VHF and he told us we had gone inside his radar. He gave us a course and stayed in touch to avoid a collision. We made it into harbor with no other drama. This was back in the days when radio communication was switching to VHF and one had to buy a separate crystal for each frequency so most of us only had a handful of stations - probably only 3 or 4. There was no GPS or loran and no pleasure boats had radar. I'm old.
I'm from a vintage when there were no chart plotters, no gps, no loran, no radar on private yachts. Those things are nice, but you need to have the skills to navigate without them. We did just that. Could you?
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 23,505
Higgs raises a good question. It is a skill that you can learn. Once learned you can practice. You can teach others. That is the way to pay it forward.
It is a learnable skill. I love the chart plotters and radars, but we need to be able to navigate w/o electronics.
With my first hand held Garmin GPS's I was locating land marks on a 20 acre site in Long Island city NY. When I entered the lat long onto a USGS map, I was in the middle of the East River. It was the datum. Re-set to NAD 83 and voila back on land. This was in 2002 with earlier GPS's. First one just gave lat long no mapping. Still using one I bought in 2002 and it has the best marine charts. Use it in Florida to map out shallows in Boca Ciega bay. Just mark every time the keel scrapes bottom. A band of marks show 3.5 feet, my draft, from high to low tide. Knowing the tide I visually interpolate the contour to stay off the bottom.
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 23,505
You guys...
Not saying I have experienced it... But I am cautiously optimistic and a bit frightened of such an outcome.
Florida tide change... what 24 inches...during a full moon... Explore some water like Nova Scotia or Vancouver Island... Anchor in 12 feet of water short scope and discover your boat lying on it's side on a sand bar at normal low tide. Your talking OOPS... I need to break out the chart and check the DATUM time.
Not saying I have experienced it... But I am cautiously optimistic and a bit frightened of such an outcome.
My other boat is in NY with 5 foot tides. At a floating dock so no worries. The anchor that came with the boat is still in a plastic bag. If I need to do something that will take some time, I hove to for a while. I haven't anchored a boat since 1990 and then only once. Don't need to think about grounding in the Hudson as I know where not to go. With 2' 8" draft there aren't many places I can't go. Still check the GPS to make sure my eyes aren't fooling me.
NotCook
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- Dec 29, 2008
- 806
Yup, it’s called “under the hood”. It’s part of the requirement for getting an instrument rating. For that matter, it’s also a requirement for getting your license, but in that case it is to make sure you can identify and recovery from unusual attitudes despite spacial disorientation, by the use of instruments only.
(Yes, an oversimplification...)
NotCook
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- Dec 29, 2008
- 806
