So, I got back yesterday from Ensenada, Mexico where we picked up a second in this 65th race from Newport Beach. The loss of Aegean prompts this missive:
I had two new crew this year so I made myself the fifth 'floating' crew. It was a good idea. The new crew had an awful time at night sorting out what they were seeing. I've become used to it, but it's scary when you haven't experienced it a few times. We did three hours on and three off. I have tried four, but always come back to three.
Radar was a mystery to most. They could not figure out what range to set it and consistently were out way too far. At least it caused them to ask me what a target was.
I purchased Polar View but had a problem with it dropping the AIS feed. I have an inquiry to them. No problem with Open CPN or SeaClear. In general, the PC navigation was, in my estimation, much more useful than my older Raymarine chartplotter, but I trusted the Raymarine more.
My new night vision scope from Bushnell (Bushnell StealthView - Monocular 5 x 42) was a serious improvement over the older unit I had before. It was useful in finding the marina entrance and watching out for unlit buoys.
We had an issue with a tanker on the way back. We were motoring up the Mexican coast at night. The watch crew tracked a vessel from 12 miles to 4 and called me up. I put in an EBL on the radar and watched for a half hour as it marched right down to us. I put out a call on 16, but no response. I shut down Polar View which had no AIS info and pulled up Open CPN and the AIS info appeared. It was a tanker also headed north, but 30 degrees east, so we were closing. I went back to the cockpit and called him by name. He answered right away and said he did not see us when I gave him the coordinates. We shot a 500K spotlight at him; he replied he did see us now. He advised us to stay on course. I watched him fall off to 5 knots and fall behind us. We checked in twice more. The point is that to him we were invisible. I doubt a class B transmitter would have helped since he probably had them screened out. He was responsive and courteous. I was running a radar reflector.
I find a flat LED gun handle light to be invaluable at night to check sail trim. Being flat, it stays put. having a gun handle with trigger makes it easy to grasp and activate. It's a big deal. But, you still need a big candlepower spotlight too.
Anyhow, just some random thoughts to share.
I had two new crew this year so I made myself the fifth 'floating' crew. It was a good idea. The new crew had an awful time at night sorting out what they were seeing. I've become used to it, but it's scary when you haven't experienced it a few times. We did three hours on and three off. I have tried four, but always come back to three.
Radar was a mystery to most. They could not figure out what range to set it and consistently were out way too far. At least it caused them to ask me what a target was.
I purchased Polar View but had a problem with it dropping the AIS feed. I have an inquiry to them. No problem with Open CPN or SeaClear. In general, the PC navigation was, in my estimation, much more useful than my older Raymarine chartplotter, but I trusted the Raymarine more.
My new night vision scope from Bushnell (Bushnell StealthView - Monocular 5 x 42) was a serious improvement over the older unit I had before. It was useful in finding the marina entrance and watching out for unlit buoys.
We had an issue with a tanker on the way back. We were motoring up the Mexican coast at night. The watch crew tracked a vessel from 12 miles to 4 and called me up. I put in an EBL on the radar and watched for a half hour as it marched right down to us. I put out a call on 16, but no response. I shut down Polar View which had no AIS info and pulled up Open CPN and the AIS info appeared. It was a tanker also headed north, but 30 degrees east, so we were closing. I went back to the cockpit and called him by name. He answered right away and said he did not see us when I gave him the coordinates. We shot a 500K spotlight at him; he replied he did see us now. He advised us to stay on course. I watched him fall off to 5 knots and fall behind us. We checked in twice more. The point is that to him we were invisible. I doubt a class B transmitter would have helped since he probably had them screened out. He was responsive and courteous. I was running a radar reflector.
I find a flat LED gun handle light to be invaluable at night to check sail trim. Being flat, it stays put. having a gun handle with trigger makes it easy to grasp and activate. It's a big deal. But, you still need a big candlepower spotlight too.
Anyhow, just some random thoughts to share.
