What would you do?

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SailboatOwners.com

You and your spouse are out cruising on a busy waterway. With very little warning, fog moves in, reducing visibility to about an eighth of a mile. The nearest anchorage or marina is five miles away. Your boat is equipped with a hand-held gps, paper charts, an air horn with one canister of pressurized air, knot meter, and depth sounder, but no radar or electronic charts. What woukld you do? (Created by Gary Wyngarden)
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
I have given this much thought. I would/will

move as far to the right as the depth will allow and proceed slowly banging the bottom of a pot every minute or so. On random intervals I will sound the horn. ( mine is mouth blown and I have a bell ). If conditions permit, that is wind and current, I will stop the engine and listen at intervals. I may decide to anchor and light all of my kerosine lanterns,
 
C

Clay

Drop sail, motor the GPS route to anchorage

air horn in hand, short blast every min. The air can should give me the 60 blasts needed to make the 5 mile trip at 5 knots. I don't see a problem.
 
Jun 4, 2004
844
Hunter 28.5 Tolchester, MD
Chesapeake Fog

This has happened to us several times on the Chesapeake, typically in early spring or in early fall. If the 1/8 mile visibility is consistent and no worse; I'd get out of the chanel and as close to shore as seems reasonable and proceed at reduced speed parallel to the channel and within the 1/8th mile visibility of the shore. In my opinion, banging on a pot isn't going to be heard by a large vesssel or a power boat moving at any speed at all. I'd turn on the steaming light and Nav lights and have my 100,000 candle power search light and hand held radio at hand. Keep the air horn for warnings when you could actually see something. With visibility down to zero, I've moved close to shore and anchored near a jetty still getting rocked by wakes of power boats that were in the channel at cruise speed in the fog!
 
Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
There is a problem?

Unless you are in a shipping channel (which you should move out of immediately) just turn on the running lights and continue to sail to your destination while banging on a pot (I think 5 bangs in succession is the signal, I have a card at the boat) at 1 minute intervals. Keep a CONSTANT lookout. Since everybody else is scared to death and headed home, I'd try to stay out of the approach routes for the nearby harbors. The first 1/2 hour is the most dangrous as the powerboaters are all speeding to their harbors. Should really have a ships bell or VHF bell feature but we learned something today. You will not be able to sail very fast as fog does not form in wind speeds above around 7 kts. If the improbable happens and I do meet someone in the fog then I start the engine, start blowing the horn and avoid a collision. I like the fog, especially sailing in it, REAL peacefull as all the powerboats have gone in and took there wakes with them or didn't come out to begin with. Waves are flat, wind is light and you just drift along.
 
P

Peter

I dont see a problem

I dont see a problem Fog is Fog. Turn on running lights. If I had the course on the handheld gps I would just back track under power. If I was heading to that destination for the first time I would move over to where I could see the Shore Line and continue to my destination 1/8 mile is still pretty good visability. Listening for surf and boats. Its foggy alot around here!
 
S

Sunshine

Use the air horn.

banging a pot would be as useless as hand signals.
 
L

Larry

Fog and wind speed

With regard to "fog does not form in wind speeds above around 7 kts": You're wrong. Fog can and does form in fairly strong winds, I've seen it blow as high as 30 knots in dense fog along the Southern New England coast.
 
D

Dave

Use the Radio

Use the foghorn feature on your VHF with an outdoor speaker set on top of the deckhouse. This will broadcast the correct foghorn signal for your type of vessel. Dave
 
M

mike c

don't forget the vhf

Don't forget to broadcast a securite on vhf channels 16 AND 13. Both on the Hudson river as well as Long Island Sound where I sail there are many commercial vessles. I would also hope the all boaters (sail and power) are paying attention with both their eyes and ears..............
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Sunshine, I presume that you have never

been in the kitchen with a 2 year old child armed with a wooden spoon and a large pot. ;)
 
C

Clay

Pots, pans & wooden spoons, oh my ....

At that point, just put the wife upon the bow, I heard they don't shutup.
 
R

Richard E. Toth

Proceed with caution

I would put my head between my legs and kiss my........only kidding. I would immediately take in my sails, slow down and maintain my GPS course while plotting my course on a navigation chart, stay away from any commercial shipping lanes and use my fog horn.
 
N

Niels

"Brujo" (Hunter 356) Leaving Manhattan

Leaving the Battery for Sandy Hook in June (no radar), dense fog, currents mean you are committed to keep going. Listen to Ch 13 to find out what the big boats are doing, use GPS to hop from mark to mark, and when we heard that a tug with tow was heading in our direction we just circled a buoy (carefully, with a 2.5 kt current) until we actually saw it pass us. As soon as we could, nearing Sandy Hook, we got out of the shipping lane.
 
S

Steve Nelson

FFFFFOOOOGGGG !!!!

I am an avid sailer and tug boat captian and have seen lame and potentialy suisidel actions taken in the fog. One; the vhf # 13 security call would my first choice .In this situation you have vis. = to the loa of many ships and tugs boath pushing and pulling.If you are keeping a good watch with the eng. in stand by at low rpm for quick manuvers you should be OK! On one trip in the ICW pushing a dreadge with 0 vis. I chanced upon a 30 footer anchored smack dab in the middle of the channel with good anchoring for 3/4 miles on eather side. The lead barge had the BIG cutter head extended 75 feet out and just at the right heigth to make you wish you were safe at home. Use a radar reflector or two.GET IN THE THE SKINNEY WATER if the water is not deep enough I cant chew you up. Raido, lights, sound signels had better be loud our environment does not promote good hearing.
 
Sep 24, 1999
1,511
Hunter H46LE Sausalito
consult your spouse

I was in a worse situation about a dozen years ago ten miles west of Point Sur in the middle of the night, a stretch of coast where you can't tuck into an anchorage. The fog was so thick we couldn't even see the bow pulpit, and there was no wind so we had to motor, which reduced our ability to hear other vessels. We weren't going to make it to Monterey until 1000h the next morning. That's when the spouse decided it was time to move up to a boat with radar. I was quick to comply with that order.
 
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perry

Launch RADAR Reflector, turn on RADAR, sound VHF

If caught in the fog I would launch my RADAR reflector, turn on my lights, set the VHR to fog horn setting, move to starboard stay away from shipping channels - last but by no means least listen durring the quiet periods for those sailors who chose to ignore all safety measures and sail like there was no hazards at all. AND believe me there are plenty of them here!!!!
 
Jul 20, 2005
2,422
Whitby 55 Kemah, Tx
sail if you can

because it will enable you to hear much much better (Your ears are your best weapon in thick fog). If your engine is a hard starter, maybe start it and keep it at 1100 rpms with sails up. Those large ships can sneak up on you in a hurry if your running your engines. One night I was motoring through the entrence of the Houston Ship Channel in Galveston and all of a sudden I heard 5 horn blows on my 6. Scared the crap out of me. Sounded like he was right on my tail. I turned around and he was about 400 yards behind me but he wasn't lit up that much and I couldn't hear him at all. Of course, me motoring dead into a 17 knot true wind didn't help any either with the hearing. I also agree that getting on the VHF, especially channel 13 and talk to the big boys. See if they can see you on their radar. Then when you get to your dock, go buy one of those "Green" airhorns. They are loud and as long as you don't loose the pump, you can blow all you want. Blow baby blow :) The green airhorn will pay for itself in a few years....cost...about $35 if I remember correctly. It's also better on the environment and sounds better then the canisters. Thank god for radar too :) After that situation above, I'm never out at dark or fog without my radar on.
 
Jun 2, 2004
3,579
Hunter 23.5 Fort Walton Yacht Club, Florida
Ross, From What I Remember

If you have the two year old you do not need the spoon or the pot. With the whole combination aboard you'd be heard for sure. Unfortunatly the only OFF switch I ever found was a cookie and it was a momentary switch.
 
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