Fog without GPS
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- čas přidán 29. 08. 2024
- Every sailor hates fog. Even with modern electronics, it’s still a disorienting experience. Should GPS fail, it can be a source of major anxiety. It doesn’t have to be like that, however, and in this video I describe a couple of incidents in the days of innocence before modern aids. The second is a sure-fire way of defusing what has traditionally been a truly nasty situation. I don’t cover keeping an extra lookout, hoisting radar reflectors and the rest of the pure seamanship. This is really about fog navigation, keeping off the rocks and finding a safe haven.
#fog, #sailing, #seamanship
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Copyright Tom Cunliffe 2024
Age old trick for sailing in thick fog,
have a crewman stand at the bow with a sack of potatoes.
Crewmen throws potatoes forward and if he doesn’t hear a splash, turn the boat quickly 😅
That was wonderful, am sure I’m not alone in saying I could listen to your tales all evening. Thank you for sharing your experiences Tom 🙏
Lovely stories, Tom! In 1983 I was navigating on a race boat, doing a cross Gulf of St. Lawrence race. The fog came in thick and the breeze died. We barely had steerage as we crossed the main shipping channel. Our only instruments were a depth sounder and a compass. We could hear the big ships all around us, but never saw a single one. It was hell. Forty years later, we did Annapolis MD to Norfolk VA overnight. The breeze died, the engine went on, and the fog came in thick. Without the chart plotter we would have headed for the shallows and anchored in 10 feet of water. We went on, on autopilot, with eyes glued to the chart plotter with radar overlay, entered Norfolk at dawn, navigating as if we were in a video game, and the first thing we saw as the fog sort of lifted was the bow of a US aircraft carrier, way above our heads! Good times! Fog is the worst!
I love your down to earth stories and wisdom. As years go on I rarely learn anything totally new. I've been sailing as a professional and recreationally for about 50 years. But it's just like putting a couple of sailors together with a pint and gamming the evening away.
When I was teaching the Birmingham Navy all I didn't know, I made a point of insisting that we practised basic nav like this. One of my favourite places to do this was in Start Bay along Slapton Sands. It is a very steeply shelving shingle beach and going into 5m soundings gets you very close to the road that runs along the beach. Turn North and then work your way round to Dartmouth or drop the pick and sit it out. Sailing to contours is a basic skill that we all need when all else is lost ... Sometimes sailing can be very dull, so liven it up with some back-to-basics
birmingham has its own navy? wow! :-)
My father would tell the tale of how he navigated into Alderney harbour in thick fog using just a radio direction finder and his walker log. He was inside the breakwater before he saw land. Or at least that's the tale he'd tell his little lad when he got home. Tom's stories remind me of my dad's adventures. I enjoy listening to him so much.
Thank You for sharing this very informative and valuable video with us.
You never fail to inspire and great advice.
Thanks for sharing.
Another pearl for us.
We so much love a yarn from Tom - many thanks indeed. Totally agree about radar - it's fantastic - but Get Training!
An old Merchant Navy Officer's saying: "What you don't know can be dangerous. What you don't know but think you know can be much worse."
Or, another Merchant Navy Officer's saying: "Radar? An electronic device for assisting with collisions!". Keep the videos and yarns coming Tom, Kindest regards.
Thanks Mate
Two great stories Tom. I've learnt something from the second story and had a chuckle at the first! Let the Frenchman lead you into port but don't let him choose the restaurant...or the wine 😂.
Always a good tale, always worth a listen. You're passing on hard earned wisdom Tom, all seafarers need to know. Whether there ipad battery fails or not.
Love Toms stories
Hi Tom!
Again a great ‘lesson’ in practical navigation.
I especially love the focus on echo sounder and radar and fully agree with your arguments.
Would like to add one big advantage of the radar and that is the fact that it operates fully ‘stand alone’ and does not rely on external (GPS) resources. And additionally I would suggest to always install it in such way with its’ own screen and 12V connection and fuse so it remains operational also if your networked plotter/echo sounder/log fail to work.
Cheers!
Harry Dekkers
❤yes, I remember sailing up near Islay, and we could not see much, the echo sounder showed either six feet or sixty feet, it was basic. So we looked over the side, and yes, could see the bottom. Also handed a line and sinker, the mackeral line, which we then knotted at three feet intervals!
We were racing in fog, no GPS, and when the fog lifted we were 600 yards from our EP, not bad over 12 hours.
Love listening to Tom's stories and the wisdom and lessons learnt from experience that he's trying to impart! Great videos!
Two toots every two minutes in the US as a signal to other boats in fog, sound is your friend
There is Navigation, but then there is "Piloting" which experienced sailors utilize. Thinking ahead and choosing tactics to make navigation easier and safer. Yay! Cheers, Chuck.
Great episode, as usual. I cannot agree more about radar. I will always remember going down the intra coastal waterways here in Canada it is a narrow man-made channel going from the great lakes all the way down to Florida USA. as we casually motor down the center of the channel our chart plotter confidently showing our boat motoring over a corn field 10M to port. Or more recently sailing to safety with the radar pointing the way until we could see the entrance buoy of an unknown to us marina in a cold rainy night. I think I gave the radar a hug!
Star man as always Tom, Thank you.
how great it would be to set in a Pub and just listen to Mr Tom tell stories.
Lovely! As always great information inside a really good story.
Following a depth contour is a really good trick - I’ve used it a few times, even avoiding rocks on an approach off the west coast of Scotland
Ah the "good old days". But seriously think about the first story... The most vulnerable thing on you boat is the electrical system so make a habit of doing a passage with it all turned off just to keep you skills up for the day when you really need them, You are never more than one battery fail away from there!
Crackin advice as always ⚓
The very wise words of experience golden
Great advice, from a great seafarer .
Great advice from the 'Master'
Thanks Tom!
Love the stories Tom... from the west coast of British Columbia... fog you say? 😅Indeed. Radar and depth sounder ... all you need really... the rest is super nice but...
Hi Tom, You have following a fathom line in one of your books! I reckon a handheld GPS is a useful addition, independent of the power system on the boat.
Yes Tom. I was sailing north crossing Lake Pontchartrain in dense fog on a 23 foot boat in the early 80s. Magnetic ship compass, hand bearing compass, dip-tube hand knot meter, paper chart, and a watch. I was very good at dead reckening. Sailing toward a low feature-less. Shore.
Used the DR rule of 10 % error to allow for until next fix. Purposely targeted a point 10% of est. Dist. West of goal so I knew when I saw shore, I should turn right and go until I picked up the channel markers to guide me in rest of way. Arrived safe. Intentional Error for course to steer worked well. Cheers, Chuck from Louisiana.
Nice one Chuck. Thanks for sharing. Tom
Hi Tom. Years ago I used to be up to listen to the shipping forecast and then I would plot it onto a copy of the map of sea areas in the Almanac in order to make a surface pressure chart. I've completely forgotten how to do it. Want to remind us? All the best.
Merry Christmas Tom
on sails through a mine field with fog and low tide: that's a nightmare.
Good couple of stories, Tom. Thank you. It was very pertinent too - I am currently trying to decide whether to fit AIS, RADAR or both before we head off for a round-Britain trip. Your opinion is very welcome!
AIS or an ECDIS system gives you some ships on an imaginary and symplified image (= the map in your navigation software). It shows your own GPS position as estimated by the navigation software. It is a true GPS location but the map that you use as a medium might be incomplete or otherwise incorrect. An AIS / GPS location can be off for considerable distances ON THE MAP, depending on the precision with which the map was made. I have seen 20 meters of more difference between my real position and my position on the map. The GPS signal is usually right but the projection of that on the map might not be. An electronic map / ECDIS/AIS system is always an interpretation of your surroundings. Last but not least not all ships have AIS = those are not visible on your system.
Radar gives a true image. It is not an assumption or a simplification of the world around you, it is the real deal. If a ship or buoy or object is out there you can see it on your screen.
You need both. They supplement each other but are a completely different thing.
@@hetschipVeronica thank you. Very helpful.
Both, but radar first. It shows you what is out there. Way too many boats without AIS for it to be reliable.
@@PaulBKal thank you. That’s what I’ll do.
@@warrenthorp I have been through the English channel and across the Thames estuary twice in the last 6 weeks, both at night. I would definitely fit both Ais and Radar and both have advantages over eachother.
However a word of warning, neither is infallible. Radar can miss large boats close in, and if they are plastic or wooden fishing boats then even more so because strong radar reflections come off metal and those boats engine is normally below the water line.
Ais is limited to vessels not having them or in the case of fishing boats turning them off !!
If your radar dome is up the mast then the roll of your boat can make the radar beam miss targets as the beam points skywards or down close at the sea.
So have both and look out for vessel navigation lights.
👍!!!
ah if only i had a echo sounder
The leadline served me well once upon a time.. I never go to sea without one. You never know....
@1:42 what's the story behind your nelson picture? it looks very much like the picture i got as a kid when visiting the imperial war museum but w/o the frame and description card.
Well spotted Iain. The framed photo was given to me by my daughter on my birthday in the Caribbean in 1985. She was 7 and it was a different life. I've had it on my bulkheads ever since. At the bottom, she wrote the quote from Lord Hamilton, husband of Nelson's mistress Emma who was well aware of their relationship. Such was the magnetism of Nelson that it says, ''God bless him, and shame fall on those who do not say 'AMEN''. .
@@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns thanks
Your audio track is fuzzed up. Overmodulation from belting into the microphone.