An Experience and a Lesson

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Verla and I had an “interesting” run yesterday between Sequim and Port Townsend and back. It was interesting because it involved the actual use of a number of system features which I thought I had finally begun to understand, and it involved navigation under less than ideal circumstances.
Leaving Sequim Bay we promptly slid underneath a low, thin layer of clouds which obscured the tops of the adjoining bluffs and most of Protection Island. Harking back to my flying days I focused on the instruments and trying to hold closely to my route on the chart-plotter, trying to limit course deviations to less than 50 feet either side of the course line.
I use the electronic compass feature which permits the setting of a heading and then displays incremental deviations of 2.5 degrees either side of the set heading. The data bar on the plotter is set up vertically with Heading info (from the e-compass) at the top followed by Course Deviation (in feet or fractions of a nautical mile) and a Steer arrow which points either right or left toward the course line. Below that are Course over the Ground/Speed over the Ground (derived from the GPS), Speed (from the paddle-wheel speedometer attached to the depth sounder), and finally Depth. The rest of the screen is devoted to the chart which results in a picture which is almost square. The boat symbol is positioned 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the chart so that the bulk of what we “see” on the chart lies ahead of us. The radar returns are displayed superimposed on the chart so I “see” other vessels or large floating obstructions (buoys, etc.) as objects on the chart, and the chart display is set to what Raymarine calls Relative Motion where the boat symbol remains stationary on the screen and the chart scrolls along beneath the “boat”. I’ve chosen to have only single “window” displays since our plotter is only an 8” model and I prefer the largest possible chart image.
The cloud bases began lowering as we crossed the mouth of Discover Bay, and by the time we neared McCurdy Point the shoreline was totally obscured. Approaching Point Wilson and the entrance to Admiralty Inlet we found ourselves truly fogbound so I turned on the lights and the foghorn and slowed to about 8 knots. Fortunately we were just slightly past high tide, so the usual rips were not particularly noticeable; however, a “1 or 2 foot” swell was making itself felt, and holding a heading was becoming more challenging. I settled for greater course line deviation to the seaward side as we slipped by Point Wilson, the lighthouse and the breakers just barely discernible fifty yards off to starboard.
Approaching Point Hudson the radar began to pay serious dividends there being considerable vessel traffic. Most appeared to be going no faster than we were; and, fortunately, as we rounded Point Hudson the fog thinned noticeably and the visibility improved to better than a mile along the Port Townsend waterfront.
After breakfast and a little shopping in PT the clouds had totally pulled back to about ¼ mile offshore. The layer was thin – we could see quite clearly the top of a crane over on Marrowstone Island sticking up in the blue. Halfway back from Point Hudson to Point Wilson the fog thickened, and we were back “in the soup”.
We saw no more shoreline until we slipped alongside Travis Spit at the entry to Sequim Bay. Even then we were still obliged to track the course-line from waypoint to waypoint until the entrance to John Wayne Marina appeared out of the murk.
In toto the trip involved about 17 nautical miles strictly by reference to the instruments. The closest approach to another vessel was an estimated 1/8 mile. Since we were going opposite directions, I had turned on the range circles and moved slightly to the offside of my course line; and at about ¼ mile I gave a blast on our boat horn. Except for the radar image and the wake we crossed, there were no indications of the presence of another vessel.

Safe at home we declared that a worthwhile experience accomplished under a modest degree of control. The most disconcerting facet of the exercise is that we overheard a call by a woman boater out of Port Townsend who had blundered into the fog and was requesting some undefined form of assistance from Port Angeles Coast Guard. We heard her ask the CG if she ought to follow what she thought was the ferry although she promptly withdrew that idea when she realized that the large vessel she thought was the ferry appeared to be otherwise.
I was contemplating my options for possibly rendering assistance when a fish boat went blasting past us in the murk, and I was reminded that I had plenty to keep me busy at the time.
However, in retrospect I think I probably ought to have stopped right where we were, asked the CG to repeat the GPS coordinates which she had given them, and tried myself to place a waypoint at those coordinates. It’s possible that she was one of the radar returns I was currently seeing on the screen. If so, the waypoint and one of the radar returns would have coincided. Then I could, in theory of course, have used goto that waypoint, made visual and radio contact, and led her back (via the rest of my route) to Port Townsend.
Back home I spent some time with the book and the chart-plotter working on such a procedure. There’s always something new to learn or think about.

Paul Priest
J.C.Lately
Sequim
 
Wow paul

Some adventure, goes to show how much I need to learn the instruments. I pick up the boat next week and it does not have radar.
Am thinking about a run from Camano to Pt Townsend. What is the best marina to use for touring the town. Glad to see you made it back home safely.
 
Maybe you already do this but it's a great reminder to always run your radar/electronics even in perfect conditions. When you find yourself in thick fog, or choose to make a voyage in the fog, you will be much more comfortable with what things look like on the screen vs. out your cabin window.

Even during a calm day my visual scan includes a shot at the radar screen. There can be temporary blind spots from the sun or from the frames of your window for example and it's nice to have the 'electric eye' as an additional tool.

The greatest danger in my opinion is the boaters running around without radar and looking straight down at their hand-held GPS with no other awareness of scanning. I have told this tale several times but last summer in thick fog I had a return come up that was on a collision course. I slowed to find out where this vessel was going...emerging from the fog about 25 yards off my bow was a center console and the driver was looking straight down at his hand-held...he never even looked up. I came to a full stop and watched him cruise by. Imagine if it were the both of us doing that?!?!

It sounds like you had a good experience with your nav tools. Thanks for sharing!
 
Paul,

I felt every word of what you said. We just had a similar experience in the Brougtons a couple of weeks past and we were leading the way for a non radar equipped sailboat that had to maintain visual contact with us.

Fortunately we also have AIS so we didn't have to worry about the big boys as they were all plainly visible, as we were to them, but the number of times we had to made radical changes of course just to avoid people in very small boats who were happily fishing or just plain rushing around. At one point our friends following asked why the heck we kept changing course so we went within 5 ft of one or two "blobs" so they could see what they were missing :shock:

This also brought home another advantage of the auto-pilot. By the time you have completed a visual scan of the outside and a couple of revolutions of the radar you can be well off course even at 7-8 Kts. So eventually when my eyes were popping out like organ stops I put it on auto and just played with the "game boy" buttons to jog around the "enemies" without having to worry if I was going in circles.

Keeps you alive

Merv
 
Hi Paul,

It's always worthwhile to render assistance when you safely can. Yes, what you propose would certainly work.

This is just one guy's opinion... based on over 4,000 hours of multi/instrument/comm flying: you don't have Air Traffic Control keeping separation on the water. A pilot is trained to keep that instrument scan going until you have reasonable visibility. On your boat, even in the thickest fog, it is important to KEEP A LOOKOUT. Don't stay on the guages. If there is more than one of you in the boat, post the other person as the lookout. That fishing boat that blew by? Yeah, we see those out there frequently... no radar, just a GPS track, and the hope that "it's big water." You want to keep your speed down to the point where you can stop the boat IF/WHEN you do see a potential collision situation. And, it may not be a little fishing boat; it might be a deadhead... or a kayaker... that may not give you any indication on radar.

I'm sure not saying you did or didn't do the above, just a reminder to all of us that there are some real advantages to boating vs flying... like the ability to pull off the power, stop, and sort out your thoughts... or put the power into reverse when you see something solid in front of you. The closing speeds are different (I hated hearing, "Traffic at 12:00. 3 miles, no altitude."), and in the fog in your boat, your speed should be as slow as you can safely maneuver.

Radar is wonderful, but it's not the same as flight following. Radar in flying is completely different from the radar in our boats.

Who has seen this: several hits on radar around a marker... a fishing boat or two circling the marker, waiting for someone with radar to follow in. :shock:

Just saying.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Paul, I didn't notice mention of an auto pilot in your text above. I have found the auto pilot to be of tremendous value especially in the fog. With the auto pilot on, the course is maintained and I can devote my time to watching for dead heads in the water, other boats if they become visible etc. etc., and I am still able to keep an eye on my radar. Yesterday, when we encountered fog just outside of Cattle Pass, we knew that the whales were out there with all the Whale Watching Boats, as we could see them on radar. However, we did a 180 degree and went back into the clear skies of the islands.
 
And just to complete the litany, the "wookie" coming up behind you at 20 Kts will also kill you.

I had the admiral on 360Degree outside "look and listen". Even had to turn the heater on :lol:

M
 
We were in the fog this past weekend also. Crossing from Anacortes to Blakely we had several walls of fog. The nice thing about radar is that you can make it out. Had I not had radar I would have turned back at the first fog bank. I could not see thru it at all and it appeared very thick. It turned out to be thick but only 80 yards deep. After we got thru we had unlimited vis. If not for the radar I would have turned around and went back. It saved the weekend.

As for the lost lady in the fog? You have to make a choice based on your abilities and those of your crew at the time. Maybe you could help maybe you could not. If you find yourself in a spot where you thought you could help and then it turns out that you can't, you have to be able to walk away from a person in need and not put yourself in harm. Many cannot and end up getting killed. Now It sounded as though she was not in any great risk so maybe you could have helped??

We heard several request for boats to follow others thru the fog. Several were turned down. You would have to take into consideration the draft of the other boat and its abilities. It's a hard choice to make.
 
Thanks for the many comments and responses.
With regard to "keeping watch" I try mightily to include the view outside in my scan, however I'm also aware of how easily it is to be distracted by too many button pushes or other screwing around with a procedure which is new or untested. Hence the review with the book and the boat in the barn afterwards.
As a matter of practice we both use the plotter and GPS Routes even in absolutely clear conditions - that's where we build our skills and the confidence that they can be trusted to work when it counts.

I've concluded that I would really like to have a couple more pieces of info displayed on our plotter:
1. Target Heading (my term for the basic heading I'm trying to maintain)
2. Next Heading (my term for the heading I'll turn to at the next waypoint) - this one takes me two button pushes to obtain using the Route Details popup where the current route segment is highlighted and where I look for the heading of the next segment. This also takes two button pushes to get back to the chart. And requires me to hold that number in my head until the turn!
This activity is a real circus when the segments are short and the waypoints are coming up quickly - I finally slowed to 5 kt in the entry channel into Sequim Bay AND totally missed the radar return for the Natural Resources Enforcement Vessel sitting by one of the buoys waiting for us to clear the channel! Verla was good enough to point him out to me as we went by. How embarassing, but a good catch on the First and Only Mate's part.
 
Paul, not enough people on your boat. With you as OOD (Officer of the Deck, the one with the conn (control of the boat)), you would also have a JOOD (Junior Officer of the Deck), as well as (Maybe) a JOOW (Junior Officer of the Watch). You don't steer the boat (ship), the helmsman does that, who has a Lee Helmsman, who changes engine speeds at the behest of the OOD. You also would have a bow lookout, a stern lookout, and a lookout on the starboard bridge wing and one on the port bridge wing.
Not to mention the Quartermaster of the Watch, keeping track of contacts and your postition and the CIC (Command Information Center) who tracks all radar contacts for you and tells you the CPA (Closest Point of Approach) and recommends course changes to avoid close encounters of the bad kind... :disgust

You simply need a bigger boat and many grandkids!! :lol: :lol: :thup

I think you did a remarkable job given the conditions. Bravo Zulu! (that means "well done")=

Charlie (Capt USN ret)
 
Not related to the use of RADAR or boating in fog, but in response to the following query from Don and Brenda:

Am thinking about a run from Camano to Pt Townsend. What is the best marina to use for touring the town. Glad to see you made it back home safely.
Click to expand...

We live fairly close to Port Townsend (PT) so are up there frequently.

PT has two marinas...

1) Point Hudson - on the very north end of town. This is a fairly small marina but would place you in a very convenient location to walk to and see most of what 'down town' PT has to offer.

2) Port Townsend Boat Haven - further south. Much larger then Point Hudson and a bit further away. The Boat Haven is next door to West Marine and across the street from larger shopping outlets such as Safeway. Also has P.T. Brewery (a place worth visiting if you are so inclined) close by.

PT also has public transit busses nearby (across the street) form the Boat Haven that I believe provide transit to and from down town.

If you go to PT some 'dry land' things to see include the old restored "Rose Theatre" movie house. This is a smaller (2 screens) theater but very nice and nearby Fort Warden which is a few miles on foot from Point Hudson and also likely served by busses.

Fort Warden also has mooring buoys but they are somewhat exposed to weather and currents.

Another real nice nearby WA state park - just a mile or so across the bay - is Fort Flagler. Another very small WA state marine park called Mystery Bay is real close to Fort Flagler.

PT has many great downtown restaurants and a couple nice pubs too as well as plentiful interesting shops to keep Brenda happy.

Please do not hesitate to ask if you have anymore specific questions which I can assist with.

Take care,
Dan
 
Back in "97" on our Monk trawler we were caught in a fog bank on the Chesapeake Bay early on Sunday morning. We had our way points set just outside of the shipping channel so as to stay out of the big ships heading up the bay toward the C&D Canal. Our bridge was well equipped, Chart Plotter-GPS, Radar, Free Standing GPS, AP, and Depth Finder.

The problem was scanning all the displays and dodging crab pots with about 100 foot visibility and only two pair of eyes. Lucky that our radio had an auto fog horn. That morning really showed me why the overlay of radar and depth info on the chart plotter would be important. It would have given me a few more looks away from the instruments.

Back then the cost of large integrated systems was way beyond our means. However, slow speed and a careful watch got us safely out of the fog in about 20 minutes.

Fred, Pat, and Mr. Grey(the cat)
 
I also was in the fog twice this year. Once in my local area the Delta and once between Jones Island and Friday Harbor.

In my local area I was very comfortable since I know the area well. We were in a river with a shipping channel and did not have far to go. I also had a friend without radar following. I was surprised to see so many small open boats anchored in the shipping channel, one directly in the middle. These were small fishing boats with no radar and probably no gps. One small aluminium boat came past my bow at 15 to 20 mph and was startled when he saw me. We were doing only 5 to 6 knots.

Leaving Jones Island for Friday Harbor I was not near as comfortable. The fog did not look that thick until we got into it. Also I don't know the area as well and it is much larger water. Those ferryboat fog horns don't add to the comfort level (but glad they use their horns).

In both cases my main concern was what I would do if my electronics craped-out. I do have a handheld gps but in thick fog I want more. On the river I knew I could head to one shore or the other in just a couple minutes and be relatively safe. Leaving Jones Island I decided to head close in to San Juan Island so I could find a safe place to wait out the fog if needed. It only takes one bad connection or power failure to put you in the same position as those boats asking for help to get in.

Steve
 
Paul,
Thanks for writing this trip up, and for the help on my plotter questions too. Your trip has added incentive for me to get caught up with my plotter routes and processes. After being out in the fog a couple weeks ago, and realizing the advantage of the auto -foghorn, now I have incentive to get on with the rest of the system.

The same day, I was sitting up at JWM, watching out into the fog when a mid 20ish, aluminum fishing style boat, sans radar, came in toward the headland or point just north of the JW marina entrance. I could hear the swish swish of the boat on the water long before I could see it, (visibility was maybe 200 feet.) When I finally saw the boat, about the same time the skipper saw the headland, he cut throttle and did a hard portside turn, about 100 feet from the rocks. (Wonder if he knows know that JWM has been misplaced on the chart?)

Don and Brenda,
In Dan's answer to you about Port Townsend, he failed to mention one of the "other" eating establishments in PT, called CJ's. It's a nice little crusty Mom's cafe right across the street from West Marine with the best fish and chips in the area. (Reasonable too.)

For those with auto pilot, would AP follow the route, crossing waypoints and making the turns without considerable interaction on the part of the skipper? (Question primarily related to the Raymarine AP)

Harvey
SleepyC
 
hardee":18sjn4r1 said:
For those with auto pilot[/b], would AP follow the route, crossing waypoints and making the turns without considerable interaction on the part of the skipper? (Question primarily related to the Raymarine AP)
Harvey
SleepyC
Click to expand...

Harvey, the auto pilot will not make the turns. An alarm will sound when you reach your waypoint. At that time, you turn off your AP, manually make your turn to your new waypoint and then reset your AP.
You wouldn't want the vessel to turn on its' own (ie: what if another vessel were passing you on your port side as you reached your waypoint and suddenly your AP were able to alter course without your input and your vessel suddenly turned to port?....ouch... :disgust ). Additionally, if you were traveling at more than trawler speed, a sudden unexpected drastic alteration in course would certainly be unsettling for you and your passengers.
 
Thanks Dave, So it would be great for a long strait (sp on purpose) run, but for making the turn around and into Sequim Bay, probably not the best use plan. (I sure need to be spending more boat time using all these.)

Harvey
SleepyC
 
Harvey, I tend to utilize my AP more as a "point and shoot" device. For example, I can either visualize a landmark and "aim" the bow of the boat towards that and then engage the AP. If while on that course, I see a floating log ahead, I can either abort the AP and steer around it, or I can adjust the AP plus 10 or minus 10 degrees to avoid the log, and then when clear of it readjust my heading on the AP. If I'm traveling "via the chartplotter", I can curser out a target mark and then program a "go to" and activate the AP, the vessel will then swing to the proper direction and I can throttle up towards that mark. Upon reaching the mark the alarm will sound to notify me of my arrival. I use my AP every time I am cruising as that keeps me in a straight line thereby saving fuel, but it is imperative to remember that you still have to keep a vigilant look out at all times for other vessels and of course floating logs in our cruising grounds.
Additionally, my radar is always on.....even in clear visibility conditions. When our C-Dory vessels are on plane, it is difficult to adequately see behind you for approaching vessels without bending down to look out the back door and windows. With the radar activated, I'm able to see vessels approaching me from behind on the chartplotter/radar screen in front of me (kinda like a rear view mirror), also obviously great for seeing any vessels in your 360 degree space. When seeing any target hits on the screen, I'll then look over at the actual vessel to "visually connect" with the vessel in order to ascertain the skippers intentions as he nears me.

(P.S. If a vessel is equipped with radar, it is the law that it be on while underway.....even in times of clear visibility).
 
And for you Port Townsend visitors there is also the municipal pier which has a float about three C-Dories long and free for short-time visitors.
It is exposed to wakes from agrressive passers-by but it's just across the street from Salal ( a great restaurant), a block from the new Northwest Maritime Center and Wooden Boat Foundation just coming into being, as well as the rest of the downtown attractions.

Paul Priest
Sequim
 
Many autopilots will run a course from the plotter (NAV mode on Raymarine AP's). When a waypoint is reached the pilot will ask for an ok to change to the next course, and then execute the turn.
 
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