I just read this article. The more you know....you know.
https://www.soundingsonline.com/news/seamanship
https://www.soundingsonline.com/news/seamanship
Seamanship
- Thread starter Deluke
- Start date
A
Anonymous
Guest
Pretty helpful article for relatively inexperienced boaters like myself. Thanks.
Certainly good cautionary advice. I always look at weather reports for later in the day, and for alternate destinations. The VHF marine may not tell the entire story. Applications like "Windy" show a lot of very good material. Here in Florida, and eastern seaboard, there can be pop up thunderstorms, with heavy winds and seas. The wind may shift during the day. I have also been guilty of staying fishing in a reasonably sheltered area when the wind started to build.
One of his pieces of advice:
Also if you have Radar or weather radio such as Sirus, these can be good adjuncts to give additional information.
Be safe.
One of his pieces of advice:
holds for going into the waves, but not when going down wind. Too much bow down trim will make the boat "bow steer" and tend to broach.
Also if you have Radar or weather radio such as Sirus, these can be good adjuncts to give additional information.
Be safe.
SailFlow is good and will allow you to choose from a number of models. I have felt that Windy offers a bit more options, and seems to give good predictions in the Gulf of Mexico. Windy allows over 20 variables to be overlaid, which is often helpful.
In any case there is so much wonderful information on the internet available, and so much better than the days when we had to get Weather Fax transmissions of GRIB Files. and interrupt those to determine what the predicted weather was gong to be. Or even before Weather Fax was available, where it was pure guess, reading the clouds and barometer!
In any case there is so much wonderful information on the internet available, and so much better than the days when we had to get Weather Fax transmissions of GRIB Files. and interrupt those to determine what the predicted weather was gong to be. Or even before Weather Fax was available, where it was pure guess, reading the clouds and barometer!
I would say that most anything in this paragraph after this bit, needs to be taken with a pound or two of salt. Most of it will fit well with the authors, a licensed captain and owner of 3 boats, vessels, but much of it does not apply to our nearly flat bottomed boats. For instance:
His statements are qualified with
For our C-Dorys this part is good advice: "You might want to consider a zigzag course, “powerboat tacking” if you will." which may be on every wave, depending on the size, type (breaking or not), and wind direction, (with or against the current). Often running parallel in the trough with beam seas can work but it is imperative to keep an eye on the oncoming wave and know when to jog over into the next trough. (called the Jog and Slog running style).
The paragraph on "Decreased speed" mentions
He is speaking of high deadrise vessels and considering our C-Dorys will maintain plane at 9 or 10 knots, we have more steerage control at that speed than if we drop into displacement speed. We do not gain stability at displacement, and for running beam seas, that is a huge disadvantage for us. In head seas, speed is dependent on the wave steepness as in following seas. This is where there is frequent throttle work, to avoid slamming, and in following seas to avoid any bow steering, trim tabs must be in full up position, and tail heavy is a plus. the author does have a reminder in closing,
Best advice. Be cautious, and carefully try some marginal conditions, where you can get out into some sea way and then back without committing to a 25 mile crossing in gale conditions.
Learning from experience is great, especially if it can come from other peoples experience, but that does not give you experience, so..... go get some, carefully.
Harvey
SleepyC :moon
gulfcoast john
New member
Late yesterday afternoon, we were looking for the markers leading to that nights marina at the edge of Mobile Bay when a loud alarm continuous beep went off that I have never heard before. My seamanship capabilities are such that I believe that over the years I have been responsible for generating every single possible alarm that a boat is capable of generating. And then some.
Coming off plane, it took us a bit to realize this alarm was coming from the helm handheld VHF. We keep the ship VHF on 16 and a HH VHF on 13 (since vessels hailing on 13 are often close as in under 0.5-2 miles away). The radio had switched itself to the local marine Weather channel, turns out it was a NOAA Marine Weather severe thunderstorm warning for North and South Mobile Bay. It formed behind us, so we didn’t notice it, but they can move fast (like 60MPH if they’re in the mood to). It eventually petered out.
You may not want your ship VHF radio to automatically switch to weather just when you need it for something else, but you may want to consider setting up your HH radio for marine Weather Alerts. We don’t like dual or tri-watch setups on the ship VHF because we can’t both be doing comm at the same time on different channels when that is needed.
After looking at the SH HX 851 manual, there is no description of this feature automatically changing from your selected channel to a marine Weather channel, but that’s what happened. And I’m glad to learn of it. I had to punch a button to stop the alarm and hear the Severe Weather Warning...I forget which button.
Be safe and careful out there!
John
Coming off plane, it took us a bit to realize this alarm was coming from the helm handheld VHF. We keep the ship VHF on 16 and a HH VHF on 13 (since vessels hailing on 13 are often close as in under 0.5-2 miles away). The radio had switched itself to the local marine Weather channel, turns out it was a NOAA Marine Weather severe thunderstorm warning for North and South Mobile Bay. It formed behind us, so we didn’t notice it, but they can move fast (like 60MPH if they’re in the mood to). It eventually petered out.
You may not want your ship VHF radio to automatically switch to weather just when you need it for something else, but you may want to consider setting up your HH radio for marine Weather Alerts. We don’t like dual or tri-watch setups on the ship VHF because we can’t both be doing comm at the same time on different channels when that is needed.
After looking at the SH HX 851 manual, there is no description of this feature automatically changing from your selected channel to a marine Weather channel, but that’s what happened. And I’m glad to learn of it. I had to punch a button to stop the alarm and hear the Severe Weather Warning...I forget which button.
Be safe and careful out there!
John
On any of the Standard Horizon radios hitting 16/9 or Clr/wx will revert to the channel you were monitoring before the weather alert.
I believe you would have had to set the radio up to alert with weather alerts, but with some alerts may trigger the marine VHF:
The Warning was "Severe Thunderstorm Warning"--meaning that there is a severe thunderstorm in the immediate area.
I believe you would have had to set the radio up to alert with weather alerts, but with some alerts may trigger the marine VHF:
.
The Warning was "Severe Thunderstorm Warning"--meaning that there is a severe thunderstorm in the immediate area.
gulfcoast john
New member
Thanks Bob, you nailed this issue when I could not.
I agree with the official position that you should have a separate radio monitoring Weather. Makes sense.
Best to all,
John
I agree with the official position that you should have a separate radio monitoring Weather. Makes sense.
Best to all,
John
T.R. Bauer
New member
Oh the joys of living in civilization - technology that actually connects to something 
Teufelshunde
New member
I use FishWeather app, Buoyweather app and noaa before heading out - So far they have been good for me.