No - you said any depth water where a whale might be. I've seen whales maybe 20 times
from my boats - always in water less than 100 feet deep. For you that may sound deep -
certainly there are very few spots on the Florida Bay side of the Keys that are over 10
feet deep, but up here its very common to be in 50 feet 5 minutes after getting underway.

Its a long tradition around here to make coastal passages by running down the 10, 15 or 20
fathom line.



"Simple Simon" wrote in message
...
Idiots! All there are around here are idiots.

WE'RE NOT TALKING FORWARD LOOKING SONAR HERE.

Stop trying to change the subject. We're talking about how
depth sounders are useless in very deep water and a lot of
the time in shallow water.

S.Simon


"Capt. Mooron" wrote in message
...
This ain't big ship....

http://www.interphase-tech.com/probe.htm

or this.....

http://www.interphase-tech.com/seascout.htm

CM


"Simple Simon" wrote in message
...
|
| I repeat, WE'RE NOT TALKING BIG SHIP CRAP HERE!
|
| Depth sounders give a depth for sure and generally they are
| pretty accurate. However, what good is a depth when a
| vessel could be any number of miles along a contour or on
| a flat? Answer - no good at all. What matters is lat/lon with
| high degrees of accuracy. Knowing your depth is very vague
| information at best when attempting to place a fix on a chart.
|
| Small sailing yachts can rely on GPS so they do not need depth
| sounders as much as big ships. When a small sailing yacht is
| getting into dangerously shallow water the eyes of an experienced
| will look at the wave action, color of the water etc. and be able
| to ascertain the depth to a high degree of accuracy.
|
| Now, get out of here and go back to rec.boats where you belong.
|
| S.Simon
|
| "Shen44" wrote in message
...
| Subject: Faulty depth finder attributed to whale attack!!
| From: "Simple Simon"
| Date: 10/07/2003 08:10 Pacific Standard Time
| Message-id:
|
| Bull****. A chart shows contours, bottom make up such as
| rock, sand, shell etc., possible upcoming obstructions and
| the like. This info is simply not available on a yacht depth
| sounder.
|
| S.Simon - not talking about big ship crap here . . .
|
| Not talking about "big ship crap" .... talking about Navigation.
| A chart is nothing more than a "picture" of an area that you may be in
.... by
| itself, it's useless, until you can start applying other information,
gleaned
| from other sources to locate yourself in a position on that chart.
| A fathometer, be it a recording, digital readout, or blinking light will
help
| give you information to locate that position (personally, prefer the
| recording).
| Prior to the advent of all the electronic nav aids, such as LORAN, GPS,
| fathometers were much more frequently used to check, and even locate,
ones
| position on a chart, be it in shallow or deep water.
| It's just another tool you have available .... shame you don't
understand it's
| use .... but expected .....
|
| Shen
|
|