"Part of the problem is many people are not only following the
trades/currents but using the same GPS routing info so everyone,
The above is true however careful route charting will not guaranty that you
are on a safe course. Night ocean sailing is one thing coast night and heavy
fog sailing is another.
Most of the commercial fishermen are programming their GPS's to retrieve
their cages and nets and rely on Autopilot. They have licenses for a given
territory and they do not expect other fishing vessels to enter their area.
Not to mention that some fishermen do not have permits and do not want to be
seeing by others. In the summer when the sailboats are cruising the coast
unless the visibly is good your chances of be seeing by them is slim.
Normally they are 2 -4 fishermen on board busy working and no one is assign
to radar watch or any watch. Most of them leave the VHF on scan and have a
speaker on deck.
When I enter such a zone I feel safer to broadcast my course and position.
Other thing that you can not plan for is submarines and sleeping whales.

"ahoy" wrote in message
...
On 17 Oct 2005 11:57:15 -0700, "~^ beancounter ~^"
wrote:

What are some opinions and methods sailors are
utilizing these days, in open ocean/offshore
anti collision measures? Are folks/sailors using
good radar systems with alarms (if so what brands)
or just post and conduct regular watches, utilize
radar reflectors, etc? ... Ween i say "open ocean/off
shore" i mean crossing oceans, 20-30 days of straight
sailing, etc...


Part of the problem is many people are not only following the
trades/currents but using the same gps routing info so everyone,
especially power boats, is on the same "shortest distance between two
points" route. It seems this would create a sort of traffic lane even
in ocean travel, especially for folks who have this wired into an
autopilot. Maybe just slack off the main vector for starters. Figure a
watch everyone can live with if you have the crew. Radar alarm if you
have the money and DC to spare.
I spoke to someone who works on freighters and he said they have no
watch, that the radar isn't even on and whoever is "on duty" is
usually watching a DVD anyway. A 200'+ boat is now manned by 4 people.
Turning or stopping the thing takes forever. Happy sailing.

thanx...