On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:49:52 -0400, Gene
wrote:

On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:33:41 -0400, Wizard of Woodstock
wrote:

On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:06:24 -0400, Gene Kearns
wrote:

I have a one word answer.... a get out of jail card, if you will....
RADAR.

That one off East Passage I never saw on radar - it was lost in
clutter and by the time I got close enough to get a strong return, it
would have been too late.

That being the case, I can only recommend "Preparation H!"

Heh...

As you know, radar can look behind structure and land masses. One time
I was heading up the Stonington Channel to the Watch Hill Yacht club
to put in over night. Visibility was down to about 1/2 mile and
decreasing - I was just moving along at about 15 knots and as I
approached Napatree Point, I took a close look at the radar - didn't
see anything at first, but I looked a little closer and just saw what
I thought was part of the beach move a little.

Let me explain about Napatree Point - the channel at that place is
about 13 feet wide at low tide - the green buoy marks the exact size
of the channel as opposed to the flats which are about two feet deep
at extreme low tide which this was - the red buoy is actually Napatree
Point.

Anyway, discretion the better part of valor, I sounded my horn, didn't
hear anything, couldn't see anything behind the dunes, radar still
didn't show anything significant, but I waited anyway.

Around comes a dragger - Miss Martha which is the biggest dragger out
of Pawcatuck - 90 foot low profile, mid-ship pilot house - state of
the art. Miss Martha's captain was as surprised as I was - we talked
about it on ch 13.

Neither one of us thought to check the local working channel. :)

Use all the tools at your disposal was the lesson that day. :)