"Marc Heusser" d wrote in
message ...
In article ,
"Denis M" wrote:

After this summer cruise I concluded that I needed to replace my radar
reflector.

An active one will work wonders.
And (active) AIS is an even better option, provided you are aware that
only vessels over 500 tons are mandatorily fitted with one. This will
even give you the equivalent of MARPA.

HTH

Marc

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AIS is on my wish list. MARPA works well and I like to talk about this on
another thread.

This summer in heavy fog I would acquire a target with MARPA. Then I would
monitor it.

At time the target speed was 5 knots going to 15 knots and back to 3 knots.
After 15 minutes of monitoring the target would disappear and reappeared
after. The conclusion was that it could have been a whale watching
pneumatic boat. I later checked with some owner of whale watching boats and
they stated very few boat can reach 15 knots. Beside that MARPA has work
wonder for me.

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:39:08 +0200, Marc Heusser
d wrote:

In article ,
"Denis M" wrote:

After this summer cruise I concluded that I needed to replace my radar
reflector.

An active one will work wonders.
And (active) AIS is an even better option, provided you are aware that
only vessels over 500 tons are mandatorily fitted with one. This will
even give you the equivalent of MARPA.

HTH

Marc

Those big boats can (and do) filter out all signals from AIS-B
transponders to reduce clutter on their display. You may see them, but
they still don't see you.

Very true, when a target is showing on the radar. I use MARPA's
information and contact the vessel with DSC. This way (hopefully) the
vessel or radar base can identify me with my MMSI number and get my GPS
position on their screen. In theory this is how it should work. I practice
it's a difference story. Most of the foreign ships have not had their
personnel trained to use DSC yet!

When practicing with friend I can track their GPS positions and they can
track me without problems.

In article ,
wrote:

Those big boats can (and do) filter out all signals from AIS-B
transponders to reduce clutter on their display. You may see them, but
they still don't see you.

If they do - they are at least at a legal disadvantage should a
collision happen.

An argument to fit an AIS-A transponder :-)

In this case an active radar reflector would be better, as it cannot be
filtered.

Marc

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"Marc Heusser" d wrote in
message ...
In article ,
wrote:

Those big boats can (and do) filter out all signals from AIS-B
transponders to reduce clutter on their display. You may see them, but
they still don't see you.

If they do - they are at least at a legal disadvantage should a
collision happen.

An argument to fit an AIS-A transponder :-)

In this case an active radar reflector would be better, as it cannot be
filtered.

Marc

--
remove bye and from mercial to get valid e-mail
http://www.heusser.com

An active radar reflector is the way to go. The only problem is it takes
electrical power.

Power boats with a large generator have no problem.

The next best thing for a sailboat is an adequate passive radar reflector.

I am looking at the Tri Lens Radar Reflector.

It is always best to know the traffic on or close to your route.

This is best done when you are planning your route.

When this is not possible I check for traffic with the Coast Guard.

Over here we use Fundy and Halifax Traffic I visited their office and they
have the latest of equipment and land base radar antennas all around the Bay
and the gulf of Maine.

When entering narrow passages under heavy fog I prefer to make my self known
by being in radio contact with the traffic dept and the vessels in my
vicinity.

Capt. JG wrote:
I thought SF Bay was quite foggy. Am I wrong? Back when I was saying
I could do fine without radar in Maine I would also think, "Now if I
was someplace like SF Bay..."

You're right, but it's really not necessary for a couple of reasons. First,
if you have it, you have to monitor, which takes away from the enjoyment of
sailing.


This is a curious point in the rules. Since it says "if operational"
then the requirement to monitor only applies if you have it turned on.
For short trips in clear weather, I generally leave the display stashed
down below. For longer trips, I will mount it, but whether its Off, on
Standby, or Active is determined by circumstance. When I've run this by
CG "rules experts" I've always got the same answer (which is curiously
the same as the answer to other "gray area" questions I've raised):
"Your logic sounds reasonable, but remember, if there is an accident you
will have to convince the court that you did everything in your power to
prevent it."

I've long been a fan of radar and feel its required to cruise Maine, and
useful in Massachusetts. One problem now is that while in the "old
days" (before low cost radar and loran/gps) the only fools out in the
pea soup were being ultra cautious, tooting horns, going slow etc,
nowadays every rich bozo thinks he can run his sportfish at 30 knots
because the radar and GPS will keep him safe. Almost every year I've
had a close call, the worst case happening a mile off of Cape Elizabeth.
If you sail in fog, radar is needed now for defense.

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:06:30 -0400, Jeff wrote:

One problem now is that while in the "old
days" (before low cost radar and loran/gps) the only fools out in the
pea soup were being ultra cautious, tooting horns, going slow etc,
nowadays every rich bozo thinks he can run his sportfish at 30 knots
because the radar and GPS will keep him safe.

Back in the 80s a friend of mine was bringing a new (to him) 40 ft
sailboat back from Canada in the fog. He was T-boned by a tug boat
operated by the Canadian coast guard even though both boats were
operating their radar and were aware of each other's presence. Go
figure.

"Jeff" wrote in message
...
Capt. JG wrote:
I thought SF Bay was quite foggy. Am I wrong? Back when I was saying
I could do fine without radar in Maine I would also think, "Now if I
was someplace like SF Bay..."

You're right, but it's really not necessary for a couple of reasons.
First, if you have it, you have to monitor, which takes away from the
enjoyment of sailing.


This is a curious point in the rules. Since it says "if operational" then
the requirement to monitor only applies if you have it turned on. For
short trips in clear weather, I generally leave the display stashed down
below. For longer trips, I will mount it, but whether its Off, on
Standby, or Active is determined by circumstance. When I've run this by
CG "rules experts" I've always got the same answer (which is curiously the
same as the answer to other "gray area" questions I've raised): "Your
logic sounds reasonable, but remember, if there is an accident you will
have to convince the court that you did everything in your power to
prevent it."

I've long been a fan of radar and feel its required to cruise Maine, and
useful in Massachusetts. One problem now is that while in the "old days"
(before low cost radar and loran/gps) the only fools out in the pea soup
were being ultra cautious, tooting horns, going slow etc, nowadays every
rich bozo thinks he can run his sportfish at 30 knots because the radar
and GPS will keep him safe. Almost every year I've had a close call, the
worst case happening a mile off of Cape Elizabeth. If you sail in fog,
radar is needed now for defense.


Yup... it's sort of a gotcha, like many things.


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

On Sep 28, 7:06*pm, Jeff wrote:

I've long been a fan of radar and feel its required to cruise Maine, and
usefuOne problem now is that while in the "old
days" (before low cost radar and loran/gps) the only fools out in the
pea soup were being ultra cautious, tooting horns, going slow etc,
nowadays every rich bozo thinks he can run his sportfish at 30 knots
because the radar and GPS will keep him safe. *Almost every year I've
had a close call, the worst case happening a mile off of Cape Elizabeth.
* If you sail in fog, radar is needed now for defense.

An excellent point and a major factor in my decision to install radar
that I didn't mention. Because of this factor, I was finding the fog
routes I considered acceptably safe much more restricted when I
returned to sailing in the post GPS world.

--
Roger Long

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:21:55 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:06:30 -0400, Jeff wrote:

One problem now is that while in the "old
days" (before low cost radar and loran/gps) the only fools out in the
pea soup were being ultra cautious, tooting horns, going slow etc,
nowadays every rich bozo thinks he can run his sportfish at 30 knots
because the radar and GPS will keep him safe.

Back in the 80s a friend of mine was bringing a new (to him) 40 ft
sailboat back from Canada in the fog. He was T-boned by a tug boat
operated by the Canadian coast guard even though both boats were
operating their radar and were aware of each other's presence. Go
figure.

The passenger liner Stockholm T-boned the Andrea Doria and about 60
died. Eventually when the blame dodging was over, the Stockholm's
third mate was said to have misread his radar.

To digress a bit: more people have died diving the wreck than died
during the sinking. One guy has taken out one party a year for more
than thirty years. He has lost 3%. It is heavily draped with fishing
tackle, of course.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:06:30 -0400, Jeff wrote:

One problem now is that while in the "old
days" (before low cost radar and loran/gps) the only fools out in the
pea soup were being ultra cautious, tooting horns, going slow etc,
nowadays every rich bozo thinks he can run his sportfish at 30 knots
because the radar and GPS will keep him safe.

Back in the 80s a friend of mine was bringing a new (to him) 40 ft
sailboat back from Canada in the fog. He was T-boned by a tug boat
operated by the Canadian coast guard even though both boats were
operating their radar and were aware of each other's presence. Go
figure.

This summer while in Nova Scotia I learned that one of the sailboat got
T-boned last year.

The owner was waiting for his sailboat to be fixed. He still have problem
with his insurance.

He was motoring in heavy fog and his sailboat got T-boned by a Coast Guard
fast recue boat going at low speed.

The lawyers are still debating it. It was said that the sailboat was on
autopilot.

This summer I have learned that it is best to advise the Coast Guard Traffic
of your sail plan.

Usually the ETD, position, speed, course, destination and ETA are given. In
coastal Canadian Waters the traffic is not as heavy as in the United States
and Coast Guard Traffic will acknowledge your plan and will say report when
you get there. At time, when I was late in getting to my destination

they called me and asked for my position.

This summer we sailed in heavy fog all day under radar, plotter, paper
charts and on autopilot.

Being on autopilot gave us more time to monitor the instrument, identify
possible problem and take necessary action on time to avoid problems. The
person monitoring the instrumentations and autopilot was relieve every 30
minutes while a senior person would have a global view of the situation and
advise accordingly.