In article .com,
llid says...

"Bruce Gordon" wrote in message
...
In article .com,
"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote:

For the most part they wasted their money.


bunch of drivel snipped......

LOL!

Wilbur Hubbard

Only a Moroooon (Bugs Bunny definition) would think to use a Radar
only
for spotting Weather..... That is NOT what Marine Radars were
Designed,
Built and Installed to do. Marine Radars were and are designed, to
keep
you from running into other Moving Objets, that can't be seen with the
naked eye, or enhanced eyes, when it is DARK, Foggy, or Precipitation
is
cutting down your visual Range. Back in the day, Radar was used as a
Position Fixing Device, but that has largely been replaced with, first
Loran A, Loran C, and now GPS. It also was used for locating Buoys,
and
Navigational Aids, in the past, but that has largely been replaced by
the ChartPlotter, driven by the above mentioned Position Fixing
Devices,
on the modern Bridge. the AIS Transponder System is making some
inroads,
into the classic RADAR uses, but there are many OBJects, that simply
do
not carry AIS Transponders. So, simply, Radar in todays Marine
Environment, is to keep you from running into other non-fixed Objects,
that you can't see, due to a variety of causes.

--
Bruce in Alaska add path before the @ for email



Duh, if you can't see where you're going then slow down or heave-to
until visibility improves. Motoring around at high speeds relying solely
on radar causes more collisions than it avoids. I'm talking recreational
vessels, now, not commercial vessels that have to maintain some sort of
reliable schedule. There is no reason for a cruising boat to be
operating in no-visibility conditions in congested areas.

In the Northwest, the fog often come to you, rather than the other
way around. When it does arrive, it is nice to be able to get out
of the way of the 300-ft, 17-knot ferry on a fixed schedule.


Mark Borgerson

In article .com,
llid says...

For the most part they wasted their money.

Why do I say this? It's because most of the so-called cruisers don't do
much in the way of cruising. To wit: Capt. Skippy who has been on the
hard for close to 9 months now and the little time he did spend cruising
he was rarely out of range of wi-fi and the Internet where he could pull
up radar images from powerful ground-based radar to inform him of storms
closing in. Why, I can pull up radar images from the Miami radar and see
storms approaching from miles away on my iPod.

Skippy, like most of todays so-called sailors ,doesn't need radar aboard
any more than they need sails as little as they use either. All they
really need is a diesel engine and Internet access. About 99% of the
time they have both. That's all they really need to stay happy. That and
plenty of spliff or rum.

LOL!

For navigation, with good chart plotter and good charts, a GPS system
can do almost as well as radar---if the charts are accurate. Radar
really becomes helpful when poking through the fog. It shows
the fishing boats and ferries that your chartplotter cannot--
unless they happen to have AIS transmitters. There were times
on the cruise between Ketchikan and Bellingham last year that I
was thankful that we had radar and that the Navy had trained
me to use it effectively.


Mark Borgerson

On Mon, 5 Sep 2011 19:18:19 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:


For the most part they wasted their money.

Why do I say this? It's because most of the so-called cruisers don't do
much in the way of cruising. To wit: Capt. Skippy who has been on the
hard for close to 9 months now and the little time he did spend cruising
he was rarely out of range of wi-fi and the Internet where he could pull
up radar images from powerful ground-based radar to inform him of storms
closing in. Why, I can pull up radar images from the Miami radar and see
storms approaching from miles away on my iPod.

Skippy, like most of todays so-called sailors ,doesn't need radar aboard
any more than they need sails as little as they use either. All they
really need is a diesel engine and Internet access. About 99% of the
time they have both. That's all they really need to stay happy. That and
plenty of spliff or rum.

LOL!

Wilbur Hubbard


You are absolutely correct - a waste of money......

But then, willie-boy, r.b.c's resident fool has never cruised at all.
Cheers,

Bruce