"Karl Denninger" wrote in message
news:8vkWd.37539$755.36432@lakeread05...

In article ,
renewontime dot com wrote:


Fascinating. I'd like to learn more - can you point me at any web
sites? I can't find anything much over 25kts.

Our site has a news section, or try
http://www.marinelink.com/main/main.asp but I did a quick search on the
net and didn't find much. Better to get a subscription to "Maritime
Reporter" and "MarineNews", in the current issues there are several
articles about "high speed" vessels.

The only ships around here that run 30+ knots are the ones that are
painted
gray and have assorted pointy things sticking out from various parts of
their
superstructure.

Oh yeah, if you approach at a closing rate which they determine to be
potentially hostile, they will use the pointy things.

That will definitely ruin your day.

When I'm offshore my radar is up and operating. That's the best
visibility
enhancer that I've got.

I can see SHIPS out 8-10nm or so (visually) on a clear day/night, and on
radar quite a bit further. Land disappears 10ish nm around here, in no
small part due to the elevation of some of the buildings (which helps)

Small boats are usually not visible to the naked eye much beyond 4nm or
so,
although I will often tag them on radar significantly before that.

All this from my flybridge.

You want to try the Irish Sea for fast ferries, there are quite a few
running between Ireland/England/Isle of Man/Scotland/Wales. A couple of
years ago we were on passage from Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead, around 55
miles, and
saw the Stena Explorer 5 bloody times as she came past on the same route but
at 40 kts compared to our 6kts. Called her up on one pass and was glad to
hear their radar was picking us up at approx 8 miles each time.

Have a look at:-

http://www7.stenaline.co.uk/servlet/...t.presentation
..Main?data.node.id=1879&data.language.id=2

Graham.