I don't know what part of Maine you've been sailing in but radar is
hardly standard equipment up here.

I'll bet that there are far, far more radar sets though than there are
people trained enough in their use so that they could actually avoid
being hit by another vessel that wasn't keeping a visual watch. The
random way the lobsterboats loop around from trap to trap, even a
trained, full time, observer would have a hard time figuring out the
relative bearings.

--

Roger Long

Roger Long wrote:

I don't know what part of Maine you've been sailing in but radar is
hardly standard equipment up here.

I have been sailing in the part that starts at Kittery and ends near
Eastport.

Decades ago I sailed the Maine coast confident that my piloting skills,
updated charts, superior eyesight, and good hearing, plus my tremendous
good luck, would keep me out of trouble.

Recently (say in the last 8 to 10 years or so) I noticed that radar sets had
gotten got a lot cheaper, a lot easier to use, and a lot less power hungry.
I also noticed that just about every 17 foot Whaler I saw in and around
Mount Desert sported a radome. Hmmmm.

Having been using a small radar for a while now, I don't think I would be
without. Further, I no longer get really dirty looks from the professional
fishermen I sometimes bump into.

Well, not actually "bump."

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/