On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 19:01:40 -0400, rhys wrote:

Frankly, though, I have had far closer encounters with dopey fellow
recreational sailors, powerboaters and jetskiers than I have with
commercial maritime traffic. I have had 35-40 foot sailboats under
main and motor cross my path obviously under autopilot in Lake Ontario
with no one at the helm or visible. I gave one such "near miss" two
miles offshore a blast with the horn (I was under sail alone) and saw
a bed-headed sailor with a mug of what I assume was coffee appear in
his cockpit, peering owlishly about as I sailed off, having missed him
by about three boat lengths.

Coming back south to Lake Ontario was a real eye opener towards the
end of this season. The recreational traffic was so much denser in the
Niagara to Toronto area. I had got used to scanning the horizon,
seeing nothing, and figuring I had 10 or 15 minutes to myself.

The freighters were much easier to deal with. There weren't as many of
them. They didn't change course capriciously. Their lights were good.
It was still challenging to keep comfortably out of their way in tight
places like the St Clair River, especially at night.

Some people just don't get it. He probably thought his chartplotter
would shriek if he got near another vessel.

There's an advantage to starting out with very limited instruments

Ryk

Ryk,

I'm checking your arithmetic. Let's say the horizon is 4M away from the helm
of an average recreational vessel, so two such vessels in good visibility
might have sight of one another at 8M (but would look very small and not
"leap out" visually).

If one is a sailboat doing 5 kt, it will take quite a while to cover that
distance. But if the other is a planing powerboat doing 30 kt, it might be
there in roughly 15 minutes. Two power boats at that speed would be
"together" in half that time.

So, you might be about right. Does that mean you don't keep a constant
watch?

====

Charles T. Low
www.boatdocking.com

====

Coming back south to Lake Ontario was a real eye opener towards the
end of this season. The recreational traffic was so much denser in the
Niagara to Toronto area. I had got used to scanning the horizon,
seeing nothing, and figuring I had 10 or 15 minutes to myself.

The freighters were much easier to deal with. There weren't as many of
them. They didn't change course capriciously. Their lights were good.
It was still challenging to keep comfortably out of their way in tight
places like the St Clair River, especially at night.
...
Ryk

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 05:58:28 -0500, "Charles T. Low"
[withoutUN] wrote:

So, you might be about right. Does that mean you don't keep a constant
watch?

Am I constantly scanning the horizon? No, not when I don't see
anything out there. Will I go below long enough to get a sandwich or
use the head? Yes. Will I read a couple of pages of my book before
looking up? Yes.

Ryk

Thanks for fleshing that out.

Single or short-handed boating does, of course, require some compromises.

I don't find anything in the ColRegs which exempts any boater from keeping a
constant watch, and yet there are situations - such as sleeping while
anchored - in which the authorities seem to recognize implicitly that it's a
safe (enough) and accepted practise.

Has that policy ever given you any close calls?

====

Charles T. Low
www.boatdocking.com

====

"Ryk" wrote in message
...
Am I constantly scanning the horizon? No, not when I don't see
anything out there. Will I go below long enough to get a sandwich or
use the head? Yes. Will I read a couple of pages of my book before
looking up? Yes.

Ryk

On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 20:07:51 -0500, "Charles T. Low"
[withoutUN] wrote:

Thanks for fleshing that out.

Single or short-handed boating does, of course, require some compromises.

I don't find anything in the ColRegs which exempts any boater from keeping a
constant watch, and yet there are situations - such as sleeping while
anchored - in which the authorities seem to recognize implicitly that it's a
safe (enough) and accepted practise.

Has that policy ever given you any close calls?

No, I've never been in a near collision situation except on the race
course. Although I have occasionally been caught by surprise while
(supposedly) keeping a constant watch, usually by somebody overtaking,
or sneaking into the blind spot under the genoa. I think I may be more
concious of checking the full 360 when I know I've had my attention
elsewhere for a little while.

Ryk

On Tue, 01 Nov 2005 06:11:04 -0500, Ryk
wrote:

On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 20:07:51 -0500, "Charles T. Low"
[withoutUN] wrote:

Thanks for fleshing that out.

Single or short-handed boating does, of course, require some compromises.

I don't find anything in the ColRegs which exempts any boater from keeping a
constant watch, and yet there are situations - such as sleeping while
anchored - in which the authorities seem to recognize implicitly that it's a
safe (enough) and accepted practise.

Has that policy ever given you any close calls?

No, I've never been in a near collision situation except on the race
course. Although I have occasionally been caught by surprise while
(supposedly) keeping a constant watch, usually by somebody overtaking,
or sneaking into the blind spot under the genoa. I think I may be more
concious of checking the full 360 when I know I've had my attention
elsewhere for a little while.

Same here. I cruise an elderly cruiser-racer, but crew with club
racers (good way to improve your all-around skills, IMO), and my
skipper of a few seasons back could visualize dynamically whether
boats would collide or scrape past. So he would look, calculate and
yell "Hold your course" when boats would cross on opposite tacks.
Other racers knew that in this respect, he was pretty good, and so
boats would frequently cross with three or less feet between them, and
with neither side correcting on the helm.

The vagaries of wind can create some odd scenes even while cruising,
however. This October, we cruised down Lake Ontario and saw
(predictably) fewer boats than fingers, so to speak. And yet I saw
sight of one fellow in a 26 foot sloop, miles off and (slowly)
closing. I kept taking bearings and remarked that 'this guy could hit
us...in 20 minutes or so". This was four or five miles offshore, with
ZERO traffic. Sure enough, my fellow frostbiter crossed my bow with
about one and a half boatlengths to spare, and the customary
non-chalant nod and lifting of a finger off the wheel in salute that
passes for a wave hear. He wasn't aiming for me, or changing his
course for a look-see, because I had been watching him for ages and
the wind and his helming were steady. We just happened to intersect
each others' proper course.

R.

Charles T. Low wrote:
Thanks for fleshing that out.

Single or short-handed boating does, of course, require some compromises.

I don't find anything in the ColRegs which exempts any boater from keeping a
constant watch, and yet there are situations - such as sleeping while
anchored - in which the authorities seem to recognize implicitly that it's a
safe (enough) and accepted practise.

Has that policy ever given you any close calls?

====

Charles T. Low
www.boatdocking.com

Uhh sleeping while anchored is rather accepted and common.
Amigo, when you're anchored the Colregs don't apply - you're
NOT underway.

Evan Gatehouse

In article ,
Evan Gatehouse wrote:
Charles T. Low wrote:
Thanks for fleshing that out.

Single or short-handed boating does, of course, require some compromises.

I don't find anything in the ColRegs which exempts any boater from keeping a
constant watch, and yet there are situations - such as sleeping while
anchored - in which the authorities seem to recognize implicitly that it's a
safe (enough) and accepted practise.

Has that policy ever given you any close calls?

====

Charles T. Low
www.boatdocking.com

Uhh sleeping while anchored is rather accepted and common.
Amigo, when you're anchored the Colregs don't apply - you're
NOT underway.

As long as you're in a designated anchorage or have the anchor light
on and you're not in channel, etc...

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

I have a small Furuno on my boat and it picks up everything. On a calm
day I track seagulls and logs. Its only when the sea surface is really
disturbed (25+knots and lots of fetch that the radar starts missing
small boats.

Having driven large ships, I would say that if they are watching their
radar, they will see you even in a small fiberglass boat unless the sea
state or weather is such that clutter is a problem

Gary...does your Furuno unit have alarms
or notifications of "bogies"... ?