"Roger Long" wrote in message
news
Actually, I do know the lingo and that the radio has been a substitute for
the horns for a long time. This does make me realize something I hadn't
thought of though. I've been thinking they would be reluctant to engage
with every yacht out there but I'll bet it's similar to air traffic
controllers. When they hear a crisp and professional sounding call up
they give the pilot much different service than when someone is stumbling
and blubbering. I'm sure the commercial vessel captains would respond to
an efficient and proper call as well.

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Roger Long



"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 06 Jul 2006 11:40:02 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

I'm not sure the ferry captains would care or bother to yak with every
small boat out there. I'm quite comfortable with the radio.

Most commercial vessels monitor 13 and 16 all of the time and are
quick to respond to a call on 13 in my experience. You need to learn
their language with regard to passing on "one whistle" or "two
whistles". That's how they generally communicate with each other and
it's much more effective than actual horn signals.

My experience is that very, very few "yachts" bother to contact the boats on
13 or VTS on 14. Having monitored 13 on the bay, I can't think of a call
I've heard in the last couple of years, other than the time we hailed a
tanker just to be sure of her course. The answer was quite timely and
accurate.

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"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com