We left Cape May, New Jersey this morning in fog so dense we couldn't
see either breakwater on the way out of the inlet, couldn't have done
it without RADAR. The expectation was that the fog would lift by
mid-morning and we'd have clear sailing up the Jersey coast into the
NYC area. It didn't happen. If anything the fog got worse as the day
went on and we never saw anything for the entire 113 nautical miles
until anchoring in Atlantic Highlands late in the evening. It was
instrument flying all the way on RADAR, GPS chart plotter, compass and
AIS for the entire trip. There's a nice sense of accomplishment in
doing that but it's also very stressful and hardly a pleasant day on
the water. We'd have waited for clear weather but there's a 3 day
nor'easter in the forecast and we have family obligations in NY next
week.

More dots for 'Airree:

http://tinyurl.com/waynebspottrack

On Thu, 31 May 2018 21:58:10 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

We left Cape May, New Jersey this morning in fog so dense we couldn't
see either breakwater on the way out of the inlet, couldn't have done
it without RADAR. The expectation was that the fog would lift by
mid-morning and we'd have clear sailing up the Jersey coast into the
NYC area. It didn't happen. If anything the fog got worse as the day
went on and we never saw anything for the entire 113 nautical miles
until anchoring in Atlantic Highlands late in the evening. It was
instrument flying all the way on RADAR, GPS chart plotter, compass and
AIS for the entire trip. There's a nice sense of accomplishment in
doing that but it's also very stressful and hardly a pleasant day on
the water. We'd have waited for clear weather but there's a 3 day
nor'easter in the forecast and we have family obligations in NY next
week.

More dots for 'Airree:

http://tinyurl.com/waynebspottrack

Sounds exciting. Thank god for RADAR and hope you don't hit a
submerged shipping container huh?

On Thu, 31 May 2018 22:35:53 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 31 May 2018 21:58:10 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

We left Cape May, New Jersey this morning in fog so dense we couldn't
see either breakwater on the way out of the inlet, couldn't have done
it without RADAR. The expectation was that the fog would lift by
mid-morning and we'd have clear sailing up the Jersey coast into the
NYC area. It didn't happen. If anything the fog got worse as the day
went on and we never saw anything for the entire 113 nautical miles
until anchoring in Atlantic Highlands late in the evening. It was
instrument flying all the way on RADAR, GPS chart plotter, compass and
AIS for the entire trip. There's a nice sense of accomplishment in
doing that but it's also very stressful and hardly a pleasant day on
the water. We'd have waited for clear weather but there's a 3 day
nor'easter in the forecast and we have family obligations in NY next
week.

More dots for 'Airree:

http://tinyurl.com/waynebspottrack

Sounds exciting. Thank god for RADAR and hope you don't hit a
submerged shipping container huh?

===

Fortunately submerged containers are fairly rare. Partly submerged
logs are fairly common however, and are a very real hazard to your
running gear. We dinged a couple yesterday but fortunately they don't
seem to have damaged anything. By the time you see them it's
generally too late to steer around. If lucky, I'll have time to
throttle back and shift into neutral. They don't show up on RADAR at
all so no advance warning until they pop up in front of you.

On Fri, 01 Jun 2018 07:44:56 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Thu, 31 May 2018 22:35:53 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 31 May 2018 21:58:10 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

We left Cape May, New Jersey this morning in fog so dense we couldn't
see either breakwater on the way out of the inlet, couldn't have done
it without RADAR. The expectation was that the fog would lift by
mid-morning and we'd have clear sailing up the Jersey coast into the
NYC area. It didn't happen. If anything the fog got worse as the day
went on and we never saw anything for the entire 113 nautical miles
until anchoring in Atlantic Highlands late in the evening. It was
instrument flying all the way on RADAR, GPS chart plotter, compass and
AIS for the entire trip. There's a nice sense of accomplishment in
doing that but it's also very stressful and hardly a pleasant day on
the water. We'd have waited for clear weather but there's a 3 day
nor'easter in the forecast and we have family obligations in NY next
week.

More dots for 'Airree:

http://tinyurl.com/waynebspottrack

Sounds exciting. Thank god for RADAR and hope you don't hit a
submerged shipping container huh?

===

Fortunately submerged containers are fairly rare. Partly submerged
logs are fairly common however, and are a very real hazard to your
running gear. We dinged a couple yesterday but fortunately they don't
seem to have damaged anything. By the time you see them it's
generally too late to steer around. If lucky, I'll have time to
throttle back and shift into neutral. They don't show up on RADAR at
all so no advance warning until they pop up in front of you.

Yup most things like that are invisible to RADAR, they just disappear
in the grass at the waterline. One of our friends says a pallet got
him one night in the gulf. It was slick calm with unlimited
visibility, RADAR on and "thump". Wheels and struts. Fortunately he
was able to limp back to the yard but it was still expensive. He was
going about 30 tho in a big sport fish.

On 6/1/2018 1:36 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 01 Jun 2018 07:44:56 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Thu, 31 May 2018 22:35:53 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 31 May 2018 21:58:10 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

We left Cape May, New Jersey this morning in fog so dense we couldn't
see either breakwater on the way out of the inlet, couldn't have done
it without RADAR. The expectation was that the fog would lift by
mid-morning and we'd have clear sailing up the Jersey coast into the
NYC area. It didn't happen. If anything the fog got worse as the day
went on and we never saw anything for the entire 113 nautical miles
until anchoring in Atlantic Highlands late in the evening. It was
instrument flying all the way on RADAR, GPS chart plotter, compass and
AIS for the entire trip. There's a nice sense of accomplishment in
doing that but it's also very stressful and hardly a pleasant day on
the water. We'd have waited for clear weather but there's a 3 day
nor'easter in the forecast and we have family obligations in NY next
week.

More dots for 'Airree:

http://tinyurl.com/waynebspottrack

Sounds exciting. Thank god for RADAR and hope you don't hit a
submerged shipping container huh?

===

Fortunately submerged containers are fairly rare. Partly submerged
logs are fairly common however, and are a very real hazard to your
running gear. We dinged a couple yesterday but fortunately they don't
seem to have damaged anything. By the time you see them it's
generally too late to steer around. If lucky, I'll have time to
throttle back and shift into neutral. They don't show up on RADAR at
all so no advance warning until they pop up in front of you.

Yup most things like that are invisible to RADAR, they just disappear
in the grass at the waterline. One of our friends says a pallet got
him one night in the gulf. It was slick calm with unlimited
visibility, RADAR on and "thump". Wheels and struts. Fortunately he
was able to limp back to the yard but it was still expensive. He was
going about 30 tho in a big sport fish.


Submerged logs or those floating just at the waterline are pretty much
impossible to see on radar however both the Raymarine and Furuno systems
I had were both capable of detecting and displaying lobster trap buoys.
They don't sit very high over the water surface.

Wayne.B
We left Cape May, New Jersey this morning in fog so dense we couldn't
see either breakwater on the way out of the inlet, couldn't have done
it without RADAR. The expectation was that the fog would lift by
mid-morning and we'd have clear sailing up the Jersey coast into the
NYC area. It didn't happen. If anything the fog got worse as the day
went on and we never saw anything for the entire 113 nautical miles
until anchoring in Atlantic Highlands late in the evening. It was
instrument flying all the way on RADAR, GPS chart plotter, compass and
AIS for the entire trip. There's a nice sense of accomplishment in
doing that but it's also very stressful and hardly a pleasant day on
the water. We'd have waited for clear weather but there's a 3 day
nor'easter in the forecast and we have family obligations in NY next
week.

More dots for 'Airree:

http://tinyurl.com/waynebspottrack

..........

Glad all is going well Wayne. Radar. Your eyes in the dark. Glad you know how to navigate with it.
Btw, I’m looking at dots too!

On Thursday, May 31, 2018 at 9:58:41 PM UTC-4, Wayne.B wrote:
We left Cape May, New Jersey this morning in fog so dense we couldn't
see either breakwater on the way out of the inlet, couldn't have done
it without RADAR. The expectation was that the fog would lift by
mid-morning and we'd have clear sailing up the Jersey coast into the
NYC area. It didn't happen. If anything the fog got worse as the day
went on and we never saw anything for the entire 113 nautical miles
until anchoring in Atlantic Highlands late in the evening. It was
instrument flying all the way on RADAR, GPS chart plotter, compass and
AIS for the entire trip. There's a nice sense of accomplishment in
doing that but it's also very stressful and hardly a pleasant day on
the water. We'd have waited for clear weather but there's a 3 day
nor'easter in the forecast and we have family obligations in NY next
week.

More dots for 'Airree:

http://tinyurl.com/waynebspottrack

On Thursday, May 31, 2018 at 9:58:41 PM UTC-4, Wayne.B wrote:
We left Cape May, New Jersey this morning in fog so dense we couldn't
see either breakwater on the way out of the inlet, couldn't have done
it without RADAR. The expectation was that the fog would lift by
mid-morning and we'd have clear sailing up the Jersey coast into the
NYC area. It didn't happen. If anything the fog got worse as the day
went on and we never saw anything for the entire 113 nautical miles
until anchoring in Atlantic Highlands late in the evening. It was
instrument flying all the way on RADAR, GPS chart plotter, compass and
AIS for the entire trip. There's a nice sense of accomplishment in
doing that but it's also very stressful and hardly a pleasant day on
the water. We'd have waited for clear weather but there's a 3 day
nor'easter in the forecast and we have family obligations in NY next
week.

More dots for 'Airree:

http://tinyurl.com/waynebspottrack

Wow. That's a nail biting adventure. Very cool, stay safe.

On 5/31/2018 9:58 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
We left Cape May, New Jersey this morning in fog so dense we couldn't
see either breakwater on the way out of the inlet, couldn't have done
it without RADAR. The expectation was that the fog would lift by
mid-morning and we'd have clear sailing up the Jersey coast into the
NYC area. It didn't happen. If anything the fog got worse as the day
went on and we never saw anything for the entire 113 nautical miles
until anchoring in Atlantic Highlands late in the evening. It was
instrument flying all the way on RADAR, GPS chart plotter, compass and
AIS for the entire trip. There's a nice sense of accomplishment in
doing that but it's also very stressful and hardly a pleasant day on
the water. We'd have waited for clear weather but there's a 3 day
nor'easter in the forecast and we have family obligations in NY next
week.

More dots for 'Airree:

http://tinyurl.com/waynebspottrack



Yuck.

For well experienced boating people like yourself navigating in
heavy fog is stressful but safe. I was never comfortable
in fog and avoided traveling in it if at all possible.

We were leaving Montauk, Long Island in the morning but I put
off getting underway for a couple of hours until the fog
had a chance to burn off. It didn't. Got underway and was
slowly making my way down the long waterway filled with boats
towards the inlet/exit. Couldn't see a thing other than
watching radar. I chickened out, turned around and went
back to the dock. Waited another couple of hours until it
started to clear.

On Fri, 1 Jun 2018 05:14:27 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 5/31/2018 9:58 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
We left Cape May, New Jersey this morning in fog so dense we couldn't
see either breakwater on the way out of the inlet, couldn't have done
it without RADAR. The expectation was that the fog would lift by
mid-morning and we'd have clear sailing up the Jersey coast into the
NYC area. It didn't happen. If anything the fog got worse as the day
went on and we never saw anything for the entire 113 nautical miles
until anchoring in Atlantic Highlands late in the evening. It was
instrument flying all the way on RADAR, GPS chart plotter, compass and
AIS for the entire trip. There's a nice sense of accomplishment in
doing that but it's also very stressful and hardly a pleasant day on
the water. We'd have waited for clear weather but there's a 3 day
nor'easter in the forecast and we have family obligations in NY next
week.

More dots for 'Airree:

http://tinyurl.com/waynebspottrack



Yuck.

For well experienced boating people like yourself navigating in
heavy fog is stressful but safe. I was never comfortable
in fog and avoided traveling in it if at all possible.

We were leaving Montauk, Long Island in the morning but I put
off getting underway for a couple of hours until the fog
had a chance to burn off. It didn't. Got underway and was
slowly making my way down the long waterway filled with boats
towards the inlet/exit. Couldn't see a thing other than
watching radar. I chickened out, turned around and went
back to the dock. Waited another couple of hours until it
started to clear.


===

Navigating with RADAR takes practice, enough practice that you have
the confidence to believe what you're seeing, and know how to
interpret it. When we bought the boat 14 years ago I splurged a bit
on a commercial quality Furuno unit that doubes as a chart plotter and
depth sounder. It's the most reliable piece of equipment on the boat
and I've never regretted the decision.