How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

LD wrote:
After reading through the posts and although I think RADAR is way over kill
for me, I have a few additional suggestions

Good suggestions.

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

Gene Kearns wrote:
On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 11:53:56 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing penned the
following well considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats:

LD wrote:
After reading through the posts and although I think RADAR is way over kill
for me, I have a few additional suggestions
Good suggestions.

Good suggestions, but if there is the potential for the necessity of
transiting narrow and/or busy inlets or other passages in poor
visibility, RADAR is money well spent.

We've never regretted having those "extra eyes."

Agreed.

And the North Atlantic is a tad different than the Gulf
of Mexico.

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

"Gene Kearns" wrote in message
...


LD wrote:
After reading through the posts and although I think RADAR is way over
kill
for me, I have a few additional suggestions

Good suggestions, but if there is the potential for the necessity of
transiting narrow and/or busy inlets or other passages in poor
visibility, RADAR is money well spent.

We've never regretted having those "extra eyes."



I agree and am a little surprised that "LD" thinks it's an overkill. Not
only for busy inlets, but for crawling your way back home in pea soup
without running into others that don't have radar or other objects floating
in the water like lobster pot floats with lines that just love to wrap
around your props. I'd agree that if your boating is restricted to
immediate coastlines and inland rivers, the need isn't as great, although
you can still get into trouble if the heavy fog develops. I know I did once
in a 17' center console. I was only 100 yards off shore of Scituate, MA, a
heavy fog developed in a matter of minutes, and I spent an hour trying to
find the harbor channel markers while avoiding submerged and not so
submerged rocks in 4-6 foot breakers. Visibility was about 25 feet. It
wasn't fun.

Another note about fog. It doesn't necessarily "roll in". It can develop
without warning if the temperature, dew point and barometric pressure
combine in the right conditions to produce it. I've seen it go from crystal
clear to pea soup in a matter of minutes, usually when the barometric
pressure suddenly drops quickly due to an approaching front and the water
vapor in the atmosphere condenses.

I am not suggesting that every small boat should have radar, but those
situations *do* occur. If you do a lot of boating and it hasn't happened
yet ..... it will.

You don't need a super, high powered, 60 mile radar to avoid collisions or
running over stuff in the water. I think JVC and others make a reasonably
priced unit with plenty of range.

Radar. Don't leave the dock without it.

Eisboch

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 12:29:41 -0500, "LD"
wrote:

After reading through the posts and although I think RADAR is way over kill
for me, I have a few additional suggestions


I agree that if all you want to do is spend a few hours offshore,
radar is way overkill. I've done plenty of sailing off the New Jersey
coast without radar. And while it was in a boat that's a little more
capable than a 25' Sundancer, what I have in survivability you more
than make up for in speed.

You should have more than enough warning to get back in before
anything serious develops. That area has very few "pop up" severe
storms. What bad weather that the Jersey coast gets is usually
forcast in plenty of time for you to get back in if you pay attention
to the radio. When the storms are coming over Maryland or PA, you can
turn around and get in before they make transiting the inlet
hazardous. The people that get in trouble are the ones that don't
heed the warnings.

As long as you don't head out when the forcast is already bad, you'll
be fine without radar. I'd say probably less than 10% of the boats
transiting my home inlet, a fairly hazardous one as far as inlets in
that area go, have radar.

Steve

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

Steve wrote:
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 12:29:41 -0500, "LD"
wrote:

After reading through the posts and although I think RADAR is way over kill
for me, I have a few additional suggestions


As long as you don't head out when the forcast is already bad, you'll
be fine without radar. I'd say probably less than 10% of the boats
transiting my home inlet, a fairly hazardous one as far as inlets in
that area go, have radar.

Where would that be?

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
m...
Steve wrote:
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 12:29:41 -0500, "LD"
wrote:

After reading through the posts and although I think RADAR is way over
kill
for me, I have a few additional suggestions


As long as you don't head out when the forcast is already bad, you'll
be fine without radar. I'd say probably less than 10% of the boats
transiting my home inlet, a fairly hazardous one as far as inlets in
that area go, have radar.

Where would that be?

That's right... no radar on any boat I sailed on... and sometimes we were in
pea soup fog.
We would take a bearing just before entering the fog bank and then
calculated our course.

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

"Don White" wrote in message
...


That's right... no radar on any boat I sailed on... and sometimes we were
in pea soup fog.
We would take a bearing just before entering the fog bank and then
calculated our course.



And cross your fingers that nobody else crossed your path.

Although, a sailboat in heavy fog probably isn't moving very fast.

Eisboch

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 19:52:59 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

Steve wrote:
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 12:29:41 -0500, "LD"
wrote:

After reading through the posts and although I think RADAR is way over kill
for me, I have a few additional suggestions


As long as you don't head out when the forcast is already bad, you'll
be fine without radar. I'd say probably less than 10% of the boats
transiting my home inlet, a fairly hazardous one as far as inlets in
that area go, have radar.

Where would that be?

New Jersey coast. My marina was close to Towsend's Inlet, which is
between Sea Isle City and Avalon. It's about average as far as NJ
inlets are concerned. Which means ok in good conditions, not so ok in
poor conditions.

I would watch the boats go in and out of the inlet and look at all the
boats in my marina as well as many others and a surprisingly tiny
minority of them had radar.

Steve

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

Steve wrote:
On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 19:52:59 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

Steve wrote:
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 12:29:41 -0500, "LD"
wrote:

After reading through the posts and although I think RADAR is way over kill
for me, I have a few additional suggestions
As long as you don't head out when the forcast is already bad, you'll
be fine without radar. I'd say probably less than 10% of the boats
transiting my home inlet, a fairly hazardous one as far as inlets in
that area go, have radar.
Where would that be?

New Jersey coast. My marina was close to Towsend's Inlet, which is
between Sea Isle City and Avalon. It's about average as far as NJ
inlets are concerned. Which means ok in good conditions, not so ok in
poor conditions.

I would watch the boats go in and out of the inlet and look at all the
boats in my marina as well as many others and a surprisingly tiny
minority of them had radar.

Just curious. Not a lot of small boats have radar.

I personally wouldn't be without it.

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

Don White wrote:
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
m...
Steve wrote:
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 12:29:41 -0500, "LD"
wrote:

After reading through the posts and although I think RADAR is way over
kill
for me, I have a few additional suggestions
As long as you don't head out when the forcast is already bad, you'll
be fine without radar. I'd say probably less than 10% of the boats
transiting my home inlet, a fairly hazardous one as far as inlets in
that area go, have radar.
Where would that be?

That's right... no radar on any boat I sailed on... and sometimes we were in
pea soup fog.
We would take a bearing just before entering the fog bank and then
calculated our course.

Well, you are Canadian.