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