Here's an obscure comment to ponder they next time you entering unfamiliar waters.
When looking over the charts (yes I would never go exploring without them) I always look for shipwrecks first. I figure if a professional mariner was sunk in the area then you better bring you're A game. Sure it could have been 100 years ago when charts weren't as good, navigation was DR between sextant sightings, and there was no 5 day forecast but that's the point. If you go clausal without studying expected conditions, charts, and tides before plotting a safe GPS course then you've given up your modern advantage and may get the same results, blub blub. The next thing I scan for are the under water or shoaling rocks off every point of land along the coast. They are always there (rocks) otherwise the land would have eroded back like the rest of the coast. Usually the rocks are within a few hundred feet of shore but I know of a single 8 foot diameter pinnacle that breaks at low tide a mile offshore in nominally 60 foot deep water. Imagine how impossible it would be to avoid visually, maybe an unexpected breaker if the tide were right. And finally I check the path of the shipping lanes. If I want things to appear perfectly casual to my family and guest I plot a course that skirts rather than crosses shipping lanes. Sometimes they have an unexpected dog legs to avoid deep obstructions, see the shipping lanes at the Golden Gate Bridge. There's nothing like dismissing the cargo ship issuing his forth or fifth string of 5 long blast because you're not the one off his bow only to look over your shoulder and realize he has now turned right at you. The pilot knows exactly where the ship is going and you should too. Phil Agur s/v Wing Tip Commodore, Call Sign WCW3485 IC27/270A MMSI 366901790 www.catalina27.org Vessel Doc# 1039809 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tim Ford Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 9:20 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: catalina27-talk: Can a C-27 turnover - part 2 Phil Agur wrote: >tf, > >Do you think the vortex was vertical? > > yeah, like a dust devil. >The boat directly behind us, that we could hear an angry skipper yelling >fouled lines preventing the spinnaker launch, sheeted in the genoa they >hadn't struck and shot past us. > > smart or lucky, sometimes things just work out for some people! tf wouldnt know from personal experience
