For various reasons, most notably tidal currents we found ourselves motoring down Johnstone Strait in the dark and thick fog. We do have radar and two chart plotting programs. On this particular night Yammy was glued to the radar while I watched the water droplets condensing on my glasses.
Suddenly Yammy identified a radar target off in the safe distance we thought. My thinking was that there was a bit of a traffic separation scheme for Race Passage so I changed course to cross to the other side. All too fast the radar target and our boat merged . Like a deer in the headlights I was paralyzed and didn't know which way to turn. Suddenly the boat's lights emerged out of the fog about two hundred meters away. Once again I didn't know which way to turn. Finally I turned hard to port and the vessel rapidly disappeared in the fog.
In hindsight I should have stopped when we first saw the target and bought some time while we figured out what was going on. We should have also tried radioing the vessel to see if they were aware of us.
Anyways the best advice about fog is to stay out of it.
Suddenly Yammy identified a radar target off in the safe distance we thought. My thinking was that there was a bit of a traffic separation scheme for Race Passage so I changed course to cross to the other side. All too fast the radar target and our boat merged . Like a deer in the headlights I was paralyzed and didn't know which way to turn. Suddenly the boat's lights emerged out of the fog about two hundred meters away. Once again I didn't know which way to turn. Finally I turned hard to port and the vessel rapidly disappeared in the fog.
In hindsight I should have stopped when we first saw the target and bought some time while we figured out what was going on. We should have also tried radioing the vessel to see if they were aware of us.
Anyways the best advice about fog is to stay out of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment