Drive by radar

[Bigtalljv]

Well I had my first serious drive by radar day. Visibility was measured in yards in some places. The first time I've ever had to avoid contacts purely by radar, it was awesome, and it worked great.

The day looked something like this. It was dead flat calm in every direction all day. That's Santa Cruz island, well a very small piece of it but pretty much all we saw, off the Santa Barbara coast.


Had a great humpback whale encounter on the way over. Whales under the boat, dolphin, sea lions, birds. I need to pull pictures off the wife's phone.

Jason

[jeffstevens763@g]

Look forward to seeing the pics J cheers

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by Bigtalljv

Well I had my first serious drive by radar day. ....The first time I've ever had to avoid contacts purely by radar, it was awesome, and it worked great......

Yep, I'm with you re the radar. Defo worth it's weight and not only when visibility is poor.

[ncp]

More pics? Any fish?

[jyasaki]

If I recall correctly, if you have radar on the boat, it is actually a requirement to have it up and running when underway. Probably not enforced at all, but I remember reading that on some USCG site.

jky

[Bigtalljv]

hmm, how about this?

I forget, does the video option on the forum work or do I need to post to youtube or something and link that way?

[ncp]

That works!

[alpha]

Originally Posted by jyasaki

If I recall correctly, if you have radar on the boat, it is actually a requirement to have it up and running when underway. Probably not enforced at all, but I remember reading that on some USCG site.

jky

From rule 7 Nav rules

Every vessel must use all available means Appropriate,including lookout,
radar and radio to determine if a risk of collision exists.

[jyasaki]

Thanks, Alpha

[Bigtalljv]

"all available means Appropriate"

clear sunny days radar could be construed and not appropriate. Got some leeway there.

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by Bigtalljv

....clear sunny days radar could be construed and not appropriate. Got some leeway there.

Yes, but a boat the wrong colour can easily merge into the ocean, you'll likely have it on your radar at a couple of miles and be fully aware of it long before it's properly visible. Radar's not just for bad weather!