My First Time!

[ksanders]

We'd launched from Whittier, AK

Very Cool!!!

Thread drift here but I spent six years working a slope schedule in Whittier maintaining the submarine fiber landing station there.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

You'll like this Richard. It will bring back memories for you and your recent travels.

The post below was copied from another forum where I was posting live during a night crossing of the Gulf of Alaska. This is why we get to know our equipment...

I have to admit, its been a long time since I operated a boat at night. Imagine this...You're in a sea that is safe but moves the boat around quite a bit. OK you can imagine that. Now take away all of your visual references. You cannot see. You do not know when a wave is going to hit. But you learn. You get a feel for the rhythm. You begin to anticipate the next set.

This is a time when you live by your radar and your chart plotter, because this is is really all you have between you and danger. Unimaginable danger. The primal fear danger of not surviving. Right now this is my world. This is night shift on the MV Lisas Way.

Right now at this particular moment I am very happy that my Furuno Manual looks old and tattered. Why...Because I've read it. Not once, but many times, over a period of years. I know that equipment. I know that when the radar shows something it really exists. I know that when it shows nothing thats because nothing is out there. Because when your equipment is all that separates you from the darkest of times, having confidence in that equipment is all that keeps you sane.

Right now I'm in the middle of my 4 hour watch. Jamison is asleep in his bunk, and I am at the helm. I can see the tip of Kyak Island that we just passed. I can see a couple of shower cells on the radar. Other than that all is quiet on the MV lisas Way.

I remember that post and the picture of your GPS in the dark! Little did you know that would all change with huge waves on your STBD beam!

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

A bit of a funny story to share about how Captain Murphy can become a part of your crew when he's least expected.

Four of us were on my boss's boat. We'd launched from Whittier, AK on a five day "bear hunting trip" which was actually more of a "let's get away from work for a few days" trip. We'd gone over to Montague Island then up to Hinchinbrook Island and were just having fun. Sleeping on the boat, slow cruising during the day, just the guys having a good time.

On our last morning we set a course from Hinchinbrook Island back toward Whittier Inlet. We had plenty of time to make the trip then load the boat on the trailer and drive the truck/trailer onto the train to get out of Whittier.

This was back when there was no GPS. We had a compass and charts to go by and we'd done fine all week. On the cruise back to Whittier it started to rain. No problem, we turned on the wipers. After a few hours we should have reached Whittier but hadn't , and we kept seeing small ice bergs.

We kept going and started to get worried because we realized two things--#1 we had no clue where we were, and #2 we likely were going to miss the train.

After a bit the rain stopped and we turned off the wipers. When we did that the compass swung wildly. Only then did we realize that the wiper motor had set up an electrical field that froze the compass at the heading it was set to when we turned the wipers on. Now we were REALLY lost! We had no idea where we were or how to get to Whittier.

We finally found a small fishing boat and asked him where we were. He chuckled at our error and told us how to get to Whittier. We ran on plane all the way back there, loaded the boat in a hurry and barely made the train.

Lesson learned, and Murphy was released from duty!

Loading on the train. How things have changed!

Whittier Tunnel: Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel

 

[yachtbrokerguy]

I started my commercial career running crew boats in the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico back in the early 1970's pre GPS and even Loran. In the winter when the cold water from the north came down river to hit the warm air of the Gulf there was lots of fog. I learned to stick my head in the Decca Super 101 radar and often would not look out the windows. No autopilot either on those work boats. Years later I ran a whale watch boat out of Boston and all the fog experience came in handy. We had two radars and I would set them at two different ranges to see where I was positioned and the other to see what was moving around me. Running at 20 knots with 250 paying passengers on board was nerve racking.
I suggest that boat owners run their radars all the time to learn how to read the signal and how to interpret what they see on the screen. Going out at dusk is a great way to practice as the visibility slowly diminishes. Another way to practice is to block the pilothouse windows and run on instruments with an observer who can see to be a lookout.

 

[BandB]

Another way to practice is to block the pilothouse windows and run on instruments with an observer who can see to be a lookout.

Wifey B: We were trained like that. It was somewhat like a video game but real and your life depended on it type thing. It's easy to use radar when you're also looking out the windows. But when that is taken away from you, it's a little scary at first. Then you realize it will be real sometimes so important to learn. Our trainer was tough. He said anyone could operate a boat in perfect conditions. We were using walkie talkies and I remember calling out a boat at 10 o'clock and my hubby who was observing responded "No, a Buoy". I said, "ok so it's a little boat. Can I just say a boat like thing?" and the Captain said no.

A lot of training is like that. We've learned some medical things we hope to never have to use. Things like suturing and IV's. And fire fighting. That was not a fun course at all.

It's all knowledge and none of us can have it all. But we all keep learning.

 

[ksanders]

I remember that post and the picture of your GPS in the dark! Little did you know that would all change with huge waves on your STBD beam!

Yes, I learned about how my boat handles really rough water that day.

How do you describe having your wipers under water.

Those kind of trips, yours included, are confidence builders. If my boat can handle that, she can handle anything else I'll run into.

 

[Wxx3]

Loading on the train. How things have changed!

Whittier Tunnel: Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel

I really liked those two stories.

And even I've taken the Whittier train.
So sad to see it go. I wonder who paid for it

 

[twistedtree]

Great thread, and great advice. The only thing I'd like to add is the value of also learning how your ARPA/MARPA function works on your radar, and what it's telling you. It's the basis for using radar for collision avoidance. It's an easy thing to practice in good weather when things are calm.

As others have said, practice, practice, practice until it's second nature. Then when you need it, it will be second nature.

 

[FlyWright]

Great point, Peter. I've always resisted using MARPA after trying it and getting what I consider incessant nuisance warnings. Our narrow channels and nearby shoreline in the SF Bay/CA Delta are not MARPA-friendly on my Raytheon/Raymarine unit.

 

[twistedtree]

Maybe turn off the warnings and alarms? I find them annoying too and usually turn them off regardless.

But here are some examples of how it can help, even in narrow channels:

A couple of years ago were were in the St Lawrence heading outbound, and had a tanker slowly catching up to us. We were in a long, relatively narrow stretch and it would have been a problem if he caught up to us in that narrow area. Just acquire the other boat with ARPA and after a few sweeps you will have his COG, SOG, CPA, and TCPA. Now CPA and TCPA need to be taken with a grain of salt in a river where you are changing course frequently, but with SOG you can pretty quickly figure out when and where he will overtake you. In our case we were able to confirm it was going to happen in an upcoming wide open area.

I've done the same in the ICW to figure out where I'll overtake a slower boat that I'm gaining on, and confirm it will be in a clear area, or change speed to make it so.

It's really useful to have a reliable course and direction on other suspect boats. And with good ARPA, it will even show you the other boat's relative motion line which will show you whether the other boat will pass ahead of you, behind you, to the side, and of course when it's going to smack right into you.

Once you get used to it, you'll use it all the time.

 

[ksanders]

I really liked those two stories.

And even I've taken the Whittier train.
So sad to see it go. I wonder who paid for it

I was in Whittier working when the tunnel got converted. Actually I was the very first "civilian" vehicle they let through the tunnel, long before it opened to the public.

I rescued several of the tunnel workers using my companies ARGO during a blizzard. That provided "friends" on the construction crew. My pickup is diesel so they let me go through as long as I was following another truck.

Back in the day I had to take my ARGO to work at the landing station at the head of the bay. With my 6:30 AM to 6:30 pm 7 day a week shift babysitting the llanding station I could sometimes go a week and not see another human being. Thats errie

 

[AKFish]

TwistedTree...I agree about MARPA. It's a great tool. Missing from all of this is discussion of a good heading sensor. This makes all things work together; the AP, radar overlay and ARPA tracking. Some of the issues the OP experienced can be frustrating at slow speeds due to GPS heading calculation causing a delay. In this scenario, it's best to stick to the compass for steering corrections.

I have to echo (pun here?) all others that also run radar during the clear days. That helps to take the added stress off during the night time or foggy conditions. I run a bunch at night and can pick out ice very well on the Furuno DRS4. However, it's stressful, so I added some huge lights and now it's no problem. I trust that radar because I use it every time the boat moves.

Headed into Whittier on a Saturday morning about 8am, clear blue above a hard deck of fog to about 100 ft, all I could see on the plotter screen were several radar returns making swerving tracks generally in my direction. I would let them get to about 100 yards and blast the horn, at which point they would turn, in some direction. I'm guessing these were the the boats with GPS only. It was amazing and frightening all at the same time. I suppose they knew where they were.

In pilot training we would use "foggles" to simulate instrument flight. Don't cheat, just have a crewman stand watch with you while you use instruments only and do more night cruising when you get more familiar. The more you do the more confident and comfortable you will become.

FWIW, the lowest free-board skiffs do not show up well unless you are manually tuning the radar. Almost all other boats I see floating show up with the set in AUTO tuning mode.

 

[twistedtree]

Yes, a good heading sensor is among the best $500 you'll even spend on your boat. It will improve AP performance, show your heading accurately at all times on your chart plotter, provide alignment of radar overlay on charts, transmit more accurate AIS data, and enable MARPA.

I think Garmin still does MARPA based on COG if you are running over a certain speed, but Furuno and Simrad insist on heading or the function is disabled. I heard their was a law suit so they stopped allowing COG as a proxy for heading.

 

[Pgitug]

To travel after dark or in the fog without a well functioning auto pilot is both foolish and dangerous to yourself and others. Without a horizon to judge your heading and rate of swing you are at a huge disadvantage.

 

[FlyWright]

To travel after dark or in the fog without a well functioning auto pilot is both foolish and dangerous to yourself and others. Without a horizon to judge your heading and rate of swing you are at a huge disadvantage.

It was done safely for centuries before autopilots were invented and is still done by many today, but I agree with taking advantage of the best available tools for the job at hand.

 

[Doug]

It was done safely for centuries before autopilots were invented and is still done by many today, but I agree with taking advantage of the best available tools for the job at hand.

+1

 

[bligh]

I find it interesting that this thread went on 17 posts until someone (Marin)mentioned a compass as a required instrument for running in the fog.. How times have changed. Boaters have become desperately reliant on electronics even when the simplest device can make your life so much easier.

 

[Marin]

We use the compass when running in good visibility, too. We have two stand-alone plotters, Echotec and Furuno NavNet, but they have to wait until a change has occurred before they can show it. So you can easily get into a constant state of chasing the line and over-correction.

A compass shows a change as it is occurring. So we use the compass to hold a heading and the plotters to confirm it's the correct heading to stay on course, or to change the heading if current changes require it, a never-ending occurrence in our islands with strong currents, tide rips, and the effects from islands and channels.

We don't have an autopilot, so using the compass makes for much more consistent means of holding a desired heading than chasing the plotters.

It's not an either/or procedure, it's an all-the-tools-together procedure.