Boating Through Fog

A nice short article regarding fog

https://www.boatblurb.com/post/boat...il&utm_term=0_5c72e91d95-6816c7bd2b-441541433

I once made about a 40 mile Lake Michigan trip in fog literally so dense you couldn't see your pennant at the front of the boat. I didn't have radar.

I went slow, watched my GPS and kept a lookout. It was not a bad experience.

pete

Fog is funny, and very easy to get disoriented. It took many hours and many outings for me to get 'comfortable' (if there is such a thing) in fog. Not having had auto-pilot (just had it installed this month...Woohoo), all my learning and hours of experience was by hand steering through fog. If I could give anyone any one piece of advise it's that the compass is MANDATORY for operating in fog. To me, if I had to list the priority of tools needed to easily and effectively navigate in fog, it would be:

1) GPS

2) Compass

3) Radar

I also find that, unless your GPS has an internal compass, you really need to go faster than headway speed to get the GPS to show an accurate course. I used to have to do around 6-8 knots to get the GPS to lock into an accurate course. I'm hoping that with auot-pilot and an electronic compass, that becomes more accurate for me.

The only thing I really hate about being in fog is navigating inlets. If I can see at least one side of the shore or I can see the next marker from the current marker, I'll head out. Otherwise, I'll either stay in the harbor and wait for it to lift a bit, or anchor in a lee somewhere and wait to head in. My other trick is to wait for a commercial fishing boat, Charter boat, CG or ferry and tailgate them in if the fog is too thick.

Comfort in fog is like comfort at night.


Gradual experience with it and learning what instruments can and how they help will allow one (if they have the aptitude) to become more comfortable.


I spent a lot of time in 2 careers having to be comfortable with it. While I am comfortable now as a recreational boater, I had the luxury going slow with plenty of practice under watchful, talented teachers and best of all....the reason I had to keep going was often to help others.



The first option is one shouldn't be scared of fog, but wary of getting in over one's head till ready.


The other is ....as a recreational boater.... don't go no matter how comfortable one feels as you really don't have to and yes, fog increases risk....directly proportional to experience but it never really goes to zero risk.

My issue with fog is the folks who feel that the best place to fish in the channel next to the marker. If I can avoid fog I do otherwise, slow down, radar on and pay close attention

I forgot to mention that I had autopilot. Makes a huge difference in fog.

pete

Pete Meisinger said:

I once made about a 40 mile Lake Michigan trip in fog literally so dense you couldn't see your pennant at the front of the boat.

pete

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Pete...really? I've got to call you out on this one.

My first real experience with persistent fog underway was off San Diego where in certain parts of the year it can linger all day long. It was especially frightening to me as the conning officer because the captain of my destroyer insisted on running at 25 knots through it one day to make a rendezvous. In the fifty years since that time, I have never experienced anything like that kind of speed in fog, and I have never been underway in fog without a functioning radar. Without a functioning radar and in a truly zero-viz fog, I would stop clear of any channel and if possible anchor.

I was sitting aboard my boat in the marina here in Panama City one late afternoon in late fall in the early 1990s before GPS plotters were widely installed. It had been a calm and mild temperature day allowing people to get out on the bay. A thick fog fell rather quickly, and the VHF radio just lit up with people asking for help to find their way to shore with increasing stress in the voices as darkness approached. Folks were tieing off to buoys and following others with radar if they could find those vessels. There were no reported accidents, whew!

Ok excuse the ignorance by what is the advantage of auto pilot in the fog. Is it because it will synch with the radar? Although we have had the boat for a while we rarely have used the auto. I would welcome any handy advice.

If I could give anyone any one piece of advise it's that the compass is MANDATORY for operating in fog. To me, if I had to list the priority of tools needed to easily and effectively navigate in fog, it would be:
1) GPS
2) Compass
3) Radar

Click to expand...

For me it would be:
GPS
Autopilot
Radar
Automatic fog horn

And a very capable first mate to be on radar watch and listening

Can't remember when the last time I used my compass for anything other than a sanity check or when at anchor to know where the wind was coming from or where i could get protection.
I guess I became lazy once GPS and chart plotters became reliable.

Lollygag1 said:

Ok excuse the ignorance by what is the advantage of auto pilot in the fog. Is it because it will synch with the radar? Although we have had the boat for a while we rarely have used the auto. I would welcome any handy advice.

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With no visual reference, hand steering accurately is a lot harder. So you spend a lot more time staring at the compass and/or chartplotter. That leaves you with less ability to pay attention to radar, what's around you, etc. If hand steering in heavy fog for more than a short time, I'd want a second person next to me.

Lollygag1 said:

Ok excuse the ignorance by what is the advantage of auto pilot in the fog. Is it because it will synch with the radar? Although we have had the boat for a while we rarely have used the auto. I would welcome any handy advice.

Click to expand...

The autopilot will run (steer) the boat so you can concentrate on radar and what's around you.

You should give it a try sometime when it's a nice day out and let it help you. Then you will be able to trust it in the fog or bad weather if need be.
We liked to sit on the bow on a nice day and enjoy the weather and a cocktail while going to Block or in Gardner's Bay headed toward Sag or TMH.

Thanks will put it on our to do list this spring. We travel as a couple so always have extra eyes.

Any tool that allows one to lighten concentration on one task and allow the mind to absorb more info coming from multiple sources helps greatly....increased situational awareness.


A compass is invaluable when getting underway from anchor (either magnetic or a true GPS compass, not regular GPS).


At less than 3 knots, maybe more or less, GPS jumps all around and doesn't provide a steady course till it establishes one, but the necessary speed to get a steady course on GPS can vary a bit.


The other reason for a mag compass is if your GPS does fail, in the fog without a compass could be very tricky, for most a mess.

It's so easy to become disoriented in the fog. Last fall, as soon as we got out of our creek, we were in heavy fog & I was fiddling with the other instruments like the foghorn & radar. The next thing I knew, I was 90° off course. An autopilot in fog or at night with nothing to steer on is a definite asset to navigation.

Over the years I've boated enough times in the fog that it doesn't really bother me any more. I slow down, watch the radar and just take it easy. This pic is at the tail end of about a 4 hour trip in the fog. Heading into the bay at the end of the journey. That "area" off the bow is the right side of the inlet--all rocks with a small tree growing on it. I was about a boat length from it when I made my turn. Thanks Raymarine.

Lollygag1 said:

Ok excuse the ignorance by what is the advantage of auto pilot in the fog. Is it because it will synch with the radar? Although we have had the boat for a while we rarely have used the auto. I would welcome any handy advice.

Click to expand...

I was out in fog a couple years ago. I could see about two boat lengths. My A.P. didn't work, on the list to be fixed. I have a GPS but I could wander quite a ways off my intended course before the GPS would show the error of my way. unless the zoom was blown up so much it was almost useless for the longer course.
Lucky we have three sources of GPS.
THere are always other things to attend to, other boats, current drive drift, coffee, chart checks, zooming, radar checks, VHF checks.
While you are attending to ANYTHING other than the compass for a quick wander check the boat WILL WANDER, sometimes amazingly far off your intended course.

If you don't have an A.P. then don't depend upon the primary GPS source for the longer range course to show your wander. Use/get another which is set on a short range to show any off tracking. It can be simply a tablet.

GFC said:

Over the years I've boated enough times in the fog that it doesn't really bother me any more. I slow down, watch the radar and just take it easy. This pic is at the tail end of about a 4 hour trip in the fog. Heading into the bay at the end of the journey. That "area" off the bow is the right side of the inlet--all rocks with a small tree growing on it. I was about a boat length from it when I made my turn. Thanks Raymarine.

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I find the course vector (I also keep a heading vector on which shows the actual heading from the pilot compass & is much more responsive than the GPS COG vector) to be really helpful on the plotter like shown on yours.

Back in 2002 we were bring a new to us 46’ from Seattle to LA. We spent 25 hours in one leg in a heavy fog. Sometimes we couldn’t see the pennant on the bow other times we could see about 50 to 75 yards. We were about 10 NM offshore when the fog lifted for a moment and there was what looked like a rock dead ahead. I started turning the boat when the “rock” blew a spout of air and water and went under. Apparently the “rock” was asleep and didn’t hear our boat until we were almost on it. And the boat had twin Detroits in it so it wasn’t quiet. It didn’t show up on the older radar that was installed on the boat. The boat didn’t have an autopilot so we had to steer the 100+ hours on the trip. It was very difficult not to get disoriented in the fog. The computer navigation program had a steering guide that showed if you were off course port or starboard. So that helped make the steering easier.

Often follow a depth contour when in fog. Find due to bounce sounds from bouys or other boats may not permit accurate localization. Have found putting someone up on the bow and comparing observations helps. If really confused may drift to decrease our own noise and listen for a moment. It’s the one time I’ll put in a ton of waypoints or autoroute and let the AP steer while holding a finger over standby.
What truly stinks is Maine in fog. Dodging lobster and fish traps. So much fun.

When my boat was in refit, I replaced the old dated VHR with a black box Icom. One of the features I like, and the reason I chose the radio, is the automatic fog horn option. I knew I'd never manually blow a horn every two minutes.

From the article...

Vessels under 39.4 feet (12m) that are moving in restricted visibility such as fog are required to sound an effective sound signal, for 4 to 6 seconds, every two minutes.

What is the requirement for boats OVER 39.4 feet, and why would it be different ?

As a kid I remember bringing home a new to us Pearson 26 sailboat from Rhode Island to Mass. One morning we took off in fog so thick you couldn't see more than 2 or 3 boatlengths ahead. My dad assured us that once we got out of the small harbor the wind would clear things up. It didn't. So we end up going through the Cape Cod Canal by using our depth sounder. If it got too shallow turn.....if it gets shallower, turn the other way. It was incredibly stressful as this was a major shipping route. All of a sudden we hear this MASSIVE air horn very close and assumed some freighter was about to crush us and we made a dash for shallow water.......As we got shallower the horn got louder .....and then a train went by on the shoreline......It made for an incredibly tense few minutes.

Ah, the memories. Fog and moonless nights. Another reason for a command bridge with no visual obstructions like windshields or enclosed space restricting sound from around you.
Compass, depth sounder as a basic, then auto pilot, chart plotter and radar. Not so sure about a second set of eyes, can't hurt but don't want to depend on them.
Everyone can practice this.
On a clear day out in the open pick a course to steer and close your eyes and see how long you can handle it without peeking.

Benthic2 said:

From the article...

Vessels under 39.4 feet (12m) that are moving in restricted visibility such as fog are required to sound an effective sound signal, for 4 to 6 seconds, every two minutes.

What is the requirement for boats OVER 39.4 feet, and why would it be different ?

Click to expand...

Over 39.4 feet, you're required to sound a long horn blast every 2 minutes. Under 39.4 feet, you're not required to have a horn, just an effective noise-producing device.

Fog... after an usual crossing from Bremerton to Seattle in crazy thick fog, sounding my wimpy little horn, I now have an automatic hailer with fog function. It purports to carry 2 km!

There are some circumstances where I have been really happy to run in fog, namely, crossing Cape Caution (an open ocean crossing past Vancouver Island up into the northern BC coast). Having spent 4 days waiting for a weather window to do that crossing, seeing fog means no wind and good to go! Could say the same for Dixon Entrance although that seems a bit trickier ....

Radar, autopilot, accurate compass !

On our current boat I put in a hailer with both forward and aft facing speakers because we get fog here. I want to be heard.

rsn48 said:

When my boat was in refit, I replaced the old dated VHR with a black box Icom. One of the features I like, and the reason I chose the radio, is the automatic fog horn option. I knew I'd never manually blow a horn every two minutes.

Click to expand...

I put a FOGMATE automatic horn timer on my GB42 and on this smaller Mainship as well. It's a small block of electronics, smaller than your fist. There are a number of ways to connect it in the instructions. If you don't want to sound the fog signals via a VHF/hailer combo, this thing connected to an air horn is far more effective. I had a loud hailer and associated electric horn on my GB, but it was not as loud as my twin air horns; so I installed the Fogmate. The mainship had a wimpy electric horn when I bought it, and I changed it out for an air horn and then added the Fogmate.

I've done a lot charters that started in the fog and eventually burned off. As mentioned, similar to running at night from a skill building perspective.

Have an old Raytheon hailer with all the fog signals, not just underway. With it cranked up, you can hear it a mile away. Does wonders for clearing the inlet of small fishing boats.

As others have mentioned, I run on autopilot, with radar, foghorn, and AIS. Worst trip was an almost 50 mile crossing of Lake Superior in pea soup fog. It was from Copper Harbor on the Keweenaw peninsula to Isle Royale National park. First time to the rocky island; hope the charts are accurate. Not much traffic other than a ferry and a few 1,000' ore boats crossing my course. 7 hours in the stuff. Bad fog is a reality on Superior.

Ted

Fog can be nerve racking. When we are in the fog:

1. All hands on deck
2. Radar on
3. All GPS with AIS on
4. Turn on my automatic fog horn
5. SLOW DOWN

On most occasions the water will be smooth in the fog.