(Answering to the question of whether I leave my VHF on while paddling) Not anymore. I used to do that every time, but after several day long trips in the San Francisco Bay I decided to turn it off. The VHF traffic inside the bay is very heavy, and I would get distracted all the time. Most of the VHF traffic inside the SF Bay is irrelevant to kayakers. The only relevant message I have ever heard was "group of paddlers, can you hear me?". Since the Coast Guard had announced a few minutes before a paddle race under the Golden Gate, I waited for a second transmition to make sure it was for us. That second retransmition never came, so either the originator does not know the VHF protocol, or it was not for us. Personally, I would like to announce on Ch 16, something like "group of sea kayakers are about to cross Racoon Straight, please exercise caution" just like the Coast Guard does. However, I have been afraid to do so because the Coast Guard might not like it, or most boaters would just ignore it. What are your opinions on that? Should I go ahead and announce our presence on Ch 16? Another thing I have noticed is that around here, people do not use the VHF protocol that appears in the (at least) European boat licensing books. In those books it says that the correct protocol is <the called destination three times> this is < your identifier three times> <message> (mayday, mayday relay, pan, and other parts of the protocol ommitted) And a call should be repated 2 times every 30 seconds (or so) if there is no answer. I guess in the US the VHF protocol is "clear talk"; something like "hey you!" "yeah?..." that gives no clue as to who is using the channel. So, do you think that a message like "attention [all boaters (3 times)], this is [sea kayakers (3 times)], we are about to cross Racoon straight, please use caution", would be an overkill? While it is my turn to speak :-) Let me tell you from personal experience that both cellular phones, and VHF radios, are useless when paddling close to a cliff; the signal does not go anywhere. I have found short wave to be much more reliable in that situation, which is all very common in coastal sea kayaking. The signal travels upward and bounces between the sky and the ground, going away many miles. The only drawback is that the Coast Guard does not have to monitor short wave all the time, but, hey, it is better than nothing. Finding a short wave side band handheld radio might be a challenge, though, and installing one of the full size ones inside the hull probably requires some skill. Your thoughts and experiences? please? - Julio *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Dec 02 1998 - 11:01:52 PST
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