My partner and I paddled up the coast of Maine (well, down east) from Freeport to Jonesport last month. The one foggy day we had was, of course, a channel crossing from Owl's Head to Vinalhaven (Ledbetter Island). Only a six mile crossing, but a major shipping channel and about 75 yards of visibility. We had purchased (for about $20) a portable radar reflector which we attached to the top of one of our nine-foot feathercraft K-1 spinnaker masts. We used channel 16 to broadcast our location and course to whoever was listening. We rebroadcast when we heard the sound of engines. The tug Penobscot answered that he had our advise and would be looking out for us. A few minutes later we saw him come barreling out of the fog, but he never saw us on radar or otherwise. The old salt at Hamilton Marine in Portland had told us as much. Nine feet just isn't high enough to get into the radar beam. In fairness, I think Penobscot would have seen us if we had been in his path-- we weren't. His mate was out on deck looking straight ahead, and we were fifty yards off to port. So in the fog, channel 16 is your best bet. The little flashing strobes we had attached to our masts were barely visible to us, much less the Penobscot. One last point. If you ever cross paths with a tug in the fog, it's good idea to ask him if he's towing something. We saw the tow rope and paused. MUCH later, what looked like a derelict aircraft carrier came plowing along behind... Douglas Montgomery San Francisco *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Aug 15 1999 - 14:52:51 PDT
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