Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak Radar visibility

From: <rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 10:21:06 -0700
JCMARTIN43_at_aol.com wrote:
> 
> Chuck Sutherland wrote, "A group of us once paddled in heavy fog among islands on the coast of Maine.SNIPPED  Chuck has asked about ideas on radar visibility for kayaks.
LONG DISCUSSION BY JACK SNIPPED
> My somewhat more than two cents.
> 
> Jack

Let's face it, you are duck soup in fog.  You're best staying off the
water in trafficked areas in fog, period.  Even if this means adjusting
your schedule to wait out the fog.  If it descends on you while on open
water, get to anything you can that is solid such as some rocks or a
bouy and stay there til things clear even if it takes half a day.

One of my scariest times ever on the water was on an Albany to NY Hudson
River trip on the day at mid-point where we started off one early
morning in such thick fog that we could hardly see 3 feet past our bow. 
Going down river, we constantly bumped into the shore on each side like
a ball in a pinball machine, so blind were we.  I kept expecting some
cement barge and tug from the factories near Cementtown NY to run us
down in this early morning fog.  In hindsight, we should have stayed at
our campsite, drank more coffee, worked on knot-tying etc. and waited
for the thing to lift a bit.

Forget about reflectors, etc.; they won't work for all the reasons
stated by Jack, most particularly that they make such a some blip on a
radar screen that only the most microscopic-eyed operator would spot
it...most like it would be dismissed as a quark in the system.

ralph diaz
-- 
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Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
"Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
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Received on Thu Oct 21 1999 - 07:21:34 PDT

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