> Duane, > What are safety considerations on crossing shipping channels? How do you > know when you are in the channel? Burch's "Fundamentals of Kayak Navigation" gives a good way of determining exactly where the lanes are by setting a course on a GPS down the middle of the separation zone and using the xtrack distance function of your GPS to measure how far from the route you are. If you have measured the width of the sepation zone and each of the lanes, you can tell exactly how far from them you are. Here in the LA area, there are no on water markings for the lanes. They are marked on your charts and you are expected to stay out of them unless crossing and then to do it as quickly as possible. > I bet Duane and others who cross shipping lanes off LA sometimes do use a VHF to warn >near traffic of their presence, I would not use the VHF unless it was an absoulte emergency. According to the "Rules", anything that impedes the movement of a ship in a designated shipping lane can result in HUGE fines. Causing a ship to slow down because he doesn't see you or alter course in any way is a violation. Ships typically move at about 15 - 30 knots in the shipping lanes, if you see a ship, it is very wise to watch it for a while and see what it is doing. Remember that at 30 knots, a ship will move about 3,000 feet in a minute. That's 1/2 NM --how far do you paddle in a minute ?? > Do you VHF to large ships that you see to inform them of your presence? No--See above As far as strobes go---most ports and costal areas on the West Coast are considered Inland Waterways---a strobe is a distress signal on them. Steve Holtzman Agoura Hills, CA *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
"Steven A. Holtzman" wrote: > > > Duane, > > What are safety considerations on crossing shipping channels? How do you > > know when you are in the channel? > > Burch's "Fundamentals of Kayak Navigation" gives a good way of determining > exactly where the lanes are by setting a course on a GPS down the middle of > the separation zone and using the xtrack distance function of your GPS to > measure how far from the route you are. If you have measured the width of > the sepation zone and each of the lanes, you can tell exactly how far from > them you are. > > Here in the LA area, there are no on water markings for the lanes. They are > marked on your charts and you are expected to stay out of them unless > crossing and then to do it as quickly as possible. Actually, I posted the following -- Duane did not: > > I bet Duane and others who cross shipping lanes off LA sometimes do use a > > VHF to warn near traffic of their presence, > > I would not use the VHF unless it was an absoulte emergency. According to > the "Rules", anything that impedes the movement of a ship in a designated > shipping lane can result in HUGE fines. Causing a ship to slow down because > he doesn't see you or alter course in any way is a violation. > > Ships typically move at about 15 - 30 knots in the shipping lanes, if you > see a ship, it is very wise to watch it for a while and see what it is > doing. Remember that at 30 knots, a ship will move about 3,000 feet in a > minute. That's 1/2 NM --how far do you paddle in a minute ?? And this is mine, also: > > Do you VHF to large ships that you see to inform them of your presence? > > No--See above Steve, I suspect we have a case of miscommunication here. I was not imagining Duane (or myself) would routinely hit the VHF simply to warn shipping traffic of our crossing a shipping lane. Rather, the experience of others indicates that sometimes ships stray from the lane significantly, so that **on occasion** you might find one headed your way, even though you are out of the lane (or, think you are). In that circumstance, the prudent thing to do is to inform the captain of your location re: his position **before** the closing distance represents a collision hazard. Joel Rogers describes such an instance in one of the chapters of his Watertrail (Sasquatch Books; ISBN 1-57061-095-9), in which he is ready to notify the cap of his Joel's) bearing and distance from the ship. The ship changed course, and Joel did not need to warn the skipper. But, if it were my ass on the line, I'd take my chances on a fine in a similar circumstance. And, I seriously doubt that any agency would hit me with a fine if there were a legitimate basis for the warning. My home paddling waters include some 30 miles of so of a shipping channel, and it has been useful to monitor the VHF transmissions of the ships (all are piloted) to help me stay out of their way. I have never, in some eight seasons of paddling these waters, been even close to using the VHF to warn a ship of my presence. But, I might use it, in the right situation. I'll repeat some of the stuff in my post you left out: If I were dead in the water and/or capsized, in a shipping channel, and a ship were headed my way, I'd hit the VHF, **well ahead of time,** tell them where I was and let them sort it out. In a shipping lane, I think I'd do the same. On a normal crossing of a shipping channel or lane, I would not routinely announce my intentions via VHF -- there's no need to do so. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:15 PDT