Doug wrote: "...the foggy crossing, you (et al) might be interested to know that statistically, clear weather is more likely to produce collisions -- and not just because more people are on the water. Apparently, mariners are much more lackadaisical during clear, nice weather, and are less prone to be on the lookout, etc." Some mariners aren't particularly careful in fog either. I paddled across to Williamstown last Saturday, and put ashore when a bank of fog rolled in. I didn't want to recross the shipping lanes until it cleared. Container ships were sounding fog horns. I killed a bit of time inspecting the time ball tower, then carried the boat in over a shallow rocky area to launch. Visibility at this time, about 200 metres. Fairly calm water, a little chop starting to build up. While getting the spray skirt on, I heard an outboard motor offshore and peered out towards where the noise came from. It took a while for a 20' runabout to emerge, travelling straight in towards the shallow, rocky, reefy shoreline, doing about 10 knots. It'll turn now, it'll turn now... it didn't turn at all until striking rocks in shallow water full on! All hands came onto the rocking deck, all clutching beer cans. My guess is a crew of PWC pilots, in a hired boat. I'm now in the market for a small foghorn. Peter Treby 37º 42' S 145º 08' E *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Apr 02 2001 - 19:20:54 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:40 PDT