On 4/20/07, Tord Eriksson <tord_at_tord.nu> wrote: Here the GPS failed as darkness approached, and they didn't handle map and compass very well, driving around in circles in what could be called a rock garden :-(! So keep your manual navigation skills up! When I was working aboard tankers along the eastern seaboard of the USA I remember hearing about an incident involving a cabin cruiser that illustrates this point well. The cabin cruiser was out in the late afternoon along the western shore of Long Island. However the captain overstayed his cruise and by the time he wanted to go home it was too dark to make out the features of the land around his harbor entrance. He called the harbormaster on VHF who said that they were busy with an emergency and told him to go to the "sea buoy" and wait for someone to come out and lead him in. The cabin cruiser instead hailed a passing sailboat and asked for assistance. The skipper of the sailboat got on SSB, contacted USCG and relayed to the skipper of the cabin cruiser to return to the buoy off his harbor entrance and wait for assistance. By this time it was fully dark but the cabin cruiser skipper saw another vessel and motored over to ask, yet again, for help. This time it was a commercial tugboat which relayed a call to the USCG (again) on VHF. The cabin cruiser was directed to return to the sea buoy and wait for assistance. At this point the captain of the tugboat turned one of his spotlights to show the skipper of the cabin cruiser that he had a barge in close tow and not, under any circumstances, to allow his vessel to come between the tug and its tow. In response, the skipper of the cabin cruiser put his boat in reverse and backed directly into the path of the barge which sank the cruiser. I don't recall much of the rest; only that the skipper of the cabin cruiser survived and was questioned by someone about his knowledge of navigation. One of his responses stuck in my mind: he thought that there were 270 degrees in a circle. I also recall that this cabin cruiser was very well equipped including radar but that something had crippled his electrical system. There are many, many boaters out there who think that a good backup to GPS is a second GPS and that you can find your way to Hawaii by following the jet contrails. I always treated my electronic navigational aids as a backup to my ability to navigate and operate a vessel safely. The cabin cruiser story - whcih might be apocryphal - drew my attention because it illustrated so well the thinking of a lot of boaters. Craig Jungers Royal City, WA *************************************************************************** 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 Fri Apr 20 2007 - 08:01:41 PDT
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