I didn't see the edition that had my reply in it, so I don't know what may have been edited in my reply to the original author. I would agree with you Nick, there seems to be no real problem to be solved here. Even on busy SF Bay there was not one mention of a large boat vs kayak in the three years I was a member of BASK that comes to mind. If anything, there is the usual beginner complaints about wakes from passing boats. As a sailboater with a 37' plodding 13T craft, I have been very interested in how to go about seeing these small objects in the water. I am trying to learn the radar, a 15 year old green screen relic, and will upgrade to the latest technology, currently broadband radar before we go cruising. I've noticed the flash of a reflector strip on a paddle long before I see anything else. We have yet to have the radar well enough adjusted to see more than the channel markers we must follow, and that may be the best we can hope for. What I find most interesting is the radar discussion on the trawler and sailboat lists, which I paraphrased in my note. Here is an excellent report on learning the old school technology http://www.boatered.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=105837 and, what is being promised with broadband http://www.lowrance.com/en/Products/Marine/Broadband-Radar/ but, i still don't think it is of particular value as far as helping to see us kayakers. That said, about 20 years ago a man I knew was killed on a small commercial fishing boat by being run over by a tanker/freighter. IIRC, it was heavy fog and just out the Golden Gate, had either one been monitoring radar, or with current technology, the AIS, one could have avoided the other. And of course there is the recent damage to SF Bay Bridge by the Cosco Busan, presumably there were officers aboard who knew what they were looking at on that little green screen. Then we can wander off on the technology assisted groundings and collisions that involve putting too much trust in GPS and other video games on the dashboard. But that has gone on for the past two weeks on the Trawler list. No substitute for seamanship, kayak or big or bigger boat. Mike San Rafael budding surf zone kayaker. *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Jun 16 2009 - 04:03:29 PDT
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