Finally Happened - Caught in Fog

[JoLin]

Been boating now for about 9 years. Anytime I ever saw fog rolling in I always managed to beat it home. Not today. Rolled in thick and fast, and before I knew it we were socked in at our favorite weekend anchorage. Visibility only about 200 feet at most. The smart move might have been to wait it out, but it was already late afternoon, it didn't show signs of abating, and I had no desire to be caught out after dark, besides. Had we been better equipped, I would have stayed out overnight if necessary. But, the boat was only launched on Thursday and we really weren't set up for it. No excuses. We should have been better prepared to stay put.

Low speed (just above idle), a couple blasts on the horn every minute or so, and my GPS routing got us back safely in about 90 minutes. It wasn't fun, but it was manageable. As I told Linda on the way back, THIS is why I have GPS routes (and paper charts as backup) plotted for even our shortest trips. Amazingly, on the way back I was passed TWICE by boats on full plane. I can only assume they were either completely spooked, or complete morons.

Anyway, a few words to the wise. This type of situation is precisely why you need to keep your signaling devices and nav lights in good working order, you have your routes plotted either electronically or on paper (or both), and you keep your cool. You just have to be mentally prepared for a long, slow, stressful ride home.

My .02

 

[GA_Boater]

completely spooked, or complete morons

I'll take door #2, Monte!

Dark or foul weather, easy does it. Charts and GPS don't help locate other boats. You don't have radar, do you, John? Can't tell in your avatar.

You make it back safely, the most important part of the cruise.

 

[StingrayMike]

I see the same thing on the ICW, but only at night. If it is night, I cruise back home nice and slow, not too slow, but slow enough if there is a kayaker in the water at night (which there are, with no lights), or a partially submerged tree, or what not, I have time to react. Then there are these boaters who go screaming by at 30+, Not very smart,Like GA says, GPS wont help you with other boats, or whatever else is in the water.

 

[MH Hawker]

i do a lot of fishing at night to avoid the high summer temps and will be in some nasty fogs several times a season, i run at slightly above idle, no GPS, just a compass and a 1.5 million CP search light when needed to spot things. I do keep emergency rations and water on board and being as its a pontoon i can lay down and pull the dock cover over me to stay warm if needed

 

[muskyfins]

I used to work at a local bar that is on an island. We run 2 coast guard approved shuttle boats back and forth to shore. A couple of years ago a super thick fog rolled in just before closing on Labor Day weekend which is one of the busiest nights of the year. Needless to say, the shuttle captains had to navigate by GPS back and forth to port. It is a 2 mile trip that was averaging an hour round trip. Each boat carries 39 passengers and 2 crew. We had close to 400 customers to get off the island. We didn't get out of there until 5 am.

Usually customers are still a bit rowdy on the shuttle return to the port. (that's where I come in--"sit, don't stand, no you can't smoke, don't use the camera flash toward the captain at night, stop peeing over the side, keep your hands inside the rails" etc, etc) But I'm telling you, that night it was very quiet on those shuttles.

 

[JoLin]

I'll take door #2, Monte!

Dark or foul weather, easy does it. Charts and GPS don't help locate other boats. You don't have radar, do you, John? Can't tell in your avatar.

You make it back safely, the most important part of the cruise.

Nope, no radar.

 

[poconojoe]

John, there are morons everywhere! We attended the 4th of July fireworks display on Lake Wallenpaupack in northeastern P.A. in our 18 foot bowrider once. Once was enough! It was pitch black out. No moonlight... nothing. While slowly returning to our dock which was about 10 miles away, we had a couple large boats cross our bow at an unsafe distance on full plane doing 40+ MPH. I don't know how there weren't any major collisions. Real morons! The speed limit at night is supposed to be 25. Wish there were more law enforcement around to catch these morons before they kill someone.
I guess the right thing to do would have been to wait it out until most of these morons left.

 

[roffey]

I should start off by saying I have a runabout bow rider and cottage on a lake so my boat never leaves the lake and I do 99.9% of my boating on the same lake. I never boat at night, period..... and I do have a GPS. Having said that my wife and I spent some time in Montreal on the St. Lawrence river just where two rivers met and was a major water way with boats going both ways, to and from harbour. I would sit by the water with a beverage and watch large cruiser go by at full plane and it was late at night, like 23:00 hours late. I thought it was foolhardy but I was told, no they know the water and have GPS, I still say it was foolhardy....

 

[tomhath]

I live near Lake Raystown in PA but I rarely go there on weekends, too many drunks with more horsepower than sense. They have fatal crashes almost every summer, usually someone hitting a rock or running into shore at night.

 

[Watermann]

Last summer we were on the water where a forest fire was burning some 30 miles away. Everything was great until the wind shifted and this is a pic we took on the way in. That big 60' passenger boat just came looming out of the gloom with jerk ski mental cases chasing it jumping the wake.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

We got caught on Erie last year and visibility was 10 feet maybe 10 miles from the harbour. I forgot to take a compass heading leaving port and came in on the GPS, slowly through the shipping lanes. I don't want to do that anytime soon again. Had it not been for my GPS I would have ended up on the rocks or into the pier. Take a compass reading I keep telling myself now. I write them all down on a piece of paper and stick it in the glove box.