Running in Fog

Some good tips for boating in fog - practice on clear days:

CT Grounding a Lesson for Running in Fog

Re: Running in Fog

Good point on knowing where you are and where you are going. Most importantly I'd have to say that EVERYONE in this video did things wrong, and the people on the silverton didn't do the 'worst' either. When I was watching the video of the towboat (Seatow?) pulling the Silverton off, every time the operator gunned the throttle I cringed. If he had pulled the bit off the fordeck of that silverton the towrope and bit could have taken his head off!! There is no safety screen between the towing bit and the operator of that towboat, a very dangerous situation for that operator. A dead bollard pull like this will put many more times tension on the Silverton’s foredeck bit than any anchoring situation will. People have been killed from doing this.

Re: Running in Fog

The safest way to run in fog is to not do it!

If you do have to do it, idle speed only and a good GPS and sonar unit.

Re: Running in Fog

If he ran aground going forward why would you pull him further forward? Wouldn't it be best to pull him "off" from the deeper direction?

Re: Running in Fog

I have several friends who are harbor pilots. They tell me that when it's foggy, people run in the middle of the channel, thinking it's safer. it's not; all the other boats as well as his ship is there. Better to run on the edge (and for us, there is 20' of water at least outside the channel, no rocks, etc., so a "small" boat never needs to be in the channel in the first place.) Then they use GPS as if it's sonar, thinking as long as they are in the channell they are not going to hit anything. Then here comes the big container ship or destroyer--or another yahoo with a GPS.

When it's foggy you lose all sense of direction. You should also keep your whistle clenched in your teeth, and listen for othen boats.

Re: Running in Fog

jigngrub said:

The safest way to run in fog is to not do it!

If you do have to do it, idle speed only and a good GPS and sonar unit.

Click to expand...

That's a good start, but will only tell you where the land is in relation to you (GPS) and what the bottom looks like, including depth (sonar). Radar will tell allow you to see if there are other boats around and in which direction and approx. how far. GPS doesn't indicate direction well as slow speeds, so a compass is a very important piece of equipment as well.

Agreed, practice using Radar, GPS, compass, Sonar in conjunction with one another in clear whether first. Focus on the scale. I've been surprised how close some thing looks AND how far something looks in real life when playing with distances on Radar and visual conparison.

Re: Running in Fog

Apparently the fog lifted before ether called for a tow.

Re: Running in Fog

I kept watiting for a SNAP and the camera lens to be covered in blood, what a nut!

I was out on my river once and got fogged in, it wasn't real bad where I was fishing but as soon as I stated moving it got thick, thankfully I had a gps and just ran dead slow till I got bakc to the launch.

On a twisting turning river I would have had no chance of making the launch and would have had a very long cold night on the boat.