Re: Radar Do you need it or not? Want feedback!
That qualifier "proper use" leaves open to debate when it is proper. It certainly is not proper to use RADAR when one has unlimited visibility in daylight. In unlimited visibility and daylight it is much better to get your head out of the RADAR display and look around the boat as a means of locating other boats.
In terms of a 22 to 28-foot recreational boat, I see nothing that explicitly says I would have to turn on the RADAR whenever I am underway no matter what the conditions. I would turn on a RADAR when I can make proper use of it, which would be at night, in a fog, or when looking for targets at long distances which cannot be see by eye. Not in daylight and unlimited visibility.
Boaters that tell other boaters they must turn on their RADAR need to find something more concrete than the COLREGS to convince me. Again, show me a published Coast Guard investigation where the investigation found a 22 to 28 foot recreational vessel to be negligent because it was not operating its RADAR in daylight and unlimited visibility conditions.
Another silly thing is the use of the so-called RADAR reflector gizmos, some of which have been found to be anything but. I see sailboats with them hoisted in their rigging. Recent tests showed the more common (and less expensive) ones to not produce a RADAR cross section that was considered sufficient.
Cf.:
http://setsail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/radar_reflectors.pdf
This report came out after the sailboat OUZO was run down in the English Channel by a large ship--which could not see the sailboat on its RADAR.
Cf.:
http://setsail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/maib_ouzo.pdf
I also would be quite worried about navigating in a fog in my 24-foot low-profile fiberglass boat with some other boaters blasting along at 35-MPH with their RADAR going. There is little chance they'll see me, but they probably think their RADAR is going to save the day for them.
The Canadian Coast Guard Cutter GRIFFON ran down the fishing vessel CAPTAIN K in a fog on 18 March 1991 in Long Point Bay, Lake Erie. Three crewmen died on the fishing vessel. The GRIFFON was operating at full speed at the time of collision.
Very interesting reading at:
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/marine/precedentes-earlier/m91c2004/m91c2004.asp
Then there is the famous radar-assisted collision of the ANDREA DORIA and STOCKHOLM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Andrea_Doria
Also, consider the weather in the area of interest, Lake St. Clair or Lake Erie. This area ranks among the least likely areas in the United States to have fog. See:
http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/101/mwr-101-10-0763.pdf
In sum, I don't have RADAR, I don't feel I need RADAR, and I worry about people who have RADAR and go blasting around in daylight with their RADAR turned on. I hope they're actually maintaining a lookout.