Safety Question.

[tigerhack]

What should i do ,if i get caught by a storm or hard rain where my route is not visible out at sea ,should i try and drop hanker cut my speed and wait for the wheater to hold up , and yes in the case with or without a Gps .

 

[chris4x4]

Re: Safety Question.

Im thinking that you should know the weather before heading out to eliminate the chance of that happening.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Safety Question.

have 2 bilge pumps, if it's raining that hard you need to get rid of water. maintain power so you have control of the boat. you can lose site of land, and never get rained on. a storm between you and land. you should have the proper navigation gear on board. also a sea anchor ( dirt sock) , incase you loose power.

 

[jarata]

Re: Safety Question.

Good thing spelling is optional here

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: Safety Question.

If you are going out on the ocean, There Is No Question that some of the required gear should be both a compass (properly compensated for deviation and with charts for variation) and a GPS. Both are so inexpensive that if you only use them once, they have paid for themselves. A cheap radio for CG. contact would also be useful and if venturing far out, an EPIRB would be wise.

In any storm, the likelyhood of high seas is very strong so you need to maintain slow headway to avoid having the boat at the mercy of the waves or use a sea anchor to keep the bow into them.

And, if you are inexperienced, bend over, put your head between your legs and kiss your a** goodbye. LOL

In my case, I was on the upper Chesapeake--which is not a truly large body of water, always in sight of land.-- at night when the lights just confused me. And I couldn't make out buoy numbers. So, I switched on the GPS, pointed the go-to arrow and arrived back at port with very little worry. That little hand held 150 buck Garmin paid for itself in spades that night.

 

[Pursuit2150]

Re: Safety Question.

1 Check NOAA weather reports before you go.

2 make sure the compass is properly set.

3 get a GPS,

4 Go slow there is no hurry, your safety is more important, so you can go out the next day

 

[tigerhack]

Re: Safety Question.

Good thing spelling is optional here

What do you mean ?

 

[Boatist]

Re: Safety Question.

Actually if you get a GPS and learn how to use it a compass is really not required. Of course if the batteries die in the GPS and your do not have a compass, know your postion and how to dead reackon navigate with a chart your best bet is a good sea anchor and wait for some one to give you some help.

Best bet is to take a Coast Guard or US Power Squardons Boating class. The US Power squadrons has a better navigation Class if you take the LONG 13 Week Class. You will need to navagite with in 2 degrees and 1 minute arrival time to get Questions right. However the class talks about wind and currents but only one or two time where they tell your wind drift and current.

Anyway You will learn a LOT and it is FUN and VERY Cheap.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Safety Question.

The first thing you should do is to look at/listen to multiple weather information sources before you go out. Also make use of a VHF radio with NOAA Weather channels on it, so that you get a warning if the weather picture is starting to go downhill. Getting caught facing a thunderstorm should be an issue of having to dodge an individual T-Storm, not a line of them.

I just bought a new Garmin ETrex for $79. Its a very basic GPS but its very handy. My Midland handheld VHF was about $70, so for about $150 plus tax, I not only know what is going on weather-wise, but can navigate to safety with a great deal of accuracy, and can call for help if I need it. Since I actually participate in SARs occassionaly, hopefully I will not embarrass myself by having to be rescued but I'd rather that than become shark food!

As Boatist says, you don't have to have modern conveniences to navigate a boat, and that includes deviating from a courseline and then ending back on it after the diversion. Power Squadron is great but you can also learn a lot just by going to a library and studying navigation. I can tell you that I once plotted a DR course in a sailboat at night, taking set, drift & leeway into consideration, and actually hit the buoy that was my next waypoint. It was unlit and I didn't see it until it "went bang, bang, bang" down the starboard side of the boat! Mind you, I probably couldn't do that again in three lifetimes but it was definately one of those "gee, this stuff works" moments!

Education is your friend!

 

[tigerhack]

Re: Safety Question.

Yes Having the equiptment is necessary ,but here where i live if you enter the wrong path ,your goose will be really cook, we have channels that we must go through and reefs and some big drop offs . the pros say your deptfinder will beep ... and it is not a pretty beep... Out here it is a beauty but you must know this water it is quite different i heard ,it is just not open , some part will be shallow then the next minute it is bottom less plus you have reefs to deal with . but still (THE CAYMAN ISLAND HAVE BEAUTIFUL DIVE SCENES ITS A MUST SEE,DONT FORGET OUR PRETTY BEACH AND FRIENDLY STINGRAYS) damn talking about stingray city cant wait for this north wester to hold up.