Contacting other vessels

[Koeketiene]

In a close encounter, how do you contact the other vessel? I do not have AIS and assume I'm not close enough to use bins.

You're not close enough to use bins... How is that a close encounter?

 

[Refueler]

Surely it depends on why you're trying to contact them, and how close you are? If at close quarters you think they haven't seen you a few blasts on the air horn might be more effective than "white vessel blah blah blah" on the radio.

My own experience of calling vessels is that "vessel on approximate heading x, this is the vessel at your bearing y, myname.. . " - they'll know their own heading, and giving them the bearing from their point of view is easier for them. Not protocol, but it does work, quickly. Reeling off coordinates does not, it's too verbose.

In a nutshell ....

Giving coords is a dead duck .... guy on helm is going to now check his position against the approximate given by a VHf call - he was not expecting - probably only heard half of it anyway ...

I concur with another post - AIS receiver .... why only Rx ? I am not fool enough to incur the wrath of some on here by advising Onwa / Matsutec etc - but honestly - the days of Rx only should be consigned to the past ...

 

[Refueler]

You're not close enough to use bins... How is that a close encounter?

Sorry but given the motion and difficulty in many sea conditions to read a ships name - I am with OP .....
This is not Hollywood where a clear stable image is seen out on the horizon !!

 

[Roberto]

In a close encounter, how do you contact the other vessel? I do not have AIS and assume I'm not close enough to use bins.

Without bins, the best assumptions for ship names are "No smoking" or "Safety first"

 

[Refueler]

Without bins, the best assumptions for ship names are "No smoking" or "Safety first"

Love it !!!

You cannot imagine how many times I was told by crew they hated patching up the letters by hanging over from monkey island on a stage etc. !!

 

[Stemar]

I don't see the point in an AIS receiver only , if everyone is receiving and no-one transmitting then there's not much to receive!

AIS in the Solent is a bloody nuisance 99% of the time because you're always on a collision course with something (OK, slight exaggeration there, but you know what I mean).

My main planned use is offshore, eg crossing the Channel, when a CPA for crossing ships is helpful in working out how to thread between a steady line of big buggers, and to know when a big bugger has made a 3⁰ alteration of course to avoid me. The budget didn't run to AIS transmit, but better to see commercial vessels and know what they're doing, so I can prevent Colregs coming into play than having to guess, especially if fog comes in.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Ais is great for ships names. As stated above , using vhf for collision avoidance isn’t optimal but I’ve done it a couple of times when I wasn’t sure. Something like “ you this is me I’m in your 11 o’clock x miles do you have contact?” Normally does the trick and a couple of times has resulted in a thank you . It’s always been used in plenty of time so I could manoeuvre if required. Having the ships name makes things easy but without it I would use vessel type.

 

[MontyMariner]

I suspect folk have regretted buying an AIS receiver, I know I kind of have.

I wish I saved the money and put it towards a transmit/receive AIS unit! AIS really is brilliant.

Initially I had an Rx engine, I soon realized how useful it was. It made me feel selfish in that I could see what others were up to but they couldn't see my details, that and doing longer passages spurred me into upgrading to a Transceiver.

 

[Refueler]

Ah but that makes it easy for the other half to track you also

goes along the lines of ....

Last trip out - really got her trimmed out ... 7kts ,,, flying along ...

Other guy at bar :

Bo****s .... AIS showed you at 4kts !!

 

[Refueler]

AIS in the Solent is a bloody nuisance 99% of the time because you're always on a collision course with something (OK, slight exaggeration there, but you know what I mean).

My main planned use is offshore, eg crossing the Channel, when a CPA for crossing ships is helpful in working out how to thread between a steady line of big buggers, and to know when a big bugger has made a 3⁰ alteration of course to avoid me. The budget didn't run to AIS transmit, but better to see commercial vessels and know what they're doing, so I can prevent Colregs coming into play than having to guess, especially if fog comes in.

My AIS - Onwa ... repeated to Garmin 92sv ... my smart phone ... my tablet .... I can turn off the alarm ... so only display tracks.

 

[Refueler]

Ais is great for ships names. As stated above , using vhf for collision avoidance isn’t optimal but I’ve done it a couple of times when I wasn’t sure. Something like “ you this is me I’m in your 11 o’clock x miles do you have contact?” Normally does the trick and a couple of times has resulted in a thank you . It’s always been used in plenty of time so I could manoeuvre if required. Having the ships name makes things easy but without it I would use vessel type.

Interesting ... you say vessel type ...

So often I read articles .... hear people talking .... about xxx tanker at xxxx doing xxxxx ..... when in fact its not a tanker - but a Bulk Carrier .... totally different types and a Tanker OOW will not answer a call to a Bulk Carrier ... a Bulk Carrier OOW will not answer a call to a Tanker ...

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Interesting ... you say vessel type ...

So often I read articles .... hear people talking .... about xxx tanker at xxxx doing xxxxx ..... when in fact its not a tanker - but a Bulk Carrier .... totally different types and a Tanker OOW will not answer a call to a Bulk Carrier ... a Bulk Carrier OOW will not answer a call to a Tanker ...

They are both cargo vessels though as opposed to yachts or fishing vessels.

 

[rogerthebodger]

On my way to Cape Town we received an AIS transmission from a vessel with the status of "Underway:. When we got closer it turned out to a gas production platform that was stationary of cause

 

[Refueler]

They are both cargo vessels though as opposed to yachts or fishing vessels.

And ???

In the shipping world - that includes Ships staff - cargo Vessel would be assumed to be a General Cargo Vessel ... you know those ones with derricks / masts etc and tween decks / lower holds etc.

 

[Koeketiene]

Sorry but given the motion and difficulty in many sea conditions to read a ships name - I am with OP .....
This is not Hollywood where a clear stable image is seen out on the horizon !!

How would you define a close encounter? 5NM, 2NM, 1NM, 05.NM, ... ?
Different skippers will have different comfort zones - some might start considering taking evasive action as soon as they see a contact on the horizon whilst others are quite comfortable sharing the same waters with a cargo vessel 1NM (or less) away.
And if you can't make out the name of a cargo vessel 1NM away (with bins) AIS won't save you but a visit to Specsavers is advisable.

 

[dunedin]

How would you define a close encounter? 5NM, 2NM, 1NM, 05.NM, ... ?
Different skippers will have different comfort zones - some might start considering taking evasive action as soon as they see a contact on the horizon whilst others are quite comfortable sharing the same waters with a cargo vessel 1NM (or less) away.
And if you can't make out the name of a cargo vessel 1NM away (with bins) AIS won't save you but a visit to Specsavers is advisable.

Possibly people are talking cross purposes here - a concern about a close encounter (depending on sizes of vessels) could be a predicted CPA of say 300m or less (remembering 100+m of that could be other bits of solid ship).
The actual ship could still be 2-3 miles away.

 

[Biggles Wader]

Most of the ships around here seem to be named Limassol or Majuro. Fortunately they are headed away from me so I must be doing something right.

 

[Koeketiene]

Possibly people are talking cross purposes here - a concern about a close encounter (depending on sizes of vessels) could be a predicted CPA of say 300m or less (remembering 100+m of that could be other bits of solid ship).
The actual ship could still be 2-3 miles away.

In my experience, on a small boat there are too many variables to take predicted CPA serious.
Your heading can change 10-15 degrees depending on the seastate.

When coming across merchantmen at sea remember that you are dealing with professionals working on an often busy bridge. The last thing they want/need is to be bothered by a small yacht.
Being as predictable as possible is often the best course of action and the best way to do that is to keep doing whatever it is you are doing.
Should the other vessel get closer than 1NM of your current position always remember that your yacht is far more manoeuvrable than his ship (aka: big ship has right of way).

 

[dunedin]

In my experience, on a small boat there are too many variables to take predicted CPA serious.
Your heading can change 10-15 degrees depending on the seastate.

When coming across merchantmen at sea remember that you are dealing with professionals working on an often busy bridge. The last thing they want/need is to be bothered by a small yacht.
Being as predictable as possible is often the best course of action and the best way to do that is to keep doing whatever it is you are doing.
Should the other vessel get closer than 1NM of your current position always remember that your yacht is far more manoeuvrable than his ship (aka: big ship has right of way).

Perhaps, but my experience is different.
And in any potential close crossing, one if the first things I do is put on autopilot, if not already on. This can steer better than 90% of humans, snd doesn't get distracted looking over shoulder.

Nowadays the ship watch keeper will be using CPA (for boat on AIS) for decision making, so worth me tracking also. And using AP makes CPA much more attractive. Obviously using visual also, but AIS generally more accurate and can show if ship has altered course 1-2 degrees much quicker than eyeball

 

[Dellquay13]

Possibly people are talking cross purposes here - a concern about a close encounter (depending on sizes of vessels) could be a predicted CPA of say 300m or less (remembering 100+m of that could be other bits of solid ship).
The actual ship could still be 2-3 miles away.

If like the OP you don’t have AIS, how would you predict a CPA of 300m for a ship 2-3 miles away? Asking for a friend…