Topcat47
Well-known member
I was hunting through my bookcase for my copy. Have I got the title right and is it still in print? I thought it was a PBO publication which makes it really old.
Crossing with Confidence - John Goode
- Thread starter Topcat47
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Poignard
Well-known member
It might be Navigation Made Simple. My copy is on my boat so I can't check. I don't think those excellent books covering many aspects of sailing and boat-handling he wrote with Dick Everitt are still in print. Something to do with a copyright dispute when he left PBO to found Sailing Today, I was told. Shame, because they were very good and superbly illustrated.
Topcat47
Well-known member
Actually I have a copy of that one. Crossing with confidence was just about getting to Cherbourg from the South Coast for the first time. I think it was based on two articles in PBO.
Giblets
Well-known member
The two parts of the article (How Do You Navigate Across The Channel) are indeed in the booklet entitled Navigation Made Simple which is on my lap as I type.
Babylon
Well-known member
Excellent piece (I bought and watched the DVD version), but bear in mind that it was made before the age of no-one looking out the bridge windows! To assume this is still the case is to court disaster - as I found out returning fom Cherbourg on my first crossing a few years ago.
So add the need to keep up with the technology and practice of big ship shit: fit an AIS reciever so you can radio every potential CPA liability to remind them that you are there!
So add the need to keep up with the technology and practice of big ship shit: fit an AIS reciever so you can radio every potential CPA liability to remind them that you are there!
Topcat47
Well-known member
Will read it next time I'm on the boat (as opposed to glancing at the cover and thinking "no that's not it").
Topcat47
Well-known member
I never assume there's even someone on the bridge after seeing only a dog in the bridge window of a small coaster on the French coast. An AIS transceiver would. Be best, but my boat is firmly fixed in the20th century regarding electronic navigation.
Seajet
...
Topcat47,
I must have seen the same coaster then !
Both bridge doors open and a view straight through as it went past...
I must have seen the same coaster then !
Both bridge doors open and a view straight through as it went past...
Topcat47
Well-known member
Sounds like it. Big hairy dog at the window?
Tidewaiter2
New member
Nah, its the same one we met above Cape Kullan in 1998, one bloke cleaning the deck and no one on the bridge-both doors open.
I see they've got an Extra Master o/bd now- the dog!!!!
Still got those books on board-good stuff- when yer alternator goes shut halfway across with a N tail wind AND Fog, JG is your boy for a quick trip down memory lane:encouragement:
richardbrennan
Well-known member
AIS is not the total answer. We called a sizable tanker, with a worryingly small CPA, in mid channel a few weeks ago on CH 16 and every other frequency we could think of, and even made an MMSI, call but all were unanswered.
Babylon
Well-known member
White flare?
richardbrennan
Well-known member
I am not sure a white flare would have done any good, it was broad daylight at the time, I perhaps should have also added that our AIS is a transciever so he should have had us on his plotter. The name of the vessel was Arctic, be aware if you come across it!
Topcat47
Well-known member
Exocet missilie?
Sandy
Well-known member
What happened? Did you slow down for 2 minutes and let him pass or just press on?
richardbrennan
Well-known member
We were the stand on vessel and did exactly that. According to the AIS the CPA was about 1NM and as we got close is was apparent that we would indeed pass reasonably comfortably ahead. However, it would have been nice to have the assurance that he was aware of us. It was virtually flat calm and we were motoring so he should have clearly seen us, had us on his plotter, (assuming he had not turned off Class B returns), and should have heard us calling on VHF, especially the DSC call. I have generally found shipping only too keen to respond to a call, I think it eases the boredom!
Babylon
Well-known member
Crossed from Alderney on Monday (single-handed for the first time). Lots of ships spilling out of Off Casquets TSS on the flood tide, including several of concern to me, ie CPAs of between 0.0 and 0.5 NM on the AIS. This was my experience:
Calling them by name only on Ch16 didn't usually result in a response, but adding their call sign definitely did.
One ship reported a CPA of half a mile under his stern (I needed to know that, as my own AIS enabled plotter doesn't project respective tracks).
Another ship simply couldn't see me at all, even as we conversed! I was running my own radar only to boost my visibility to others, but this seemed to make no difference?! In the end I had to state my position (1.75 NM to his SE) and explain that I was a very small (8m) sailing vessel.
A mile astern of me was a 39ft yacht, doing his own calling to other ships. I spoke him later; he was transmitting his own Class B AIS, but I assume the ships mask out these leisure transmissions?
The west-going traffic was very light, but later one vessel appeared out of the NE on a constant dead collision course. He sounded German or Scandinavian and was the easiest to converse with. We agreed we'd both alter slightly to stbd.
My only concern overall is that (for a yet untraceable reason!) my plotter goes on the blink if the seas are too bouncy, as it kept doing around overfalls around Guernsey. This was crap for keeping up with waypoint routes in the Channel Islands, but it doesn't take long to fire up again and show me AIS data for long enough!
Calling them by name only on Ch16 didn't usually result in a response, but adding their call sign definitely did.
One ship reported a CPA of half a mile under his stern (I needed to know that, as my own AIS enabled plotter doesn't project respective tracks).
Another ship simply couldn't see me at all, even as we conversed! I was running my own radar only to boost my visibility to others, but this seemed to make no difference?! In the end I had to state my position (1.75 NM to his SE) and explain that I was a very small (8m) sailing vessel.
A mile astern of me was a 39ft yacht, doing his own calling to other ships. I spoke him later; he was transmitting his own Class B AIS, but I assume the ships mask out these leisure transmissions?
The west-going traffic was very light, but later one vessel appeared out of the NE on a constant dead collision course. He sounded German or Scandinavian and was the easiest to converse with. We agreed we'd both alter slightly to stbd.
My only concern overall is that (for a yet untraceable reason!) my plotter goes on the blink if the seas are too bouncy, as it kept doing around overfalls around Guernsey. This was crap for keeping up with waypoint routes in the Channel Islands, but it doesn't take long to fire up again and show me AIS data for long enough!
BabySharkDooDooDooDooDoo
Well-known member
I wouldn't expect running my radar to have any/noticeable affect on my visibility to other boats' radars.
Despite at least one ship seemingly intent on our destruction I have never felt the need to call them up.
Giblets
Well-known member
I don't think that running your own radar increases the chance of you being seen by a big ship (but happy to be corrected on that). Better something like a SeeMe at the top of the mast would probably be better.
Babylon
Well-known member
This thread is about 'crossing with confidence', so maybe you're a very confident and experienced person, happy to get in close and with stealth, but quick enough to get out of the way only once you've established that a risk of getting run down and killed is high and certain.
Past crossings have been generally easy (except for one tense experience where my tormentor kept turning onto me). But earlier this week the eastbound shipping spilling out the TSS off Alderney was densely-packed, several vessels presented as clear risks on the AIS, and my main culprit still had no idea of our physical presence even after I had stated my exact position relative to his in our VHF conversation!
In this dense situation, altering course/speed to increase the CPA for one vessel immediately decreased the CPA below my safe threshold for the next two vessels. Dealing with all this single-handed added to the stress, and I didn't have the time to start working out whether my CPAs were ahead or astern of each problem ship.
So I did the prudent thing and called in sequence the vessels who presented the main danger - and would advise other people to do the same.
