Help for a YM shorebased pre-assessment

[monkfish24]

I've got a pre-assessment for a YM shorebased course and the question is;

If it was late summertime after a clear and cloudless night and you planned to leave harbour one morning for a sail but it was foggy, would you still go?

I've answered;

I would delay departure by an hour, observe the fog for lifting, delay by another hour if necessary. I would listen to local weather reports and would only leave if the crew were competent to sail in light fog with the expectatiion of it lifting further.

How wrong am I?

 

[monkfish24]

Got it, RYA pat answer is, you wouldn't, it is not advisable to sail in fog!

 

[Mark-1]

I've got a pre-assessment for a YM shorebased course and the question is;

If it was late summertime after a clear and cloudless night and you planned to leave harbour one morning for a sail but it was foggy, would you still go?

I've answered;

I would delay departure by an hour, observe the fog for lifting, delay by another hour if necessary. I would listen to local weather reports and would only leave if the crew were competent to sail in light fog with the expectatiion of it lifting further.

How wrong am I?

I presume they're expecting you to reason that since it's probably radiation fog it will clear with the sun and therefore you should go. I'm not sure that's wise in reality.

 

[IanR]

Phone Simon Keeling and get a personalised forecast

 

[jordanbasset]

Trying to think back now but cannot remember any questions like that, then again I can't even remember having to do a pre-assessment

 

[oldbilbo]

I wouldn't think you've got it very wrong at all.

The presumption is of a form of radiation fog, which has formed overnight over cold land and has 'flowed' downhill into the river estuaries and harbour. It is often found that such fog thickens considerably in the hour or so after sunrise, due to the gentle 'stirring' of the first warming by the sun's rays. In such circumstances, waiting for clear signs of lifting and burning off is prudent.

However, one needs to differentiate from advection fog, caused typically by 'warm, moist air flowing over a cold sea' - often where there is cold water upwelling. This occurs e.g. in summer off NW Britanny and north and west of Guernsey in summer, according to the Admiralty Pilot, and off the NW corner of Spain, El Costa del Muerte.

Advection fog is far less likely to burn off to the same extent.

One needs to decide on what mechanism is creating the fog, and act accordingly.

One also needs to consider where one is likely to be towards the end of the afternoon, when falling temperatures can cause the fog to re-create swiftly just a few miles before you've got into shelter.....

 

[Seajet]

Monkfish24,

I'd say 'if foggy, don't leave at all'.

That's if the trip is for a casual holiday, not something a touch more urgent like trying to escape Nazi Germany in a Dunkirk style situation or - in a similar vein - seeing tax inspectors marching up the pontoon !

The barometer will be a useful guide, but the radio ( entertainment Radio 2, 4 etc as well as VHF ) and nowadays the mobile phone a lot moreso - ask people around the coast " how is it with you ?", chums or if necessary Coastguards.

Personally, fog scares the willies out of me more than any gale...

 

[chinita]

"NO"

And who writes these stupid Feckin Questions?

 

[Frankie-H]

I've got a pre-assessment for a YM shorebased course and the question is;

If it was late summertime after a clear and cloudless night and you planned to leave harbour one morning for a sail but it was foggy, would you still go?

I've answered;

I would delay departure by an hour, observe the fog for lifting, delay by another hour if necessary. I would listen to local weather reports and would only leave if the crew were competent to sail in light fog with the expectatiion of it lifting further.

How wrong am I?

Hang on a second. You have a pre- assessment for a YM shore based. Should you really be asking our resident panel for the answer. Just a thought. Sorry

 

[monkfish24]

I'm not sure but they think they are quite worthy of being in the assessment.

I'm doing a 5 day course with the RN so it is more intensive, apparently the failure rate is high because most people haven't arrived with the assumed knowledge. That is the only question in the paper that relied on experience rather than a book.

As you say with the radiation fog, it's something I experience quite commonly in the SW late summer.

 

[Seajet]

"NO"

And who writes these stupid Feckin Questions?

Chinita,

I know someone who wrote pretty much the same thing on an exam paper; sadly it seemed the examiner was on a different wavelength...

 

[jwilson]

Got it, RYA pat answer is, you wouldn't, it is not advisable to sail in fog!

In the late 1970s I was in Weymouth being assessed for my Yachtmaster ticket and was told to next get the boat to Poole. It was quite foggy as I left Weymouth in the dark, and after a couple of hundred yards turned back on a reciprocal course to the pierhead, saying I was not going to proceed further.

The examiner asked me what I would do if I was not a just inside the pierhead, but somewhere offshore when the fog came in. This is long pre-GPS etc. I said I would close the coast and find a safe anchorage from the depth contours. I said that knowing I was east of Portland the easiest to find with the least other traffic would probably be Lulworth. Do it now, was the reply, and we did.

I passed, with the examiner later commenting that I was rubbish at handling under power. I think I still am..... Too much sailing, and using moorings instead of marinas.

 

[Seajet]

jwilson,

completely agree; navigating by depth contours is really useful, but seems a bit of a dying art.

When we did our ym course, a fellow student was desperate to pass, for work purposes; when below with the curtains closed for the 'blind navigation test' he was caught looking out of the window by the examiner " I was just wiping off the condensation ! " - The examiner let him off with a grin, I always suspected he admired the blokes' intuition in using 'all available sensors' !

 

[jimi]

Think a lot depends where you are and what nav aids you've got.With GPS and a radar set I would'nt be too concerned (even less so with AIS).

 

[capnsensible]

Its far more orrible sailing in snow.

 

[Seajet]

Think a lot depends where you are and what nav aids you've got.With GPS and a radar set I would'nt be too concerned (even less so with AIS).

Jimi,

having tried all that - inc beating in snow - I didn't reckon it was a picnic, even with radar, gps & night vision; obviously you're made of sterner stuff, have ESP or know something I don't !

Andy

 

[shaunksb]

I've got a pre-assessment for a YM shorebased course and the question is;

If it was late summertime after a clear and cloudless night and you planned to leave harbour one morning for a sail but it was foggy, would you still go?

Late Summer? Cloudless?

It's radiation fog - so I would prepare the crew for departure, put the kettle on and by the time the've drank their tea it would have cleared off and so can we.


_______________

 

[Tidewaiter2]

Its far more orrible sailing in snow.

Snow's horrible, but I really, really HATE Fog, esp those bands of really thick stuff you get, just as you get to the French side off Cherbourg, when the tide turns.

 

[jimi]

Jimi,

having tried all that - inc beating in snow - I didn't reckon it was a picnic, even with radar, gps & night vision; obviously you're made of sterner stuff, have ESP or know something I don't !

Andy

Not really, with decent radar fog is'nt a major issue provided not in heavy traffic.

 

[capnsensible]

Not really, with decent radar fog is'nt a major issue provided not in heavy traffic.

Here is a picture of me sailing in snow:






























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