How far out do fishing boats go?

Conachair

Conachair

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Off to Canaries poss next week from Cadiz (solo). Not sure about the rest of you but I always feel happier when there's nothing near me. Land or other vessels. So question is do fishing boats just go everywhere, or is there a depth limit, say 200m or whatever. Also, do cargo vessels have specific routes or do they plot as straight a course to destination as possible? I would imagine they would go straight as poss but dunno for sure. Wind permitting I'll probably just clear the bay and set a course straight for Lanzarote, unless someone knows better. Any other tips? Only thing I can see worth avoiding is Banco De La Conception, about 60Nm NE of La Graciosa.

TIA

Padz - Conachair
 
No offence Padz, but, these are kind of odd questions for someone intending such a long solo passage... How did you get down to Cadiz without not noticing fishing and shipping patterns (or rather, their seeming randomness)?

Anyway, hopefully see you in Sth America, trying to cross in the coming couple of months myself.

Good luck & really, just keep a good watch.

nick.
 
I've seen pot markers in more than 1000 metres in the Med. No idea what they hope to catch down there.

There's loads of bad press about long-lining and 50 mile gill nets, so I suppose they go just about everywhere.
 
As you probably know, the busy bit is getting across the shipping lanes in and out of the Straits. The huge Moroccan fishing fleet is mostly open dayboats that don't venture more than a couple of miles offshore.. they can't afford the petrol.
As long as you stay 20 or so miles offshore, the only likely hazard will be yachts not keeping a good lookout.
Top tip, do not twat the unlit rock a few miles NE of Lanzarote, it will ruin your day.
Have a safe trip, if you call into Calero, shout us up!!
 
No offence taken, Nick. I didn't see a thing across Biscay, 3 perfect days from Brest to Rio Viveiro, short snozes all the way while radar keep a watch. And rest of time has been closer inshore so, yes, lots fishing boats doing their random thing but never any problems with them (again, radar fantastic in fog down portuguese coast). I spoken with other people who have seen lots fishing activity in Biscay, I didn't, maybe lucky. Upshot is between here and Canaries I just don't know. I've spent time in Morocco but even the larger boats there only seemed to go for a day (or a night)at a time so I really have no idea how much traffic one might be likely to see offshore in that area. As for cargo, again I don't know. I've spent time on google vainly hoping that there would be some clearly defined easily avoidable routes but to no avail. Bit of a long shot, I would think they'd go straight as poss but you never know.
See you further south!

Padz
 
No worries Padz - I also saw nothing across Biscay. Heard lots about the Spanish fleets way up near France though. I saw lots of pair trawlers near Holland, and had to deal with Europort etc.

Out of curiosity, do you sleep for hours at a time relying on the radar? I also singlehand, and I´m interested in buying a unit myself. I can´t afford anything at the moment, but you know, always nice to dream!

I had real difficulties with fog in Biscay. Hoping I don´t down to Lisbon in Dec.

nick.
 
Anywhere in the world you can be sure that shallow patches will be hooching with (probably unlit) local boats. In my planning I always treat such areas as hazards even if I can easily float over them and don't think they will be rough.

Everywhere else; just as you think there is no-one within a thousand miles, some bugger will sneak up behind you.
 
Coastal I find i can go 24 hours quite easily, maybe a few micro sleeps in the cockpit, like a minute maybe before your head slips or something to wake you up. Bit I like least is coming in somewhere new early when your body is at it's lowest ebb. Biscay's longest I've done, 3 days and 2 nights. I tried to do 30 minutes sleep max with kitchen timer but I don't think thats enough, most of that during the day. Very good section in "Short handed sailing" by Alastair Buchan about sleep cycles. Basicaly research shows that to stay mentally healthy for more than a day or 2 you need to dream, which starts after about an hour of sleeping lasting for about half an hour. That's quite a long time so, yes, I do put a lot of faith in radar. Across Biscay it only went off only once, woke me up with a yacht about 3 miles away 40 miles off spanish coast. Of course you have to sell out the cash to buy one and then there's the power it eats as well, though mine isn't too bad, raymarine SL72 which you can set to have a look every ten mimutes and sound an alarm if anything shows up. Might not be so good in heavy seas, though. Expect I'll find that out someday. Ais would be nice but still wouldn't alert you of fishing boats or other yachts, so bit limited really.
Another thing i do (now don't laugh, it works) is if I feel i'm getting a bit lax or too relaxed coming into a marina or new port, I'll give myself a good bollicking in my head, something like "god, you're going to mess this up so badly! Everyones going to see you make a fool of yourself and laugh at you all afternoon and you'll have to drink all alone in the corner with people pointing at you and giggling!!"
Works for me, keeps me a bit more on my toes! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
This time last year we met two trawlers apparently fishing in thousands of metres of water half way between Portugal and Madeira. One had an orange strobe flashing, presumably meaning it was hauling nets, and they got quite close to us.

- Nick
 
I think he would have been purse seining, for something like tuna or mackrel Nick. They are a night mare at night, I once got stuck in one about 100mls SW of Ushant, a worrying few hours.
F. Boats can be a long way offshore, depending on the season, boats from Portugal and Spain reglarly fish off W Africa and round the mid ocean seamounts.
 
I've seen pot markers in more than 1000 metres in the Med. No idea what they hope to catch down there.

Tuna! Plus Swordfish.
The pot marker has thin line (rope) running all the way down, exept for the last 50 meters which is heavy mono line, attached to the mono are hooks with livebait on them, could be as many as ten baits. Plus large weight on the bottom. They are left for a day or two then hauled up with pothauler.
 
Coming back from the Azores, and in the middle of nowhere, I was caught on a very long drift net. By long, I mean a few kilometres. I managed to get the French fisherman on the VHF, and basically he laughed. I got off by luck more than anything else.

The net was visible when I was about 30 yards away, as a long luminscent line in the water. Didn't have time to stop.

Nicholas Hill
 
Interesting you didn´t have much success with short sleeps. I haven´t read the research you´ve found, but I have read reports on polyphasic sleep being sustainable over long periods. I actually noticed, after getting myself incredible tired by not sleeping the first 30 odd hours, that I could sleep in 20minute intervals really easily. I also found, that if I coupled about 60minutes of sleep, that I felt amazingly good, all things considered.

When I needed to heave-to in order to sleep at one stage, because the self'steering was useless, I slept for an hour at one point non stop, and entered dream state. At this point, it was near impossible for me to wake up again properly. I was groggy, tired, irritable and generally annoyed. In 20min naps, it seems you don´t enter this state, and I can literally wake and hop out of bed as if nothing had happened.

Anyway, interesting. Would like radar... But, a really big cost.

Can´t say I give myself too much of a bollocking about entering marinas though - I´ve found that crewed boats seeing a singlehander always give a hand, and sympathise on any mooring mistakes anyway! It´s the fully crewed boats crashing into the pontoon with everyone throwing ropes in complete tanglement that end up sitting in the corner getting laughed at!

I have a chuckle myself sometimes! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Not that I´m an expert on anything at all, just trying to get by!

nick.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Also, do cargo vessels have specific routes or do they plot as straight a course to destination as possible?

[/ QUOTE ]

You can meet a merchant ship, or a warship for that matter, just about anywhere in the world's oceans and on any course. Outside of traffic separation schemes there is no particular requirement to follow fixed routes.

However, ships tend to be concentrated along routes between major ports and headlands, which I guess isn't that helpful, given the huge number of permutations.

In sea areas like, say, Biscay, many ships will be on the direct track between the TSS at Ushant and at Finisterrre. But there will also be ships on passage between the Americas and Biscay ports which will be crossing the general flow.

In other words, you can never be sure that you aren't going to encounter one.
 
Well in a nutshell everywhere they want.

I fished in water over 400 fathoms on a regular basis, trawling and longlining. The big seine netters will fish where they can in open ocean, as will the squid fleets and tuna netters.

At the end of the day its your responsibility to keep a good watch, and if there are fishing boats operating in your area keep a close watch on them. They don't want to catch you - it costs them money!

But you've got that far so keep going, and have good crossing.

Have a Carib for me when you get across.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Well in a nutshell everywhere they want.



[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks, (and to everyone else) that's what I suspected but now I know for sure.
Enjoy Portimao, I was there for a while last year. Nice spot.
 
"Everywhere else; just as you think there is no-one within a thousand miles, some bugger will sneak up behind you."

Last October halfway between Plymouth & La Coruna, no wind & flat calm sea, nothing in sight except the horizon, a small black jet very very low snook up from behind and flew directly over us. Quite funny after I'd got over the split second thought of a gas explosion!
 
Even half way towards Madeira we saw fishing boats, probably because he water was shallow. Most of the passage is across the Abyssal Plain so 5000m deep but at half disance Ampere Seamount rises to 56m below the surface. It was this same area where we saw most shipping. An Ocean roundabout, although not charted as such. This link shows the undersea profile.
 
[ QUOTE ]

At the end of the day its your responsibility to keep a good watch,

[/ QUOTE ]

Update - I've got a sailing buddy increasing his carbon footprint right now on a flight from London, so 2 up for the trip. Which I'm very happy about, especially after the thread above re steel boat getting rammed. I'm not superstitious in the slightist but somehow this passage just didn't feel right solo.
Off in the morning, can't wait!! Hope we catch some fish. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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