Those stinkpot peeps have weird sense of whats important!

[Heckler]

He has fitted a serious air compressor system to blow his horns!
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...-Volume-High-Pressure-Oasis-Compressor-System
S

 

[Greenheart]

One could almost admire such dedication to purpose, if the purpose wasn't so objectionable.

 

[Elessar]

He has fitted a serious air compressor system to blow his horns!
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...-Volume-High-Pressure-Oasis-Compressor-System
S

at least he can comply with the colregs which very few yachts can.......

in fact if you use a sound signal properly, many yachties think you a "beeping" as they haven't a clue what it means!

 

[prv]

at least he can comply with the colregs which very few yachts can.......

Indeed. Sailing out past Hurst the other week in fairly thick fog, I had the foghorn going. On each tack, we crossed through a group of other yachts in close proximity (but not close enough to see each other). We had the radar on, but I must admit that due to the suddenness of the fog and the fact that I was on the helm, our radar watch wasn't as thorough as it might have been (I should have put my dad on the helm and taken over the radar myself instead of vice versa).

It would have been helpful and reassuring if the other boats had been sounding their horns according to the rules, but not a peep.

in fact if you use a sound signal properly, many yachties think you a "beeping" as they haven't a clue what it means!

True, unfortunately.

Mind you, I'm a bit puzzled by his whistle, which looks like it came off a steam locomotive . Seems a bit unnecessary to have both, and when would you use a whistle rather than a horn?

Pete

 

[Greenheart]

Sailing out past Hurst the other week in fairly thick fog, I had the foghorn going.

If you mean Easter weekend, it did come on thick and fast. We were walking on Tennyson Down and watched it enveloping the western Solent as if in a John Carpenter movie...

 

[laika]

at least he can comply with the colregs which very few yachts can.......

Always interesting to wander round a marina to try and spot which of the 12+m yachts actually have a "whistle" at all.

Would I be right in thinking that hailers connected to radios which helpfully put out fog patterns are largely not going to be colregs compliant?

 

[prv]

If you mean Easter weekend, it did come on thick and fast.

That's it, yes. We were sailing from Southampton to Poole, and hit the fog-bank just as it came over Hurst Spit.

Pete

 

[Elessar]

Always interesting to wander round a marina to try and spot which of the 12+m yachts actually have a "whistle" at all.

Would I be right in thinking that hailers connected to radios which helpfully put out fog patterns are largely not going to be colregs compliant?

Good question i think they are for fog signals. Even if not they are good because you set them off and you don't have to remember to keep sounding. They don't help for turning in the river or coming out of the gap from the marina to the river between the two floating blocks of flats though, both situations are de stressed with the proper hoot.

 

[prv]

Would I be right in thinking that hailers connected to radios which helpfully put out fog patterns are largely not going to be colregs compliant?

Well, they're all right for those of us under 12m, since we only have to have "means of making an efficient sound signal" which it certainly qualifies as.

The requirements for 12 - 20m are expressed in a very technical fashion, and not being a sound engineer I have no idea whether a typical leisure VHF hailer horn is likely to meet them. But certainly the principle seems to be valid, nothing says that it has to be an air or electric horn, a sufficiently powerful amplifier and speaker could meet the requirements.

Pete

 

[Greenheart]

I'll scan through my phone's pics from that day, to see if perhaps you were visible. We watched the lighthouse being swallowed-up.

Rotten photo I'm afraid, but I was nearly three miles away, holding the phone's lens up behind the binoculars.

Well worth having a fog-horn...I fancy the brass or plastic mouth-horns, assuming they're better (louder) than just yelling.

 

[laika]

They don't help for turning in the river or coming out of the gap from the marina to the river between the two floating blocks of flats though, both situations are de stressed with the proper hoot.

The requirements for 12 - 20m are expressed in a very technical fashion, and not being a sound engineer I have no idea whether a typical leisure VHF hailer horn is likely to meet them.

The latter issue (whether a hailer satisfies the regs for the "whistle" required for 12+m) was what I was getting at but Elessar's point is probably more important. Not that I would admit "guilt" but my "whistle" situation "could be improved". The plan has always been to fit proper horns (not having radar on the mast, "where" is the current question) which can be operated by either button or a relay controlled by some home-brew fog pattern generator.

 

[prv]

They don't help for turning in the river or coming out of the gap from the marina to the river between the two floating blocks of flats though, both situations are de stressed with the proper hoot.

My radio hailer horn will do a manual toot if required. You need to go through a short menu to enable it, which is annoying and means you can't instantly make an unexpected signal, but for the situations you describe it would work fine.

I have thought of connecting some sort of tone generator to the speaker, via a relay which will changeover between that and the radio, and power both the tone generator and the relay from a button at the helm. But really, it's a pretty low priority. Plus the fact that, as you say, so few people understand manoeuvring signals means I wouldn't use it much.

Pete

 

[laika]

so few people understand manoeuvring signals means I wouldn't use it much.

Really? Perhaps the average yottie may not be very good with all the fog/overtaking signals them but surely most people know 1/2/3/5 short blasts? There's been a few occasions where I've wished that I had the ability to to precede a manoeuvre with 1 or 2 short blasts for the absolute avoidance of doubt.

 

[laika]

There definitely an opportunity for a "rule 34" gag here but I suspect the audience to appreciate it would be limited

 

[Elessar]

My radio hailer horn will do a manual toot if required. You need to go through a short menu to enable it, which is annoying and means you can't instantly make an unexpected signal, but for the situations you describe it would work fine.

I have thought of connecting some sort of tone generator to the speaker, via a relay which will changeover between that and the radio, and power both the tone generator and the relay from a button at the helm. But really, it's a pretty low priority. Plus the fact that, as you say, so few people understand manoeuvring signals means I wouldn't use it much.

Pete

Chicken and egg though Pete. And if you hoot ferries/tugs etc in ambiguous situations ( usually near head on) it clears thing up and they react immediately.

And 5 or 6 hoots to the plonker in the rib/jetski/sunseeker/rag boat is SO satisfying even if often pointless!!

 

[Norman_E]

Last evening here in Yacht Marine we were treated to a willy waving contest between MoBos sounding their horns. I suspect that guy can now out blast much bigger boats than his!

 

[prv]

There definitely an opportunity for a "rule 34" gag here but I suspect the audience to appreciate it would be limited

surely most people know 1/2/3/5 short blasts?

Personally I wouldn't count on it. My parents for instance have been sailing all their lives, and I'm quite certain that they wouldn't understand 1, 2, or 3. My dad would probably recognise 5. I think they're fairly representative of a certain class of sailor, who have long experience of the type of sailing they regularly do and are quite skilled at it, but have never really bothered much about rules (even "respectable" ones like the colregs) or any other aspect or form of seafaring outside their own habits.

I've seen several mentions on the mobo forum of people trying to avoid sailing boats in a complex situation (often in the channels in Chichester Harbour), and giving a manoeuvring signal to make clear which way they were going to go. Only to be shouted at and abused by sailors (or sometimes racing marshal boats) who because of their own ignorance interpret it like a car horn on the road.

Pete

 

[prv]

If you hoot ferries/tugs etc in ambiguous situations ( usually near head on) it clears thing up and they react immediately.

True. I'll bear that in mind.

I've also had Whitchallenger or one of the other bunker barges kindly signal me (complete with manoeuvring light on the mast) to indicate that he was about to give way to me under sail. I think he saw me getting ready to gybe and wanted to say "hold on, I'm going round you".

And 5 or 6 hoots to the plonker in the rib/jetski/sunseeker/rag boat is SO satisfying even if often pointless!!

I can see that on your boat, which is more imposing-looking than mine and probably a more convincing horn tone. But my VHF's horn is relatively high pitched, and weedy compared to a proper air horn, and the boat is relatively small and slow. The dynamic would be more like a grumpy pensioner impotently shaking his walking-stick at the young folk disappearing into the distance

Pete

 

[Greenheart]

...5 or 6 hoots to the plonker in the rib/jetski/sunseeker/rag boat is SO satisfying...

Do you actually mean all other non-commercial seafarers?

Presumably the release of frustration which all this unwarranted honking brings to mobo operators, is the reason for the elaborate work detailed on the other forum...

...just like engines generally - all that noise and thrust and foaming wake-making is terribly uncool...except to others of the same narrow outlook. They're like...teenagers.

As Pete says, commercial operators (or anyone) using sound signals properly as a means of communicating specific information, are intrinsically worthy of respect...

...but motor boats cranking up over-powered air-horns as the equivalent of an audible oversized codpiece, are instantly identified by everyone else, as sad and stupid.

 

[Elessar]

True. I'll bear that in mind.

I've also had Whitchallenger or one of the other bunker barges kindly signal me (complete with manoeuvring light on the mast) to indicate that he was about to give way to me under sail. I think he saw me getting ready to gybe and wanted to say "hold on, I'm going round you".



I can see that on your boat, which is more imposing-looking than mine and probably a more convincing horn tone. But my VHF's horn is relatively high pitched, and weedy compared to a proper air horn, and the boat is relatively small and slow. The dynamic would be more like a grumpy pensioner impotently shaking his walking-stick at the young folk disappearing into the distance

Pete

tee hee Pete. Mine did sound like a fiat panda when I got it. I upgraded to something fit for purpose, but not one of the very expensive kalenburgs. Still a horn you can sound even if a bit high pitched is good, you are in the minority on saily boats I reckon.

and Dan, no I meant all other seafarers where "I'm unclear of your intentions" is appropriate. There is no distinction between commercial and non commercial in the colregs, and rightly so. You say that my compliance with the colregs when you can't without going down below and finding a hand held device is preposterous. Frankly it's you that looks silly suggesting that.