A Little Rant

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by foggysail

Nor do sailors own the waterway

By sailors I meant sailors not just folks on sailboats. As opposed to folks who think boats are like driving a car.

"A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who navigates waterborne vessels or assists as a crewmember in their operation and maintenance" Wikipedia

[chuckr]

just a suggestion -- leave the ditch and go out into the ocean -- no problems there and you got a big enough boat to do that - but then again there are no marinas every night or so - but the distance is shorter

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by Vasco

By sailors I meant sailors not just folks on sailboats. As opposed to folks who think boats are like driving a car.

"A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who navigates waterborne vessels or assists as a crewmember in their operation and maintenance" Wikipedia

Peace!

[Miniyot]

Originally Posted by twistedtree

. And by the way, why doesn't everyone use ch 13 (bridge to bridge) to coordinate passage in the ICW like they do in every commercial port? Doing everything on ch 16 is flat out wrong. It's fine for hailing people who aren't on 13, but in my experience in any busy port all the commercial boats are on 13 coordinating the dance. It works great and keeps noise off 16.

I am under the impression that channel 13 is only required for boats longer than 60' and they have to maintain a watch on that channel.
Channel 16 is for hailing, and boats that are required to have a radio must also watch this channel. Not all boats are required to have a radio.

There is a reason commercial vessels use 13 while in port, there is a reason 16 is a hailing channel. While in port ships are moving in very tight quarters, sometimes under their own power sometimes with tugs. Why muddy up their comms on 13 just so you can pass a smaller slower boat...use 16.
If you wish to hail me, use the hailing channel. that'd be 16. Everyone I know who has a radio uses it.

[twistedtree]

Originally Posted by Miniyot

I am under the impression that channel 13 is only required for boats longer than 60' and they have to maintain a watch on that channel.
Channel 16 is for hailing, and boats that are required to have a radio must also watch this channel. Not all boats are required to have a radio.

There is a reason commercial vessels use 13 while in port, there is a reason 16 is a hailing channel. While in port ships are moving in very tight quarters, sometimes under their own power sometimes with tugs. Why muddy up their comms on 13 just so you can pass a smaller slower boat...use 16.
If you wish to hail me, use the hailing channel. that'd be 16. Everyone I know who has a radio uses it.

Personally, I want to avoid collisions regardless of whether the other boat is commercial or recreational. The whole "required equipment" thing is a distraction. I'm trying to encourage good practices, and I think that includes participating in traffic coordination. Being on 13 doesn't muddy the waters - it's expected. In all my experience commercial boats REALLY appreciate it when you participate. Otherwise you are a pain in their ass, and part of what gives recreational boats a bad name among professional captains.

I realize lots of people (probably most) only have one VHF. And among them many (perhaps most) don't have or use the channel scan function. If you don't know about it it's worth a look. You can scan a set of channels, say 13, 9, and 16, continuously which lets you monitor them all. If you can only monitor 1 channel, then 16 it is. If boats can't get you on 13 they will try 16. Not a problem.

Passing through Norfolk, VA was a good example. There were tugs, CG boats, war ships, and recreational boats. I hailed, or was hailed by all of the above on 13 to coordinate passings. Not so much two ships passing in a channel where it's pretty clear you are going to go port to port - those will typically happen in silence. But where you have channel forks and traffic merging, it really makes a difference and takes all the stress out of it. Ironically, the one boat that wasn't on 13 was one of the war ships. He was pulling away from dock, entering one channel, then turning into a second channel. I was making the same turn from one channel to another in the opposite direction, but had no idea which way he planned to do, nor did he know what I was planning. I couldn't get him on 13, nor could another war ship having the same problem. We finally got him on 16. Must have been a rookie.

[rgscpat]

Warship sometimes seem not very chatty.

As pointed out before, state-registered vessels don't have any name or hailing port marking requirements; you are fortunate to get any name or port, much less one that is positioned well, unobstructed, in a plain large font, and clearly visible. But sometimes you get cute graphics of fish, flames, mermaids, or other "decor" to use for descriptive purposes. Or maybe a novelty flag.... if the cocktail flag is up and the boat is weaving, passing vessels are forewarned.

[captain58sailin]

I can't speak for others, in my experience if radio contact is needed, one initiates the call on 16, then switches to 13 for the conversation if needed. I have heard numerous calls on 16 and when responding to the call they say "one whistle side Capt." or "two whistle side" depending on the situation. I have to confess, I am guilty of shutting off the radio coming to port from offshore, simply because the racket annoys me. Some people believe that 16 vhf is the equivalent of 19 on the CB. Usually during tourist season.

[jtsailjt]

Good points made, one of which involves the difficulty in hearing a VHF clearly from the cockpit of a sailboat with the engine running. My aft cockpit sailboat was that way and I had both a vhf and a hand held at the helm, but between the engine rumble and the splashing of the exhaust water only a few feet behind me, it was very hard to distinctly hear things said on the radio.

A little thread creep, but this characteristic led to meeting one of the most interesting people and conversations of my life. I was up the New River in Fort Lauderdale, headed downstream in my 44' aft cockpit sailboat and awaiting the first bridge opening after the evening rush hour, and as the bridge finally started up and as I approached it, a fairly large motorboat that had been waiting on the downstream side beat me to the punch so I had to slow and slightly back to let them clear before passing through the bridge opening. As I did so, I heard some commotion on the radio and thought I heard some reference to a white sailboat (me?), but with my engine loudly in reverse and me focused on the task at hand, there was no way I could hear details, so thinking I had quite possibly pi$$ed somebody off or done something wrong, but unclear what I might have done, I continued down the river. Once safely docked at Pier 66, I hitched a ride back to the marina to get my car and decided that I better pay a visit to that bridge tender to see if I owed him or someone else an apology. I knocked on the door to the bridge tenders air conditioned control area and he let me in. So, I explained who I was and he remembered the incident from a few hours earlier and I was relieved to hear that he had been yelling on the radio at the upstream headed boat that cut me off because I had the right of way since I was headed downstream. He was an old codger but very sharp and he allowed me to sit in his tenders house with him and watch the boats come and go and him operating the bridge. As we chatted, he asked what I did and I told him but mentioned that until recently I had been a fighter pilot, and he casually mentioned that he had been a World War 2 ACE and hadn't flown at all since the war! For those unfamiliar, that means that he shot down at least 5 enemy aircraft while he had been in the Pacific Theatre, an extraordinary achievement, especially to live to tell about 50 years later! I sat there spellbound as he explained the circumstances of each engagement and I think he enjoyed having an audience who truly understood just what he was trying to say.

Sorry about changing the subject but I remember this meeting so fondly that I couldn't resist sharing it, especially because it was brought on by my inability to hear and properly respond to what was being said on the radio while traveling along a narrow waterway.

[Gemini Dreams]

47 foot m/v overtaking a 27 foot s/v is obnoxious from the moment it is conceived. This type of tone on any VHF channel would result in no response as any further dialog would be escalating. Lettering, numbers, fonts and locations are between me and the government not some ranting person on the VHF. Try the passage outside next time.
W

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by sestina

I'd rather have the MoBos go past at a good clip rather than slowly at max wake speed. After all my boat is used to being bounced about in the ocean.

Me too. Often they go by fast and the wake isnt so bad, but when they try to be nice and slow down right behind you, then go by at 10 mph the rolling begins!
Just go by at speed, screw the whiners!

[RainDog]

Around here it depends on where you are. In part of the ICW, all traffic is on 16. Other parts, it is all on 13. Tugs will generally respond to pleasure craft, but shrimp/fishing boats almost never will. Recreational boats never negotiate passing with each other, some contact the tugs to negotiate, but most do not. I used to, but always got the impression the tug captains would rather I didn't, so now I only do it if the passing will be hairy for some reason.

[RainDog]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Me too.

Me three. If they stay on a plane they produce much more manageable wake. Even worse some operators trying to be nice slow down and just the perfect moment that the giant wake created by them coming off a plane hits you.

[River Cruiser]

I will always slow to idle to pass any sailboat, canoe or kayak I see. Sometimes I'll miss a small boat on the river if they're close to the bank, the Mississippi is pretty wide in places. I waked a couple of kayaks one day & then saw them later that day at the marina. I thought I should apologize for the pass earlier in the day, when I did they basically said don't worry about it that they kinda enjoyed it because their boats were made to handle a lot worse than what I did to them. Other powerboats I'll give them a slow pass if they slow down, the ones that piss me off are the ones who overtake me so close I can't turn into their wake without catching it on the beam. 70% of the time I run 6 to 7 mph so I get passed by a lot of boats and I don't need all the fingers on one hand to count the ones that need lessons in how to pass

[twistedtree]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Me too. Often they go by fast and the wake isnt so bad, but when they try to be nice and slow down right behind you, then go by at 10 mph the rolling begins!
Just go by at speed, screw the whiners!

All the more reason for a quick radio conversation. I've had people ask me to go real slow, and I've had people ask me to maintain speed. I'm happy to do it either way, but I can't read minds.

[twistedtree]

Originally Posted by RainDog

Me three. If they stay on a plane they produce much more manageable wake. Even worse some operators trying to be nice slow down and just the perfect moment that the giant wake created by them coming off a plane hits you.

I agree that a smallish boat on a plane isn't bad. But a 60,000 lb boat can make a hell of a wake, and I'm trying to manage it for everyone's sake.