We Love Radar

[Celestialsailor]

Never had it on any of my other vessels. I guess it was..."what you can't see, can't scare you. As you see from the attachment, we are in traffic now as my crew and I are in Southern Ca. transiting various shipping channels which converge together.
I'm also changing my opinion on charts only to a chart plotter with charts to record journey's and details of an area. My crew member has apps on his iphone and a has a GPS handheld with map. So now we have many nav aids.

[Cheechako]

Yeah, never wanted radar that bad until I got one! Love it! I've been late arriving to port in unknown places and went in the harbor at night etc. Arrived at hidden coves in 35 knots of wind, surfing down rollers toward a rock shore..... radar allowed me to do so and take a sharp left into the little harbor... at the last minute.. knowing exactly where I was. etc etc...

[belizesailor]

Did not have RADAR originally when living in Florida. My response was "I live in FL, I dont need no stinking RADAR!" . Then one evening pea soup thick fog settled in on my approach to Tampa Bay...so thick the other end of the boat was hazy....bought RADAR immediately after that trip!

[Cheechako]

Yeah, avaoided a couple big waterspouts in gulfstream corssing once. Saw them on radar.. amended course. Ditto for the west end of Puerto Rico.... huge thunderstorms, watched them on radar from nearly the DR while crossing....

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Yeah, never wanted radar that bad until I got one! Love it! I've been late arriving to port in unknown places and went in the harbor at night etc. Arrived at hidden coves in 35 knots of wind, surfing down rollers toward a rock shore..... radar allowed me to do so and take a sharp left into the little harbor... at the last minute.. knowing exactly where I was. etc etc...

Ya...We came into Marina Del Rey in pitch black. Traffic lights flahing away and could not see the the marker lights until 1/4 mile away but I could clearly see the breakwater from 6 miles away.

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Did not have RADAR originally when living in Florida. My response was "I live in FL, I dont need no stinking RADAR!" . Then one evening pea soup thick fog settled in on my approach to Tampa Bay...so thick the other end of the boat was hazy....bought RADAR immediately after that trip!

I have the cheapy JRC 12" radome. When the boat is pitching 30degrees to 30 degrees, it looses image but comes back between surges. In the fog there is a lot of scatter but I'm getting better at tuning it. Certainly better than nothing. Without it at 3am., I would have sat out until daylight.
One funny thing was on the way in, I saw what I thought was a double image of the breakwater, turned out to be a 200 ft. ship that started moving...freaked me out!

[Hudson Force]

The longer I stare at a view like this the more I begin to belive that I see things.

'love my radar!

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

The longer I stare at a view like this the more I begin to belive that I see things.

'love my radar!

Laughed my arse off at that one. EXACTLY. Not to mention getting turned around if you take your eyes off the compass.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Did not have RADAR originally when living in Florida. My response was "I live in FL, I dont need no stinking RADAR!" . Then one evening pea soup thick fog settled in on my approach to Tampa Bay...so thick the other end of the boat was hazy....bought RADAR immediately after that trip!

Different coast, same story. Delivering a race boat around Point Sur in fog so thick we couldn't see the head stay, I made the decision never again to sail that stretch without radar.

[rebel heart]

It was pretty valuable where there's fog, but the last year I haven't seen a speck of fog anywhere or really reduced visibility at all that wasn't from rain or darkness. For the 30 and up latitudes, and maybe some other tropical places that get fog (do such places exist with regularity?) I loved radar. Now it generally sits powered off.

[Paul Elliott]

In the tropics, even with little or no fog we sometimes use the radar to help track squalls at night. Some nights you can eyeball them, but not always. It also helps when closing in on a shoreline or bay at night -- they don't all have lights and buoys.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

It was pretty valuable where there's fog, but the last year I haven't seen a speck of fog anywhere or really reduced visibility at all that wasn't from rain or darkness. For the 30 and up latitudes, and maybe some other tropical places that get fog (do such places exist with regularity?) I loved radar. Now it generally sits powered off.

but still must be good for those Mexican shrimp boats in the dark with no Nav lights.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

but still must be good for those Mexican shrimp boats in the dark with no Nav lights.

Kinda like the Mexi "greyhound" style busses........ drive at night with lights off so they can tell if someone is coming... !

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

It was pretty valuable where there's fog, but the last year I haven't seen a speck of fog anywhere or really reduced visibility at all that wasn't from rain or darkness. For the 30 and up latitudes, and maybe some other tropical places that get fog (do such places exist with regularity?) I loved radar. Now it generally sits powered off.

I love my radar. Used it a lot coming down the coast from Canada and up the coast from Cabo. It died in San Diego the week before I left on the Baja. I did manage to get it fixed. Turned out to be the cable.I tend to turn it on when motoring and then try to steer by the radar to practice for when there is fog.

Someone told me that I should use the radar at least once a week. Do you think this is true?