Mooring Buoys on the Gulf Coast Question

[Seabbatical]

Kita- the charts depict where the fairways are. If you are having a problem follow the path leading out of a pass with shipping channels. (Galveston is a good one to follow to find the safety fairway)

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Kita

I see you hail from Houston so you must know more about the area than I, & I am quite the rookie & I love to learn when I can so I feel like I am asking a dumb question but here goes..is there an app you are using to show what you are calling a fairway? When I came through I noticed stuff quite far offshore. ...

App?

I’m using noaa charts. Either raster electronic charts or paper show the fairways clear as day. The vector charts may also show them clear as day, unless there is some layer turned off.

[Kita]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

App?

I’m using noaa charts. Either raster electronic charts or paper show the fairways clear as day. The vector charts may also show them clear as day, unless there is some layer turned off.

: says it all....feeling a little silly. ..I guess I was so worried about running into something. ...& that was my first offshore adventure in a sailboat. ..I'm learning! Hey at least I didn't bump into anything!

[BobHorn]

Originally Posted by Kita

I see you hail from Houston so you must know more about the area than I, & I am quite the rookie & I love to learn when I can so I feel like I am asking a dumb question but here goes..is there an app you are using to show what you are calling a fairway? When I came through I noticed stuff quite far offshore. ...

The app is called a chart.

[Kita]

Originally Posted by BobHorn

The app is called a chart.

Charts I got! Please forgive me, I am only trying to learn as best I can. My navigation skills need work, obviously. but I do have thousands of hours in freshwater boat operation but this is really my first sailboat that has any navigation equipment so I'm trying to learn how to use everything properly....

[BobHorn]

The fairways may not be easily picked up on a chartplotter depending on the zoom level. Also the plotter screen is not big enough for the big picture. What you need is a paper chart of the Gulf of Mexico and the fairways will be very obvious, it will give the big picture. The fairways are like roads with intersection going off to different ports and also out to the open water. With the paper chart it will be very obvious which ones to follow.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Kita

Charts I got! Please forgive me, I am only trying to learn as best I can. My navigation skills need work, obviously. but I do have thousands of hours in freshwater boat operation but this is really my first sailboat that has any navigation equipment so I'm trying to learn how to use everything properly....

Electronic nav equipment some times take a dump. Better you learn to use a paper chart, compass, dividers and a parallel rule.

[Kita]

Originally Posted by BobHorn

The fairways may not be easily picked up on a chartplotter depending on the zoom level. Also the plotter screen is not big enough for the big picture. What you need is a paper chart of the Gulf of Mexico and the fairways will be very obvious, it will give the big picture. The fairways are like roads with intersection going off to different ports and also out to the open water. With the paper chart it will be very obvious which ones to follow.

That helps,I was using electronic & I did notice some tracks like you described but did not recognize the term Fairway I do have plans to get paper charts but I did not have them on that trip. But from what you're describing they seem to become more necessary than I anticipated..I was actually thinking that that was mostly commercial traffic and was trying to stay out of commercial traffic because I didn't have radar but I was running a reflector....my boat has a very shallow draft & I have a very healthy respect for the big guys & my primary concern was not getting in the way....especially when I dropped anchor. ..

[Sailmonkey]

The fairways, in my eyes, are a mixed blessing. They’re free of the fixed obstructions, but heavy on the large fast commercial shipping. I use the fairways when they’re convenient to the wind direction, or I’m in waters east of the Sabine River. Otherwise I’ll pick my path carefully to avoid the fields. Stay clear of the fields and you’ll have fewer structures.

Did you anchor in the GOM?

[Kita]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

The fairways, in my eyes, are a mixed blessing. They’re free of the fixed obstructions, but heavy on the large fast commercial shipping. I use the fairways when they’re convenient to the wind direction, or I’m in waters east of the Sabine River. Otherwise I’ll pick my path carefully to avoid the fields. Stay clear of the fields and you’ll have fewer structures.

Did you anchor in the GOM?

Yes I did,but was carefull to get next to an island in shallow water to make sure I was out of the way. I planned my trip around where I could stop to rest because I was solo

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by BobHorn

Why not do it the easy way and follow the fairways? No platforms, well heads, pipes sticking out of the water. Set a waypoint to the next intersection or turn and let the ap do its thing while you sit back and enjoy the ride.

Kita,

There are Saftey Fairways all over that area of the GOM...thats how the big boys get thru the area. Zoom detail from Navionics attached. The buoy near the upper left of image labeled "AP" is the Aransas Pass sea buoy.

What Ive done in the past is run near the edge of the saftey fairways...this keeps you out of the way of the big boys and out of the oil patch.

Of course, saftey fairways dont always give you the optimal route to your destination, but they do help keep you out of harms way.

RADAR, AIS, VHF at the helm are all very good tools to enhance your saftey in the oil patch too.