The latest bout of sea fog appeared while on a cruise had
the undesired effect of putting the wind up my shorts instead of filling the
sails. By the time I had got out toward the Spitway the fog had cleared and the
sun shone pleasantly enough but was I the only skipper sailing down the river puffing his fog
horn like the proverbial playground clown? I must have been because I never heard any reply.
Very deadly that, silence in fog I mean. If you were sleeping in any of the
trot moorings, well I hope I passed some trot moorings.., in fact any double glazed home on the whole Dengie or Tendering Peninsular and
was woken in the early hours by awful wailing sounds - sincere apologies..
I have
since been thinking about radar reflectors and in particular how useful one
would be to me if I were to install one on Shoal Waters mast. Where on the mast
is to advance a stage for now and I'm just thrashing about the idea but the initial concept is beginning to interest
me. Down the creek Mike showed me a
radar reflector he made using a plastic Coke bottle and filling it with balls
of aluminium cooking foil. He then painted the lot white. The cost was nominal
to say the least; a box of kitchen foil. But, the result was I thought it
looked like one of those professional jobs on an offshore yacht only I wondered
if it would actually reflect. The whole concept
is hopeless I guess unless the potential colliding vessel has a radar unit
fitted. For small craft cruising inshore this is perhaps far too much kit to expect on
board so for now that tense eye of the discerning watch and the metallic tasting fog
horn will have to stay.
Seriously though, the way I see it you only get hit by a ship once and in all probability it will feel like an uppercut from Mike Tyson with the result being a slow sink down to the sea bed. Where a reflector may just be of very practical use is passing
Harwich at night or in the Thames for instance – even in the Colne to a lesser degree, and
this year, the Crouch has become a great place to be to, if you like ships as I
do, for it is also now a full working river with shipping in and out continually
now serving up the Wallasea project. I am cruising in and around all these areas
quite a lot and only yesterday came out the River Roach at dawn again under a veil of light
mist, this time the three ships near to me in the Crouch were visible but half hour earlier, and throughout the night while at anchor, I could not see a thing
for thick fog. And the day before when the fog horn blew and blew? I would not
have been able to see the ships and they would probably not Shoal Waters. I
guess the best defence is to stay put but while on a cruise that may mean
staying at anchor in a place you chose in bright sunshine, which for many boats I see is nigh on bang in the fairway within
striking range.
What size, if any, would be worth putting up on a small sailing boat
I do still wonder and have they been proven to work? I do have some evidence of a reflector working as a friend who had the
lifeboat out to him said they found him because of his radar reflector. What
size I did not ask at the time but from memory, as I had been on the boat, it looked like a standard white canister
job. His mast was twice the height of mine too which perhaps may have improved the signal, who knows. It’s all food for more thought.