first time in fog

[magna 6882]

So we were in La Connor last night. Our first time running the Swinomish channel. When we woke up this morning real heavy fog which the weather had forecast so we waited for it to lift. It did around 11:00 and i saw other boats running so figured the coast was clear. About a half mile down we ran into the fog that hadn't lifted. It was thick enough that i could not see the water in front of the bow. I slowed way down and just followed the chart and the radar. Finally became clear after a couple of hours.
Should i have turned around?
Is there anything i should have done differently?
Since i could not even see the channel markers is it prudent to put that much trust in the charts?
The pictures were taken when we got out of the worst of it. I had my hands full but once out of the channel i relaxed a bit.

 

[jimdavi]

Go slow and use your electronics. Do you have AIS?

 

[Comodave]

Absolutely slow way down. Post a lookout where they have the best ability to not only see, what they can, but maybe more importantly they can hear the best. Away from engine noise. If you can’t see the water sound signals become more important. Hopefully others out there are sounding the proper signals, like you were, right? Get the lookout in the best position to hear the signals as soon as possible. Use every device you can to have situational awareness. Use the plotter, radar, AIS along with the lookout(s). But don’t lock in on any one thing and ignore the other points of information. If you boat in areas that have fog regularly then get some sort of an automatic sound signal like a hailer or automated horn so you won’t be distracted by trying to sound the horn manually. Take that concern off your plate with the automatic sound signal.

 

[Barabus]

I did the Straight of Juan de Fuca once in soup like that. I have full class B AIS, know my radar, slowed down and used fog horns. Still had a 50'+ boat planning hull on plan towing a dignghy without AIS go across my bow. Had intermittent radar contact on her but still never again. I can wait.

 

[magna 6882]

Yes i have AIS and i used a third screen dedicated to just the aid. I was sounding my horn every two minutes but wasn't using a second hand. I was surprised with the exception of the the ferries no one made a sound.I would follow on object on the radar and when the fog got a little lighter i would see them go by but no noise. I kept hitting the horn but the wife was thinking we were doing something wrong since we were the only ones. Every two minutes right?

 

[Comodave]

A prolonged blast (4 to 6 seconds) every 2 minutes if you are underway, not anchored or aground or tied to the shore. 4 to 6 seconds is a long time if you actually use a stopwatch.

 

[magna 6882]

Yes i have AIS and i used a third screen dedicated to just the aid. I was sounding my horn every two minutes but wasn't using a second hand. I was surprised with the exception of the the ferries no one made a sound.I would follow on object on the radar and when the fog got a little lighter i would see them go by but no noise. I kept hitting the horn but the wife was thinking we were doing something wrong since we were the only ones. Every two minutes right?

 

[Conrad]

Given that you were not familiar with the area, and electronics can fail, I would have turned back. Particularly if you can't even see the water, where things can float under the radar.

 

[magna 6882]

Given that you were not familiar with the area, and electronics can fail, I would have turned back. Particularly if you can't even see the water, where things can float under the radar.

Turning back was really on my mind but the channel felt like it was only 70ft wide with 9ft under the boat. I was not sure if i was going to come out of it any minute and did not know if it was even worse behind me.These conversations are very instructional for us.My wife stood on the bow and could see a few feet in front but i had her come back it where i thought it would be safer.

 

[tiltrider1]

Actually, you did the right thing. Turning around in that confined channel with its unusual currents could quickly go bad. As you discovered almost no recreational boats blow horns in the fog. This is probably due to the quality of modern electronics. Between radar, chart plotters and AIS motoring in fog isn’t the challenge it once was. If you know where you are and where every one else is, what’s the need to make sound. I’m not trying to justify the lack of following the regulations, just pointing out the likely thought pattern of most recreational boaters.

 

[Comodave]

I would still absolutely sound the proper signals even if others are not doing it. In the case of a collision it will help your case if you are doing the proper things.

 

[OldDan1943]

Slow down, signal, AIS and RADAR.
You might consider reporting on the VHF (16), your positions, your direction and speed.
Put all this in your log.
You do all you can and let the others know where you are.

In your car, rain or fog, you run with your headlights on. Others do not turn their lights on and say, I could see you. If they dont turn their lights on, you could remind them, although they could see you, you could not see them.
Start with the premises, everyone else is an idiot.

 

[mvweebles]

I don't know these waters at all but in general, heavy fog and narrow channel is obviously a bad mix. Bring in a narrow channel is significantly different than being in open water. By continuing on, you're leaving so much to chance - other vessels are broadcasting an AIS beacon. Or that they are big enough to paint your radar in time when you are probably zoomed in. Or that they will be audible either through fog horn or other. Or that a 2-min horn interval gives adequate notice..

Knowing what you came to know, sounds like you would not have started the journey. I think you answered your own question - sounds like this journey needed to be terminated either by anchoring outside the channel with adequate lighting and sound alerts, or by headed back. Had you had a collision, you would have said to yourself "we sort of knew we should have headed back."

The above said, mentally, it's extremely difficult to reverse course and give up hard fought ground. I guess the real lesson learned is to not be surprised when fog is patchy and you hit it again after waiting - what is the Plan B? Will you be able to safely anchor along the way? Do you have the skills, experience, and comfort level to navigate in a pea souper?

I have a fair amount of experience running coastal-offshore in fog, but not much in channels. The couple times I've been on a boat in a narrow channel in thick fog we ended up going so dang slow we might as well anchored and relaxed. Not sure we gained much given the angst

Peter

 

[Porgy]

-Go slower. It’s ok to keep going- it’s the same fog where you just came from.
I don’t know about the NW but in NE fog doesn’t always “burn off” and might pop up with a vengeance in the middle of the afternoon.
-Become proficient with radar.
-Use MARPA.
-If chartplotter and radar don’t agree, stop and figure out why. “Trust but verify.”
-Remember that rules of the road are different when there is no visibility.

I’m not a fan of announcing my position unless I need to for a specific navigational safety circumstance. Otherwise, I think it can be an unnecessary distraction. The worst fog I was in was Block Island Sound with approximately a million targets to negotiate. Every ten minutes a recreational boater felt compelled to announce his location as if he was the only one out there. At that he often only gave his course and speed and the length of his boat.

 

[O C Diver]

As others have mentioned, slow down, make sure running lights are on, get an automated sound signal (often in VHF radios), radar and AIS.

If you're really comfortable with your autopilot, use it. In heavy fog, it's tougher to maintain your course without visual reference points. Be prepared to immediately return to hand steering. Being on autopilot allows you to focus more on the other information as your not thinking about turning the wheel and calculating corrections.

You should improve your skills in the fog as you're in an area where it may appear quickly without being forecasted. While you can always choose not to leave the dock if you feel there may be fog, once out you don't have a choice when it appears.

I strongly encourage almost always running with the radar on. You need to be extremely comfortable navigating with it and understanding what it is showing you versus what you see (a 600' freighter looks very different coming straight at you versus crossing in front of you).

I have spent decades running at night, in torrential downpours and fog. Follow the rules and be vigilant for the idiots who don't. Don't be surprised to find fools following you because they aren't prepared. This adds another dimension of task loading as you need to keep track of them not getting to close and mindful that stopping abruptly could have them running into you. While it's easy to drill down on the radar to have a better picture (1/4 mile or less range), it's also important to know what's coming ahead. I strongly endorse radars that display 2 ranges (maybe 1/4 and 1 mile). If not, periodically switch to the larger range to see what or who is coming.

Ted

 

[catalinajack]

On the AICW, I once encountered, suddenly and unexpectedly, a fog bank just as we were entering a particularly difficult transit through a known shallow and twisting channel at a difficult inlet. Radar on, AIS send and receive. I was so busy I did not even have a moment to sound our very loud horn. Thinking back I should have had my mate sound the horn but it all happened so quickly. We did encounter two Coast Guard boats coming past close aboard in the opposite direction. It was my first experience in fog and, of course, I was concerned but not fearful, or in a panic. I had the boat at dead slow. The lesson I learned was to have a clear plan for such a situation. I did all of the right thimgs except for the horn. Given that there were other boats close by that was clearly a mistake.

This happened close to the end of our one-year Great Loop cruise. In all that time we encountered fog only once, on Lake Michigan for about two hours. There, other boats showed clearly on radar so we felt comfortable keeping our distance from others. I have seen several discussions, prompted by questions posed by prospective Great Loopers, about whether radar is needed. Many responders responded that one can get along just fine with good weather planning. Very foolish in my view. Fog can pop up unexpectedly as it did for us on the AICW in a channel that is difficult to transit even in clear conditions. I rank this foolishness right up there with folks who navigate with just a cell phone.

 

[psneeld]

Am I reading that running the ACIW (or anywhere) in fog is foolishness?

 

[mvweebles]

Ted - I understand your guidance, especially about running with A/P (extremely difficult to hand steer in zero visibility conditions), but for vast majority of recreational boaters, experience running with instruments-only is very limited even if they have their radar on all the time. I believe the OP said this was a 70-foot wide channel, and ran for a couple hours before fog dissipated. Not a lot of margin for error or lapse in attention.

About the only tool I can imagine that is reasonably reliable would be some sort of decent FLIR coupled with very slow speed.

In the end, unless the mariner has developed a lot of experience in heavy fog in close quarters, seems hard to reduce risk beyond hoping for good luck and ticking the boxes to build a good legal defense.

Peter

 

[psneeld]

Agree that experience doing it is crucial...practicing fog nav in good conditions is a great way to start, then running at night,, but at some point running in fog is running in fog.....and you only get that experience by doing it.

Rare is the cruiser who doesn't wind up in fog sooner or later.

 

[Portage_Bay]

Lots of good advice here. I suggest relying heavily on radar especially when unfamiliar with an area. There are still some areas where electronic charts / plotters are a bit off. I don't hesitate to use the chart plotter but I cross check with the radar and if they don't agree put more emphasis on the radar. The issue is usually with horizontal displacement from antique surveys. That's another discussion.

Radar is also an excellent collision avoidance tool, not as easy to use as AIS but AIS depends upon the other boat's gear. Many boats still do not have broadcasting AIS or AIS turned on or AIS installed at all.

The key to effective radar use is practice, then more practice and yet more practice. Both interpreting the display and set up / tuning.

For navigation try this: On a day with good visibility lay out your course on plotter or paper. Paper works better for this exercise. Turn on tracking and cover the screen with a towel. Navigate by radar range and bearing. The plotter is still up and running if you need it. When done compare the track line with the intended course. This is a great skill and confidence builder. Perfectly safe because your plotter is instantly available and you're looking out the windows for collision avoidance.

For collision avoidance it's a bit more challenging but well worth the effort. Compare your visual estimate of CPA, your calculated or estimated CPA from radar observations and the CPA the AIS gives you. This really only works under well controlled situations. Where you boat with the VTS lanes is a good place to practice. The heavy ships will generally stick to the lanes and keep a constant speed.

If you enjoy learning and honing new skills this can be a fun addition to a cruise. Maybe go out for an afternoon cruise and make it the focus of the cruise. It's not rocket science. It's about acquiring some basic skills then adding experience. It will allow you to boat with confidence in restricted visibility.

 

[mvweebles]

I do think it's situation dependent. Offshore is not much different than running at night for the most part. I've run across San Francisco Bay in heavy fog and felt comfortable. And I've departed a couple marinas into open water with fog. I've also run just outside a ships channel and know I'm in pretty good shape. But frankly, I don't have much dense fog experience or comfort in narrow channels that are trafficked by recreational vessels that may not be visible and often don't know the dance steps. Just leaving too much to luck and chance for Mt tastes. Just seems like a good time to drop an anchor and make a cup of Joe. But to each their own.

Only practical experience I can think of is to put a blanket over your windows and try navigating that way. If you get comfortable with that, you're good since you're running in areas with normal traffic (vs fog restricted traffic). Of course, need extra non-blind crew to prevent mistake.

 

[mvweebles]

Lots of good advice here. I suggest relying heavily on radar especially when unfamiliar with an area. There are still some areas where electronic charts / plotters are a bit off. I don't hesitate to use the chart plotter but I cross check with the radar and if they don't agree put more emphasis on the radar. The issue is usually with horizontal displacement from antique surveys. That's another discussion.

Radar is also an excellent collision avoidance tool, not as easy to use as AIS but AIS depends upon the other boat's gear. Many boats still do not have broadcasting AIS or AIS turned on or AIS installed at all.

The key to effective radar use is practice, then more practice and yet more practice. Both interpreting the display and set up / tuning.

For navigation try this: On a day with good visibility lay out your course on plotter or paper. Paper works better for this exercise. Turn on tracking and cover the screen with a towel. Navigate by radar range and bearing. The plotter is still up and running if you need it. When done compare the track line with the intended course. This is a great skill and confidence builder. Perfectly safe because your plotter is instantly available and you're looking out the windows for collision avoidance.

For collision avoidance it's a bit more challenging but well worth the effort. Compare your visual estimate of CPA, your calculated or estimated CPA from radar observations and the CPA the AIS gives you. This really only works under well controlled situations. Where you boat with the VTS lanes is a good place to practice. The heavy ships will generally stick to the lanes and keep a constant speed.

If you enjoy learning and honing new skills this can be a fun addition to a cruise. Maybe go out for an afternoon cruise and make it the focus of the cruise. It's not rocket science. It's about acquiring some basic skills then adding experience. It will allow you to boat with confidence in restricted visibility.

OpenCPN is the only chart plotter system I now where to can drill down to see the level of accuracy of the underlying data, and even then it's difficult to find. Many of the waters recreational boaters transit are not all that accurate, especially in historically shallow areas where shoals move.

In my opinion, vast majority of boaters I've seen are too dependent on their chart plotters and tend to zoom in and try to stay in the middle of a highway versus navigation to an ATON that provides situational awareness. Why does this matter? In my opinion when displays are over-zoomed, you lack situational awareness which is key, especially in low visibility situations. At the very least, allows you to anticipate where an obstruction might come from.

Peter

 

[catalinajack]

No, I did not mean to say that at all. I was trying to state an opinion that radar is kinda, sorta wise and knowing how to use it is probably a good idea also.

Am I reading that running the ACIW (or anywhere) in fog is foolishness?

 

[mvweebles]

No, I did not mean to say that at all. I was trying to state an opinion that radar is kinda, sorta wise and knowing how to use it is probably a good idea also.

Radar is indeed a good thing. But there are levels of difficulty. Offshore during daytime looking for ships 15 miles off is pretty easy and a good past time. Running in open waters on clear night bumps up the difficulty a bit. Getting into closer quarters and reduced visibility obviously increases complexity and difficulty. Advising people who rarely run their radar let alone navigate by them that if they use them during clear daylight conditions will somehow prepare them for dense fog in a narrow channel is a bit optimistic for my tastes. Skips a couple bases on the way to home.

 

[psneeld]

Stopping and anchoring in fog can be even more dangerous than to keep moving....depending where you are.

How else does one get experience without baby steps? Its how I learned and most of the other captains I know.....its sorta how we learned in aviation. One day you are practicing and getting pretty good at it, the next you are doing it.

I am not telling people who have little or no experience to keep going all the time or start off in fog.....but at some point they are probably going to get caught in fog or heavy rain....so they better have some skills.

At some point...using RADAR to nav or collision avoid is as simple as not keep going straight if there is a blob in front of you....check the chartplotter and make a turn or stop. Probably more important to know how to tune it for conditions, and that can be done on sunny, clear days.

The last time I ran without RADAR in thick fog for a long stretch was down the Chesapeake between Annapolis and Solomon Islands. A friendly tug captain going slow provided traffic control for me and a couple other vessels until we all got too far away.

Nice!

 

[MYTraveler]

About the only tool I can imagine that is reasonably reliable would be some sort of decent FLIR coupled with very slow speed.

In my experience, FLIR doesn't work in thick fog, since fog quickly absorbs infrared energy.

I don't mind heavy fog offshore in deep water but personally will not navigate narrow channels in shallow water in the fog, even with class A AIS, automatic fog horn, ARPA radar, scanning sonar and FLIR.

 

[drb1025]

Sounding your horn in the fog was the right thing to do. Those that didn’t likely don’t know the rules. There are many new, inexperienced, and dangerous boaters out there. Recently as I approached Deception Pass in a thick fog, a boater coming toward me through the pass announced on his vhf radio “I’m coming through the pass and don’t have radar so look out for me”. As someone else said earlier, assume other boaters are new and inexperienced. I think he used a different word.

 

[GoneFarrell]

Anchored at Port Townsend in fog reading this. 50 yds visibility.

Heading north In a few hours with or without fog.

 

[koliver]

Fog is common at this time of year. After this freighter passed, I could hear louder fog horns, so checked AIS. Sure enough, there was a second freighter, about the same size, following, but unseen.

 

[Russell Clifton]

One more thing to consider when running in the fog in the Swinhomish Channel. Crab season opened for the commercial guys and right now I see probably 45-50 boats a day go by that do not have radar. Most look like they hardly float. Many are painted gray and some do not have running lights.

Also, some of those markers are not in the same location as indicated on the charts and at least one is not there at all. Add to all this the recent high tides that float many of the big logs off the shore. I see 40 foot logs floating down the channel almost daily.