|
|
|
Meet
George & Joe; Hoosier Sail & Power Squadron’s answer to, "damn the
torpedoes, full speed ahead". George
& Joe are always talking about taking some squadron nautical courses
and are real close to signing up (one of these days).
After all, they are experienced boaters, so what is the hurry. One
day George said “Joe, lets get away next week and head down to the Gulf
for some fun on the water. I
hear the Pompano are in.” Joe
said “George, you’re always putting off until next week what could be
done today.” So
off they went, pulling a hastily packed boat, refreshments, lots of food,
more refreshments and a full complement of nautical gear, guaranteed to
keep them safe and snug while plying the waters of the Gulf. Saturday
morning, 0530, at the boat ramp, 33.2 statute miles southeast of Panama
City, Fl. That would be
27.3
NM, 28.8 NM, or
29.4 NM if expressed in nautical miles.
By the way, if Joe was in a boat, traveling the same distance from
Panama City to the boat ramp, and was cruising at 6.7 kn, what would be
his travel time.
4.1
hours, 4.3 hours, or
4.9
hours. Joe
said, “George, did you put the boat plug in?”
“Remember that embarrassing incident at Geist last year.”
“And by the way, did you pack the small scale charts?”
“Last time we were here, they had to tow us off that sand
bar because the large scale chart covered too much area and we couldn’t
see any real detail.” Will
George & Joe attempt the trip to Eagle Harbor; will they arrive safe;
will Joe see those new boats at Millers Landing?
If Joe uses speed, time and distance to calculate his position as
they travel along this track, what is he using,
Loran, Dead Reckoning,
Piloting, Radar? If they use
terrestrial objects or conditions external to their vessel to establish a
position, are they using Piloting or
Dead
Reckoning?
If George establishes a bearing on Mule Head light, he can then
chart a Line of Position, a
Circle of Position or a
Line of Motion.
Saturday morning, 0950, approaching the entrance to Eagle Harbor, C275, S6.0, visibility poor with intermittent fog. "Pretty soon" said George. "we should be coming into the harbor. Trouble is, I can't see more than 20 meters in this weather. You have the chart out Joe, what should we be looking for? In the meantime I'm going to look for some nuns and cans. They should be numbered, odd for the cans & even for the nuns." Is George correct or incorrect? Joe studied the chart and announced, "It says here that we should see a buoy marked RW MoA. I'm pretty sure its where we want to go. I know this is Morse Code for the letter A. So look for a light sequence of a short flash, followed by a long flash, followed by a period of darkness. It tells us where the mid channel safe water is." "No way" said George "Morse Code A is a long flash, followed by a short flash, followed by a period of darkness." Who is right, Joe or George? "There it is Joe" shouted George. "We're home free now. Lets scoot on up to Millers and get out of this weather. I see a can up ahead, it's in front of that point where the channel splits. I'm going to bear to starboard when we get there, because I know Millers is on the preferred channel" Did George make a good or bad decision? "You know what" said Joe "I just noticed that you passed a red buoy to port. George, I think you have gotten us out of the safe water channel" Is Joe correct or incorrect with this announcement? "Joe, you might be right, because now I see a buoy with black & red horizontal bands. I think that means, keep me to starboard to avoid danger." "Wrong again Captain Nemo" shouted Joe, "that's an isolated danger mark. You need to stay away from it and get back to mid channel." Who is right, Joe or George? Our intrepid fishermen did in fact arrive at Millers landing with boat and occupants in-tact. After some coffee and a thorough look at all of the new boats and equipment in the showroom, they decided it was time for some lunch and then a run on up to Indian Pass (where, according to the lady at the lunch counter, the fish are really hitting).
No sooner had they departed for Indian Pass than the fog rolled in again. "It's just like pea soup out here" said George. "We had better get the chart out and plot a real course to Indian Pass." "We will need to know the deviation in this area and apply that to the boat's variation to establish a good compass course" said Joe. Is Joe correct or incorrect? "Joe, will you look at the boat's deviation table and tell me the deviation for a magnetic heading of 075 degrees. I'm working out what course we should steer to maintain our DR." What is George preparing to steer the vessel by, a compass course or a true course? "Just a minute George, the deviation table brackets 075 degrees, I'll need to interpolate a deviation. I wish we had a Napier diagram, then I could graphically determine the deviation through a full 360 degrees with nothing more than a pair of dividers." Is Joe correct or incorrect?
Saturday afternoon, 1245, approaching Indian Pass, C085, S7.5, visibility clearing. "George, what's that object on our port beam? I'm guessing it has a relative bearing of around 90 degrees." Did Joe just make a correct or incorrect comparison? "Joe", said George, "I have noticed that boat on our starboard side is going to cross our course, but neither of us is gaining on the other guy. I am getting concerned." "Maybe we should change our course or speed?" said Joe. Was this good or bad advice from Joe? They did determine that a course change was called for, and avoided a possible collision.
After exploring Indian Pass, our fishermen decided to call it a day and head back to the boat ramp. T
If you think these adventures sound like fun and would like to feel confident handling situations similar to those above, you are probably a good candidate for some nautical classes with the Hoosier Sail & Power Squadron.
To sign up for a class, jump back to the Education Home Page, now.
|
