Monday, August 23, 2010

Fog

Vergennes, Vermont
NoLL

A while back we woke to the news that the whole region was covered with morning fog. Really? I looked out the port hole. Sure enough, it was very foggy. We had planned on crossing the lake that day. Should we wait until the fog burned off?

After finishing my coffee, I looked out again. Sure it was foggy but I could still see a mile or more through the fog. We went anyhow. Out on the open lake I was able to determine that the visibility was actually 2.5 miles. Piece of cake.

When they have dense fog in New England, especially Maine, it is a very different thing. There, the visibility can be so low that you can't even see the bow of the boat. Libby and I have sailed in those conditions, and we can tell you, it's scary. We aren't afraid of running aground -- we navigate via GPS in those conditions. We're afraid of collision with other boats.

When in fog, we toot on our fog horn as required, and we listen for other horns. That works very well. Sound seems to travel extra well in fog. We also use our radar to spot other boats, but frankly, I have no trust in our radar system. It fails to show a visible echo for nearby boats too often.

In the 1970s I was cruising once in October on Lake Champlain. My father, my friend Walt, and my son John were with me. We woke one morning at Valcour Island to find that it was raining and snowing and foggy outside. It was througly nasty. My dad and Walt had to leave that day by bus from Burlington. Therefore I had to get them there. Off we sailed. Just me on deck; none of the others wanted to stick their heads out. I had no GPS in those days, just a compass.

I sailed in the general direction of Burlington for several hours. Eventually, I could begin to hear the city noises. As I said, sound propagates well in fog. I followed the sounds. They became more distinct. Soon I could make out the locomotives in Burlington's railroad switch yard. I knew exactly where that was. I called below to the others, "I think we're getting near." They came up on deck, within seconds the fog lifted enough to reveal the Burlington breakwater 10 feet away. Those guys were floored at how accurately I could navigate with just a compass. I never told them the real secret of navigating by sound.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Type your comments here.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.