North Carolina Welcome Center
No LL
Last week, out at sea, a captain of a passing ship hailed me on the radio. He was very nice and he called me because of concern. He said, "You are almost invisible on radar. You should really put up a radar reflector." I thanked him, then told him my reflector was already up. Very disconcerting.
Last night, a boat pulled up along side of us with the same type of radar reflector that we have. I looked up, and AHA! His reflector had three disks but mine has only two. (see the picture) Obviously, one of the three disks from my reflector is missing; and has been missing since we first bought Tarwathie.
This is yet another example of mistakes being made by having and keeping a faulty base reference point. I thought our reflector was fine. If that captain hadn't hailed me on the radio, I would have continued for years thinking so.
Now I'm shopping for a new reflector.
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Curious!
ReplyDeleteAll of the Westsails you've seen and none of the skippers pointed that out!
A radar reflector? Sort of like the opposite of STEALTH technology :)
The last time I was hailed and interrogated by the US Coast Guard offshore, as we were ending the conversation I was quick-thinking enough to ask them how well I was showing up on their radar. They gave me two thumbs up. It's one advantage of interaction with the USCG and I intend to ask them again if I get the chance.
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