Gps vs radar

[BigLew]

A basic lesson I learned after more than 30 years of recreational boating is probably worth mentioning at this juncture.

A very good friend of mine and I were sailing his 35 foot boat from Block Island to Noank Connecticut one morning. The fog rolled in and we had about 150 feet visibility, no kidding! We started to use the air horn like many of us carry as part of our emergency gear; the little plastic horn with a can of compressed air.

Well, it quickly became evident that repeated blasts of the horn resulted in significant cooling of the can of compressed air, thus loss of air pressure rendering our "foghorn" virtually useless. We then resorted to using a bell that we had on board.

We were using a GPS System and thus following the ideal track between Block Island and Noank, Connecticut. The problem was so, was everyone else! Just imagine boats coming out of the fog at a distance of about 150 feet closing at the rate of 40 to 50 feet per second. Not a good situation. What we ended up doing was moving off the line about 150 feet and running parallel to the GPS designated course. The rest of the boating traffic was staying close to the GPS line. After about 2 1/2 hours of doing this, our nerves were shot.

The lesson learned was that our horn should be of a type that can continue to be blasted at intervals for an extended period of time. I hope this little bit of information is helpful to those of us who may not be aware of this.

Had we had radar, the entire experience would have been much more pleasant and manageable. I think this points up the critical difference between GPS and radar!
Take care and good luck. Just my 2¢.