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From: Ken James (no email)
Date: Thu Jun 01 2006 - 23:44:08 EDT
Message
Maybe there is a case for solo sailing but there are many more which can be
made for havign a companion along.
Granted that there are some of us who are crusty old curmudgeons so
unsocialized that no one will put up with us.
Ken
True! <G> Hopefuly I do not fall into that catagory. But I do find that it
is hard to find someone who has the time and motivation to take a long
offshore passage in a small boat, mine being smaller than most at only 20 ft
LOW. I have in the past but there is never a guarentee. Besides being
married and having a spouse who finds the life style aqreeable it can be
hard to find anybody to go with you, and I think that is the number one
reason why single handers do solo sail.
Even folks like Web Chiles, who is married now, sail solo due to that.
If it comes to being stuck in port with Visa experation fast approaching or
solo sailing to the next Country or Isle, many will chose to sail solo.
But!!! surely the majority of cruisers sail in company, either
severalpeopelonm one boat or two or more boats in company as in a flotilla.
Ken
NOT ME! I *HATE* that set up as it makes me a slave to others scheduales and
therefore puts me at an unacceptable risk. I would much rather sail with
just my boat even if I do have crew aboard, except when circumstances
dictate otherwise such as areas where there are pirates.
People who do cruise solo fro trans-oceanic passagees need to be aware they
are doign something atodds with the regulations
Ken
I see that differently as I do not believe the regs address solo sailing per
se, rather proper watch keeping.
With few exceptions, most people cannot design, build and install their very
own custom electronics.
Ken
I think the idea is that it might be developed. Maybe some sort of detection
device will be able to supplement radar, but it is not there yet.
However, I do know that there is a concept for detecting semi submerged
objects using lazers. It may eventually make it to the market and in fact
would be a signifigent saftey improvment.
I think many people are fooling themself if they think their radar is giving
them anywhere near 100% detection of all hazards...maybe it is pretty high
for big ships, but not for small boats or esp for lost containers.
Not only would colliding with such risk the other boat (if it is a boat) it
could risk theirs as well. And semi submerged objects are really tough to
spot by any method.
So if you want to get uptight about risks, there is a good one because very
little can be done about it, and it is a real risk.-Ken
For the most part we have to rely on off the shelf stuff and what is
currently available does not encourage blind faith in their reliability
fro years and years.
Arild
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