Installing Radar on a Small Sailboat Virtual Eyeballs


Defeat Poor Visibility By Rich Johnson


There are some lessons in life


that you only need to learn once. For sailors in the Pacific Northwest, one of those lessons is that radar should not be considered an optional piece of equipment. You don’t need to be sailing the wild blue yonder to need radar. I’ll never forget the day I learned


that lesson on Sequim Bay. We launch our trailerable sailboat at the ramp in John Wayne Marina, and on this day, after rigging and launching the boat, I was going to sail a few miles south to Sequim Bay State Park and meet my wife there. It was family reunion weekend and we were planning to use the state park as a convenient weenie roasting venue and jumping off point for taking visitors out for short sails on the bay. The plan was for Becky to lead the caravan of cars to the state park while I sailed to meet them.


John Wayne Marina is surrounded


by a high stone breakwater. From inside, it’s impossible to see what’s happening out on the bay. On this day, the sky was clear and the sun was bright inside the marina. We went about the task of rigging our 26-foot sloop (a MacGregor 26X) without paying much attention to what was happening out on the bay because it was obviously a nice day. With the boat rigged, Becky took


off in the car to the state park. I cast off the dock lines and pulled away from the float. Free at last! That’s the overwhelming feeling I get whenever leaving land and heading out on the water. It’s like I can finally exhale. An uncontrollable smile spreads across my face, and the stress wrinkles in my forehead magically disappear. I’m young again! I steered Three Eagles out the


narrow opening in the breakwater onto the open bay. Wham! The bay was nowhere to be seen. I couldn’t believe it — visibility was about 30 feet and the world looked like the inside of a cotton ball. Where was the blue sky we’d been enjoying all morning? I looked


With the platform installed low on the mast, I can easily remove the scanner before lowering the mast for trailering the boat.


up and there it was, blue and beautiful above me, but a low dense layer of fog covered the surface of the bay to a height of maybe 20 feet, and suddenly I was blind. In those days, our only instrument


was a Garmin fishfinder that served double-duty as depth sounder. Luckily, I had a compass and a paper chart, so I quickly started a dead reckoning plot from the breakwater entrance to Sequim Bay State Park, creating a two-legged route that took me out into the bay and then south toward my destination. I estimated the time of arrival and throttled to dead slow, just in time to see two kayaks madly heading in the general direction of shore. To coordinate the timing of our


rendezvous, Becky and I each had an FRS (Family Radio Service) radio. I pressed the “talk” button and gave her a call. She was at the state park and reported that it was totally socked in. I told her my intent was to turn toward the park float when I thought I’d gone far enough south. “Listen for the sound of the motor,”


I urged her. “When you hear me coming, give me a shout on the radio, okay?” As it turned out, at idle speed our


Honda auxiliary was quiet as a sewing machine and Becky never heard it. The only sound on the bay that day was the depth alarm. I looked down at the fishfinder and gasped. I was in 8 feet of water and it was getting shallower fast. I spun the helm and headed toward the center of the bay. The alarm stopped and the depth increased. “Honey,” I called on the radio. “I


nearly ran aground on Schoolhouse Point. I’m turning around and heading


The Seaview SM-18-R mast platform has adjustable flanges that pivot to fit the contour of the mast 3 inches in diameter or greater. Six rivets on each flange hold the platform securely.


48° NORTH, JANUARY 2012 PAGE 53

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