Perseids cruise to nowhere

[Steve Laume]

I am looking ahead to August and the Perseids meteor shower at it's peak on the 11th thru the 13th. I am considering an overnight cruise offshore to see the meteors and some deep blue water. It would be a bit like sticking your toe in to test the water as far as offshore sailing goes for me. We have a CD-30 and would have 4 or 5 people on board so we could all get some sleep and no one would have to be on watch alone. We would be leaving out of Long Island Sound in the afternoon or evening and just heading out and back over night and the next day. This area appears to be in a major shipping area running out of Boston and NewYork so I am a bit concerned about all the stories I have heard about close calls with ships. I would make sure to have a working VHF radio, running lights and a radar reflector. I will get an offshore chart. We have a good compass and a hand held GPS. The boat is is good shape and this trip would be highly weather dependent. Is there anything of great importance I am missing or any advice to add? The other question I have is just how far offshore would we need to be before we lose to light pollution of a very bright eastern seaboard? We will probably troll a fish line too so there may be a better area to head for other than just favoring a broad reach out and back. Anybody else up for a sail out of the sound? This could be a very magical night, Steve.

[Glen]

A neighbor of mine who has circumnavigated twice has 4 radar reflectors of different configurations on his 38' sailboat. He said that he was told by ships crews that his radar image was a good sized blip and they thought they were seeing a much larger vessel. One radar reflector may not be enough to REALLY be noticed on a radar screen...and if they think they are in danger of colliding with a large vessel then they may be a bit more proactive in missing.

[Cathy Monaghan]

Steve,

The shipping channels for Buzzards Bay and New York are VERY busy. You'll find mostly big stuff like freighters and oilers in the NY channels and everything under the sun in the Buzzards Bay channel from commercial trawlers to big tugs with barges.

Keep a sharp lookout in these areas. It's best to have at least 2 people in the cockpit when crossing these areas at night since it can be too much for the a single watchperson to deal with since he/she will most likely have to take the boat off autopilot to steer around and behind other vessels. Trying to watch other vessels, steer the boat, and keep an eye on the radar is just too much for one person in a really busy area where you can literally be surrounded by other vessels and being able to tell the difference between a trawler that's fishing and a tug with a barge is really important. Also, from the Buzzards Bay shipping channel out for the next 100 nm there are big deep sea fish traps which are marked kind of like lobster pots -- with usually two large orange floats and a tall stick on a float. The stick is topped off with a radar reflector but you'll only get a return from it when the radar's set to a range of about 1 1/2 miles. So it's quite easy to run one down. It probably won't do any damage unless you foul your prop on it but if you hear a thud while you're out there, you probably hit one.

Many of the trawlers work with stealth -- without lights and with poor radar returns (some don't show up at all) and many of them will ignore any calls you try to make to them on the VHF. Try them on both VHF Ch. 16 and 13, the same goes for the tugs and freighters but they'll usually respond to you.

Anyway, once you've crossed the channels, you'll suddenly find yourself all alone (except for the deep sea fish traps) and able to look up at those beautiful stars and take in the meteor shower.

Have a great trip!

Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay