I just finished watching Casino Royale, the Bond movie, as you do when
you go sailing west for a week. The wind has abated a bit after the
bashing of this afternoon and since it's dark and it's cold out there
watching a movie under my warm blanket seemed to make a lot of sense.
Shame all the noise below of crashing into the waves and sails
fluttering somehow spoils the surround sound experience.
I'm keeping watch every so often going out, scanning hard the horizon,
popping my head over the spray hood (dont trust looking through the
transparent panes)... the whole thing becomes a routine and you do it as
that's what you're meant to do. Tell you the truth i'm starting to
question the usefulness of this practice when the weather deteriorates.
Give you an example, i just passed a cargo called Ever Decent headed for
Bremerhaven, the AIS had already alarmed me in plenty of time so I
popped out and searched the horizon. Now, this is a big ship traveling
at 18 knots right in my direction. When it was at 6 miles i couldnt see
its lights. 6 miles sounds like a lot but AIS tells me we'll be at our
closest in just 16 minutes. I finally saw it when it was at 4 miles and
spotted it only because i knew it was there with just 11 minutes to
closest point of approach. So imagine how little reassurance scanning
the horizon before a half an hour nap can give you. If you see nothing,
and the visiility is as today, you'd have just over 10 minutes of
carefree sleep before the bang, not really an option. So, with these
thoughts in mind i gave Ever Decent a call on VHF after we were clear of
each other, you know i love doing that. I asked whether he could see me
on Radar and AIS and to thank him as he actually had changed course by 5
degrees to keep well clear. He confirmed and this gave me a little
reassurance, but i wouldnt like to be here relying only on my eyes and
plain luck. Let's just hope there arent too many fishing boats around.
Ciao
Marco
British Beagle
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