Had an interesting trip yesterday (and no drugs involved). To keep the story short, I had Chimo returned to me after a couple of months at PBH for some service and upgrades that included a new radio. They were very kind and arranged a launch at the ramp at Cowichan Bay. Everything seemed fine and the driver took off leaving me to warm up motors and get the Wallas in action before leaving. It was only then that I noticed that the chart plotter wasn't working. I wasn't too concerned as the trip back around to Sidney is fairly familiar territory.
Twenty minutes later the rain started and the cloud dropped to bring visibility down to about half a mile. The shoreline all looked the same at that point. With steamed up windows and the wipers doing their best I realized that I actually didn't know my position. I thought about the depth sounder ( which was working) and following a depth contour but in that area you can be in 200 ft just before you go on the rocks. Then I realized that the new radio actually gave me a position as Lat/Long. Perfect! After that it was a piece of cake to use the chart and the compass to navigate, checking occasionally with the radio. Around the ferry terminal the weather lifted a little and I was able to get back to the marina on visual. Kind of interesting.
I thought about the heavy reliance I always put on he chart plotter and what a mistake that was. Of course when I was safely in the slip I did a reset and it works fine now. Must have been jolted by being hooked up with the new radio. No harm done. I was lucky that I was able to get a starting position. Without it I may have just waited for the weather to clear. Also glad that I remembered what the Navy taught me about navigation. I knew it would come in handy sometime.
In future I will always make sure I have a good idea of my position at all times, just in case.
Twenty minutes later the rain started and the cloud dropped to bring visibility down to about half a mile. The shoreline all looked the same at that point. With steamed up windows and the wipers doing their best I realized that I actually didn't know my position. I thought about the depth sounder ( which was working) and following a depth contour but in that area you can be in 200 ft just before you go on the rocks. Then I realized that the new radio actually gave me a position as Lat/Long. Perfect! After that it was a piece of cake to use the chart and the compass to navigate, checking occasionally with the radio. Around the ferry terminal the weather lifted a little and I was able to get back to the marina on visual. Kind of interesting.
I thought about the heavy reliance I always put on he chart plotter and what a mistake that was. Of course when I was safely in the slip I did a reset and it works fine now. Must have been jolted by being hooked up with the new radio. No harm done. I was lucky that I was able to get a starting position. Without it I may have just waited for the weather to clear. Also glad that I remembered what the Navy taught me about navigation. I knew it would come in handy sometime.
In future I will always make sure I have a good idea of my position at all times, just in case.