Sea Anglers Lose Their Way In Thick Fog

[Steve Coppolo]

When we were caught out, that was our first thought.

 

But then the tide tends to wash along the beach, rather than towards the shore, and if there are gulleys they can divert the flow in different directions too.

 

But mostly when you are standing there, the water just gets deeper up your boots and doesn't really appear to be going anywhere other than up

 

Scary stuff Leon. Sounds horrendous.

[chevin]

I have had two real scares in poor visibility. One between Mevagissy and Fowey where, despite having taken compass bearings before the mist clamped down, I still got tangled up with bits of reef running from the shore. Frightening but not really dangerous because the sea was like a millpond. The other however was about 12 miles out on the Atlantic from Cahirciveen when a huge storm came from the east! A rarety in that part of the world - well in my experience anyway. To say that things were dodgy would be a gross understatement especially when a disagreement with the skipper became physical and I had to throw him out of the wheelhouse. (Remember JB, Vagabond?) We got back, but most of the people of Cahirciveen thought we had been lost and a lot of them were on the quay when we returned. No GPS in those days, so I owe my life to a compass and the fact that I check it constantly whether I am the skipper of a boat or not! Never leave any skipper to trust! Always know where you are and how to get back to where you need to be. However good a skipper might be, he can be lost overboard, he could have a heart attack. It is not necessarily sufficient to know that you have to travel east or west to hit land. You have to know where your place of safety is. Thankfully, GPS does make that a lot easier a lot of the time, but never forget, unless programmed properly it will always give the shortest route - that is not necessarily the safest route.

[Toerag]

Thankfully, GPS does make that a lot easier a lot of the time, but never forget, unless programmed properly it will always give the shortest route - that is not necessarily the safest route.

 

I have 'routes' programmed into my plotter which take me through all the passages and hound headlands and offshore reefs. I deliberately use routes which are available at all states of tide, and are easily done at speed, that way I don't have to think to navigate, I can simply follow my routes without having to worry about the tide or anything.

[roryh]

..... I deliberately use routes which are available at all states of tide, and are easily done at speed, that way I don't have to think to navigate, I can simply follow my routes without having to worry about the tide or anything.

 

 

Very sensible!

 

Readi8ng this reminded me of that muppet trying to navigate round the coast using an AA road atlas a couple of years back.