{"id":13480,"date":"2010-10-04T05:43:50","date_gmt":"2010-10-04T10:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=13480"},"modified":"2010-10-04T05:43:54","modified_gmt":"2010-10-04T10:43:54","slug":"using-the-tools-electronics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/using-the-tools-electronics\/","title":{"rendered":"Using The Tools (Electronics)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Playa-Francesca-electronic-nav-110.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Our approach to Isla Graciosa and Playa Francesa, at day break, is a good example of how we use the various electronic nav aids closing with land. Our preference is always going to be eyeball navigation, but when conditions do not permit this, we put these tools to work.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Francesca-electronic-nav-111.jpg\"<\/p>\n

The depth finder, in this case the sonar being used in depth mode, is the first thing we watch. Up until a few minutes before this photo we were off soundings. The bottom coming up like this is an early warning things are changing. We do this even when we have detailed charts.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Francesca-electronic-nav-112.jpg\"<\/p>\n

It \u00a0is even more valuable when detail is lacking (this is the best that Maptech is going to show us here). The yellow boat upper left is our position).<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Francesca-electronic-nav-113.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Radar is \u00a0useful for surface obstructions \u00a0such as rocks, buoys, or other vessels. But in this situation, where we are not sure of the depths, it is \u00a0otherwise of limited value. If we have chart detail, radar is used to confirm the position of land on the chart.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Francesca-electronic-nav-114.jpg\"<\/p>\n

With the depth down to 158 feet (48 meters) we switch the sonar to forward looking in horizontal mode, in this case ranged at 1000 feet (300m). The beam is angled down at 16-degrees to pick up the bottom more quickly. The graphic in the upper right corner shows the beam angle and what the depth \u00a0maximum can be to return a signal at maximum range.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Francesca-electronic-nav-115.jpg\"<\/p>\n

We periodically switch the sonar to vertical mode, looking straight ahead.\u00a0During this approach we are running with one engine in gear at idle.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Francesca-electronic-nav-116.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Turning the corner into the anchorage the radar now shows us the anchored fleet. It is being operated in north up mode to match the chart display.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Francesca-electronic-nav-118.jpg\"<\/p>\n

We use both horizontal and vertical modes on the sonar when choosing where to drop the anchor. In vertical we will sweep a circle around the boat looking for bottom chain catchers. Once the anchor is dug in we will often make a second survey looking for problems.<\/p>\n

\"Playa-Francesca-electronic-nav-117.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Here the radar is being used to measure our \u00a0distance from other boats and to check to see if the anchor is holding as we set it with the engines in reverse. There are two red triangles, one off the bow marking our position with the chain stretched tight, and a second up almost to the second ring marking where we dropped the anchor. The radar is now operating \u00a0in head up mode, showing \u00a0us the screen in a way that matches our view forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our approach to Isla Graciosa and Playa Francesa, at day break, is a good example of how we use the …Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dashew-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13480"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13480\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}