Radar - Tom Cunliffe looks at basic collision avoidance

[@johncollymore1697]

I love radar! Great video as always, Tom, many thanks. Radar? An old Merchant Navy officer's saying: "What you don't know can be dangerous. What you don't know but think you know can be much worse!" Or another Merchant Navy saying: "Radar? An electronic device for assisting with collisions!" I think the Col Regs used to say, "Assumptions shall not be made on the basis of scanty information, especially scanty radar information!"

[@ruaraidhmcdonald-walker9524]

I love that you still refer to them as Brookes and Gatehouse. Brilliant. How it's integrated with the newer Zeus etc screens is fantastic and the reduced power consumption of these new 3/4G radars is excellent. Thanks for this overview.

[@W220-v7u]

Thanks Tom as a german I like your videos and learn the technical terms and how you handle the radar.

[@reloadncharge9907]

Excellent....my B&G is awesome....though....I miss the days seeing their facility in Lymington! Good explanations! Thx, Happy New Year, lets hope 2021 brings us less drama! Andrew

[@Cptnbond]

Glad to see that you are back.

[@AntonKramer]

Clear and to the pint as usual. personally, I prefer North up on all my navigation instruments. wich is corresponding with the good old and trusty paper charts on my chart table. And maybe a little late happy new year and may the wind blow all our sorrows of past year away

[@steveburton5825]

Very good... too bad most sailors don't know even the basics. When I used to teach flying, I used to tell my students that the things that were moving across your windscreen were not the issue... it was the "bug spots" that didn't move that were going to eventually grow into sledge hammers that would kill you. It doesn't matter if it was another plane or a mountain top or a patch of ground... if it isn't moving across your windscreen, you are going to hit it. It is an important skill to learn to be able to quickly discern which objects aren't moving when the rest of your field of view is moving (the trick is to look for objects that seem to be moving against the moving background as your eyes are very good at picking out movement). Same thing applies in cars, boats... or radar. Those items that aren't moving are on a collision course with you (unless of course you are both stopped). The B&G radar is well setup for this and this technique can also be used to figure out if a storm cell is going to intercept you (and what you need to do to avoid it). I'd like to see more of these Tom.

[@warrenthorp]

Excellent. Thank you. Just fitted radar to my boat so this was very useful.

[@altoids784]

Thanks for the nice video Sir. Have a good day!

[@saltybuster946]

Great Insructional vid Tom, Happy New Year. Looking forwards to the Zoom meeting on the 29th. Yours Aye, Buster

[@alvessail4718]

Happy New Year. Glad to see you out there!.

[@atlanticyachtdelivery]

Thanks Tom great videoette as always. Your on my bucket list of people I’d love to sail with.

[@paulputnam2305]

Thank you Tom.

[@tizziejames9040]

Great no-nonsense advice. Thanks Tom.

[@alexfajardo8809]

Great, simple and well explained. Thanks

[@sarascott2217]

Hi Tom just wondering from sailing what has given your biggest scare on the water? Enjoy your videos always full of knowledge and tell it so people can understand it

[@woodstocknun]

Tom Cunliffe best youtuber on youtube

[@tanksouth]

Thank you.

[@MrBrokenchair]

Thanks Tom. Your a Living Legend. Happy New Year.

[@rogerdinnis3816]

Thank you!

[@jamesvisick6009]

This was great. Thanks Tom!

[@Captain-TBone]

Great tips thanks Cap't

[@kevinnurse9936]

Tom was absolutely correct about the RELATIVE bearing. I hesitate to correct him, but his suggestion that another vessel on a constant handheld compass is coming towards you, isn’t correct. You could immediately turn 90 degrees (away from the other vessel) and it’s compass bearing will be the same. I think he really meant to say a constant RELATIVE handheld compass bearing will lead to a collision. The observer would need to use the ships heading as the reference direction (just like the radar does) when using a handheld compass for relative bearing checks.

[@grahamsmith8122]

Welcome to lockdown, series 2. I loved my radar, never had AIS. Nearly had a couple of wooden fishing boats off Algeria one passage, no lights, no reflector, no nothing. Number one eyeball or keen ears!

[@billgiles3261]

Don’t knock AIS, you’ll find that radar supplements it nicely.

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Quite agree Bill. Using them together is a real joy.

[@anawa4326]

Thanks

[@lutzweb]

man you have a talent explaining thing. you should be journalist

[@michaelchartres]

Hello Tom. I have just come across your channel (and have subscribed). I spent 2 years on a New Zealand Shipping Co Ltd training ship as a Deck Officer Cadet, have owned a number of boats including a 34 foot Colvic Watson Motorsailer. It was actually 11 mtrs OA because I added a bowsprit for sailing in the archipelago on the Eastern coast of Sweden. My radar was far less sophisticated than yours so I found this video fascinating. By the way, I also like Classic cars and own a 1933 Austin Ripley which was the actual car shown in the Paris and London motor shows in 1934. Regards Michael

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Good to hear from you Michael. The bowsprit sounds like a great idea for a bit of extra rag in the archipelago. What a lovely place to sail. Keep your tappets sweet, Tom

[@stefflus08]

I was a radar and nav man in the Royal Norwegian Navy. We always had N up, so it corresponded to the chart. We always strived for a handful of redundancies on any course, mostly optical, but another could be to set the distance ring as one of the indicators to time a turn. -Also we set a parallel course line at a wanted distance to shore. Can your radar do that?

[@MrCrabbing]

That's great thanks be good if you can have your head up line and your course line showing perhaps

[@buzzofftoxicblog791]

Love radar a helpful tool 🔧 just need to save up penny's happy new year 🎉 have you got your stove going. #buzzofftoxic #ChangeWensday #ConsciencLand

[@fezmancomments]

TC gives us his Theory of Relativity!

[@Themothershipsailing]

Thanks!! I’m looking at installing radar in conjunction with AIS. Any tips for how to use them efficiently together? My AIS has so far been useful for CPA and TPA and identifying the object - but of course it won’t pick up those without transponders or things that are not ships..

[@woolyimage]

I would just use the AIS for helping to identify targets but use the radar for everything else, if set up properly the radar will show the AIS data on the radar screen. Do take some time to familiarise yourself with your radar and if you get a chance even do a course to help you get up to speed with your radar. There are lots of youtube videos to help as well in these covid restricted times. Practicing in fine weather is a good idea as you can visually check whats actually happening. Hope this has helped.

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Sound advice Wooly. Thanks, Tom

[@gattingertom]

more "clever bits "like this, PLEASE

[@ushillbillies]

GOOG KNOWLEDGE>>!!!! Thank YOU

[@itsjustplainsailing5189]

Thank you Tom; have recently added radar to my boat; mainly for collision avoidance whilst sleeping on long passages solo sailing..quick scan at 30nm etc, cross check with ais and go get ya head down. Enjoyed your no nonsense approach though. Just out of curiosity, the flue pipe over your shoulder..? Is that from your solid fuel stove? I have similar a set up but never seen a top cap like that. Is it some form or silicon flap arrangement? Be interested to know. Happy moonsl’s .

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

It's a straight-through 'Charlie Noble' with a hat on. For more detail, see my website for an article or my youtube vid about solid fuel stoves

[@itsjustplainsailing5189]

@@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns thank you will do. Keep them yarns a flowing !🌊🌊🌊

[@sharonbraselton4302]

good fir yoú

[@meh4743]

On an ocean passage and before affordable radar, what did you do to avoid contact?

[@nathandecrom2409]

keep a sharp lookout and try to stay out of common shipping lanes/passage lanes

[@SeabreezeRJ]

Thank you Tom! Great Info! ~__/)__*

[@madcarew.3256]

How many points abaft the beam....

[@lubberwalker]

Keep it simple. Remember when VHS had Jodrell bank buttons dials and knobs everywhere? All you needed to know was play, pause, stop and record.... .... and to make sure the wedding video was never in it.

[@whitefields5595]

I've always struggled with folk that insist on 'North Up' whilst making way. As skipper of the Birmingham Navy I banned it years ago and only permit its use as a reference in passage planning. I would be interested in hearing from an experienced sailor if there are any benefits at all .... or indeed any risks of using 'course up'? I suppose on long open-water passages it does not matter much and helps keep the chart table tidy. However anytime offshore, particularly pilotage near the hard bits, then you need that instant spacial orientation as soon as you look up?

[@kimfucku8074]

I only use head up! When using the radar my priority is the traffic relative to my course. There are pros and cons but it depends on your priorities while under way. Modern plotters give anyway all information with a click of a button. If you want to take a true bearing you always can switch to North Up if you don't like to caclulate.

[@woolyimage]

ALL commercial ships use radar in north up mode. They do so for a reason, in that professionals are trained to plot manually ( or at least they used to be !) This is much simpler using north up. Using the standard system you can easily determine a targets speed, course and aspect as well as cap and tcpa. It is also a benefit if you are changing course often or the heading is hunting around. In north up only the heading line moves in head or course up the whole picture moves around which can disorient the observer. The short video shows how a basic manual plot is done kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWSmqpSIj75keac

[@neilb2793]

Set radar, set ais, turn on Oscar, go down below and fall asleep. Hit fishing boat. Poor Boris. But the tech is getting there...

[@woolyimage]

I think that if your meaning to use radar you really have to know the basics or it could get messy ! Find out about OA WO and WA lines which are the basics of plotting. You can buy paper plotting sheets and do some practice at home its not difficult. Many modern radars have some sort of automatic plotting system which helps do this for you but you should still understand the basics. As to orientation i always use north up, which will show the features you are seeing on your chart or plotter, as you are usually using radar for more than collision avoidance. Do practice when possible in daylight in fine weather where you can visually relate to things. Finally remember to look through the colregs for specific mentions relating to the use of radar.

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Speaking as an 'old lag' instructor examiner, I can state the sad fact to be that most people are not going to get to grips with radar plotting. What you say is dead right, although most professionals I know use 'course' or 'head up' as default. So do I. This was a totally basic intro for beginners and I did point this out. There is so much more to be said, but many will not progress much beyond this level, especially those who cannot spend long periods at sea every year. It's important to help them to get the basics right, I think. Amway, thanks for your input which is valued. Tom

[@Ricovandijk]

Don’t turn when there is no risk of collision, and when there is but you don’t see it, don’t turn to port :)

[@MrSmithToday]

Once boat

[@Blastfence1]

Who’s driving the boat!

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

My old shipmate Iron Mike, of course!

[@sharonbraselton4302]

auto polit self drivr cars

[@Zippy0George0Bungle]

Great video, thanks. Respectfully, I’d suggest maybe leading by example with a life jacket on, perhaps.

[@Nick-ye5kk]

I need a cravat

[@tomblack6972]

Dear Tom, I think you should emphasize the need to stop staring at the damn screen and just look around.

[@fernandopratesi5378]

Tom Black he’s got great things to say about just that in his book Yachts and Yarns, which I highly recommend!

[@debdoyle119]

Impressive. The B&G is difficult to use

[@haroldellis9721]

Contact... Firing sollution.. Torpedo away... Oh, recreational boating use of radar. Sorry.