Sailing through FOG | blind navigation in fog using marine radar | A lightning show at anchor! #14

[@mattandtamsin]

Great Captains radar briefing and plenty of the blue stuff in this episode… loved it!

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Thank you guys. Got some sparkly new electronic upgrades coming in the 2023 season and will keep the tech tips coming as a lot of people really seem to enjoy those bits 😊

[@richardhall7822]

Another great episode. Thanks. Really keen to see the supporting technical videos you mentioned. Really like the way you combine sailing, navigation and technical topics and sightseeing👍

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Thank you Richard it’s quite a tough balance between the various elements so I’m glad you like it and I appreciate the feedback. Cheers ⛵️

[@KM2399]

Another great video Ian and Kate. Also really enjoyed the introduction to radars, something I haven't got much knowledge on. 😁👍

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Cheers Kenny. Didn’t want to teach sailors to suck eggs but hopefully it was useful to some 😊😊

[@tomsaunderson6750]

Great video and excellent explanation of the MFD. Thank you!

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Thanks Tom, appreciate your comment 😊⛵️

[@debellifritt7584]

Love the forts! Great use of the drone.

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Thank you 😊😊

[@johnoldridge3909]

Another great video. Thanks Iain & Kate.

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Thanks John. Good to hear from you. Hope life is treating you well? ⛵️😊

[@johnoldridge3909]

@@FollowIntrepidBear Not as exciting as yours but can’t complain. Your adventures and detail are very good

[@robinmorgan1149]

Great video! We love Porto too. A beautiful place!

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Thanks Robin….we really enjoyed Porto and hope to show a bit more of it in Episode 15 😊

[@debellifritt7584]

We do not miss the fog! Coming down from the NW there is heavy fog for the first 1,000 miles. Not all day long but pretty much every day. We have used our auto fog horn on our radio for many hours. We have learned to love and hate our radar, it is so much more intense when you are in restricted visibility.

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Hi Deb….yes restricted visibility is very intense, spent plenty of time in it in U.K. waters so am used to RADAR and blind navigation but it’s still hard work for sure! Thanks for your comment 😊

[@Moontown1]

Thanks for a good explanation of the radar functions

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

My pleasure I’m glad it was helpful 😊👍🏻

[@katiebowden5946]

Wow this is amaazing

[@sailingprojectparrot]

Such great explanation, thank you 🙌

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Thank you….glad you enjoyed it 😊⛵️

[@geoffmeehan9723]

This was fantastic thank you

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Cheers Geoff….great to hear from you, glad you enjoyed it 😊

[@SVBlownAway]

Thanks for sharing matey

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Cheers Ian, my pleasure 😊⛵️

[@iainmacdonald1170]

Nice blend of shore/sea coverage. Hope you can get Raymarine to sponsor you given the clarity of your explanations.... Look forward to hearing of your future intentions, although you may be like us in that 'the plan is to have no plans'.

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Thanks Iain. A bit of sponsorship for a few new instruments to compliment the Axiom would be nice for sure!🤞🏼 We have a rough plan for the 2022 season but, as with any sailboat, always subject to change! I don’t know if you follow our Instagram so know where we are now? We completed last season heading south and wintered in Portimao on the Algarve (couple more episodes to catch up with that) and, in real time, we are planning to depart any day now for Gibraltar and then into the Med and pretty much straight across to Montenegro as we are out of Schengen time so can’t enter the EU again until June. That’s when we plan to enter Greece so that we can, hopefully, sail to Paxos for our 5th wedding anniversary. We sailed there on a chartered boat for our wedding so it will be nice to come full circle and arrive there on our own boat. We then hope to see out that 90 days of schengen remaining in Greece until end of august when we’ll hop back out of schengen into Turkey. All very broad brush plans apart from Paxos which is our main aim for this year…..watch this space! 😊⛵️☀️

[@iainmacdonald1170]

@@FollowIntrepidBear Thanks Iain; a great pity that the bureaucracy presents far more hazards than the sea. We do it t’other way, living in Cyprus but sail in Northern European waters as it’s too chuffin’ hot out here in the summer….. Very happy to assist if you visit the island when we’re here.

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

We are considering Cyprus (not sure whether north or south yet) for a couple of months next winter so might catch up with you sometime if the plan gets that far! 🍺😊

[@billjones393]

Fascinating video, chaps. Quite impressive, in fact. I’m familiar with AIS as I used it a lot in National Coastwatch duties and fishing vessels and some Coasters were notorious for switching them off or ‘forgetting’ to switch them on. I think your castellations are usually called ramparts. I think you got it right with the fin as an orca. Yummy looking big boy’s breakfast. Fair winds and a following sea. Catch you again, hopefully.

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Ramparts! Yes that’s the word I was looking for. Cheers Bill, glad you enjoyed it and good to hear from you 😊😊

[@moonhand8311]

Great video dealing with one of the real terrors of sailing...fog ...and a good explanation of how you worked your way out of it. I'm interested in the anchorages and marinas you visit. I checked out Baiona on Navionics and it's reviews are poor. However, there aren't many reviews - a big issue fir some reason on Navionics ( unless I'm missing something) and they are not all very recent . I see you use Navionics too (looking at your charts on screen). Perhaps you could leave reviews of ⚓ and marinas? Navionics users would really benefit from informed people like yourselves giving their opinion, especially as your visits are very recent. I'd certainly be interested to see them, as will more than likely be heading in your wake some time this year. Thanks.

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Thank you for some great feedback. I’m fortunate not to find fog a real terror anymore but I’m only happy with reliable electronics. Without radar we wouldn’t have left the anchorage! We do use a mixture of Navionics and Raymarine lighthouse charts but I must admit I’ve never looked at anchorage reviews on Navionics. Are you aware of an app called Navily? Much more you to date and plentiful reviews of anchorages and marinas on there. We did have great intentions of providing more reviews as we go along but didn’t keep it up mainly as we were already quite busy keeping up with KZbin and social media. We will try to be better at that in future as we rely on that community info so really ought to contribute to it too. Anyway thanks again for your feedback, do check out Navily if you don’t already use it (we’re not affiliated to them, just appreciative users) and maybe see you out there one day 😎⛵️☀️

[@stevehughes1974]

A great video, I hope you're getting some revenue from youtube! Where do you get your courtesy flags as I can't see Amazon delivering to you!

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Cheers Steve….not quite met the revenue criteria yet but well on our way! Courtesy flags we took with us from the U.K. and future ones we’ll buy as we go. Most chandleries have a stock of them. We have flags for most countries across the Med on standby but still need to get one for Turkey 😊⛵️🇬🇧

[@phlippeflop]

Another brilliant video. We will hopefully be following in your footsteps or should I say wake this May. I’d be interested to know what you consider the minimum paper charts and cruising guides? We currently have Reeds which remarkably goes down to cape st Vincent. We also have Navionics on our B &G plotter. Question is should I invest in additional cruising guides and backup paper charts or just an wide area chart ? Your thoughts would be appreciated

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Hi Phil. Charts and cruising guides….very good question. I can only answer as to what decision we’ve taken. Not that many years ago, when I was an instructor, I was very much a must have all paper charts kind of person but all the paper charts and all the cruising guides as well as electronic charts are seriously expensive. On Intrepid Bear we have our chart plotter running Navionics or Raymarine lighthouse charts, both our phones have Navionics as does our iPad so that’s 4 electronic charts on board. Chances of all of those failing are pretty slim so we took the decision to just have a wide area paper chart for each area just in case but not all the detail ones. We try to have a pilot guide for areas we are cruising but can’t afford one for everywhere we might pass. e.g. we have a pilot guide for Atlantic Spain and Portugal but we didn’t have one for France. In an ideal world we’d have every pilot guide but it’s just not financially viable to have every possible one. Anyway others may have a different opinion but that’s the decision we took. Hope that helps? 😊

[@phlippeflop]

@@FollowIntrepidBear Thankyou for your swift response. I was kind of thinking the same and it’s reassuring to know that it worked for you. I need to purchase a cruising guide for Spain Portugal. I was thinking of purchasing Buchanans Atlantic Spain and Portugal. Is there an alternative guide you would recommend or even one you would avoid? Enjoy the rest of your travels.

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

We have that very guide and it is good. The only thing with most of the pilot guides is they do, understandably, refer to worst case scenario a lot and sometimes you read it and think why would anyone sail there? It’d be certain doom. Pay heed to those warnings of course but it’s rarely as bad as they say! Our friends call the pilot guides books of doom! A good resource if you don’t already use it is an app called Navily that lists all anchorages and marinas with protection from wind angles and sailors reviews….we find it very useful. Also we are part of a Facebook group called Biscay 2022 which is a group of sailors crossing this year. Might be one to join if you’re on Facebook 👍🏻😊

[@FollowIntrepidBear]

Phil, if you have Instagram or Facebook contact us there and we may be able (can’t promise!) to help you with the pilot book for postage cost rather than buying a new one. We won’t need it again after Gibraltar! If no other social media then email [e-mail] 😊 It’ll cost you a beer or two when you catch us up somewhere! 👍🏻🍺

[@phlippeflop]

@@FollowIntrepidBear invaluable information as always I will take your advice. I have Navily but didn’t know about the FB group so Thankyou 👍🏻