[QUOTE=cappy208;82848]Oh boy. This ought to be good!
To take it a bit closer to home, the last time you were in a race, rounding a mark, and the guy next to you started to yell: “Starboard” how did you respond? Did you casually look the other way, and pretend to not hear him? I KNOW how this works. I have seen it. And everyone looks sheepishly away, as if to say, I didn’t see him, so its not my fault. That is the problem yachters must overcome.
You make several false assumptions. Unfortunately these false assumptions are fostered and passed on amongst your fellow yachters. I am a sailor. I see, hear, and deal with this both from a yachters’ standpoint and the commercial mariners standpoint.
You state several times that some feel there should be NO communication between vessels. This is specifically NOT what is in the colregs. The intention of colregs is to use ALL means to determine if risk of collision exists. So the flawed concept of not using ALL Means to avoid collision is not following the regs in the first place.
You mention during crossing situations. This happens during all phases of navigation. This is actually most prevalent during meeting, crossing and overtaking situations.
The hardest things to understand about the Colregs is that there is usually not just one rule that one must know. Depending upon the location and the navigation situation of the vessels involved, a specific vessel actually does NOT have the right of way in all circumstances! But how many of your brethren only read the one paragraph that says: "sailing vessels have the right of way over power driven vessels.’ There are three other rules I can think of offhand, which negate the previous thought of ‘sailboats’ superiority. But the yachters must learn them.
You mention ‘yacht’ radars not having CPA information available. This is false. I have not seen a RADAR made that does not have an EBL function. (Electronic Bearing Line) A little education about the information that is garnered from using an EBL IS exactly how you can tell if there is a -0- CPA or not, or if (the legal description) risk of collision exists. So it would appear that the USE of the equipment is what is contributing to the lack of knowledge. According to the rules, even a stand on vessel once it has been determined that risk of collision exists, they must try to avoid collision also. But this is hard to do when the stand on vessel is not even aware of, and doesn’t know how to properly judge when/if risk of collision exists!
Regarding using the radio: This is a double edged topic. Most all sailboats I have been on, the VHF is remote from the helm station. To use the radio, the operator must leave the helm (and lose what situational awareness they may have had) talk to the other vessel, and then return to the helm, and do what was discussed and agreed upon.
Re reading your post and your responses, makes it appear that there is some ‘race authority’ or yacht organisation which is giving faulty advise about not manning a radio while navigating. This is contrary to what is taught in professional COLREGS rules courses.[/QUOTE]
Thanks, this is all very useful!
Concerning the radio – the authority which discourages using VHF in collision avoidance is not some yacht authority, but the MCA – the UK shipping authority. The directive was addressed to professional mariners. I was not arguing myself against radio use – on the contrary, I was trying to find out whether you guys really want to talk with us or not. I was very surprised by the unanimous answer in favor of radio calls. I think I understand the theory behind the MCA directive, but I am much more interested in your opinions and will definitely communicate this to our members at CF.
Concerning our radars – let me tell you a little about how they work. Naturally we have EBL and VRM and most of us even know how to use them 
We have a crappy version of ARPA called MARPA, which, however, does not actually work. It does not work because it needs precise heading data, and most of us have crappy fluxgate compasses which do not give data sufficient to get usable information out of MARPA. Gyro stabilized electronic compasses and GPS compasses are very expensive and few of us have them. For the same reason, our radars do not give us reliable bearing to target data unless you average a series of logged bearings – very tedious. Our radars are really only good for two things – detection of targets we can’t see, and precise range measurements (which of course is extremely useful).
So we have to calculate CPA and TCPA by hand. Since often on our boats the helmsman, navigator, and radar operator are one person, the work load is just not worth it. So what we do is take bearings with a hand bearing compass, at two minute intervals sometimes, and log these bearings. A 0 CPA situation can be identified very far out this way – I think it’s a good technique. With the HBC, we can tell if you change course, and we can tell whether our own manuever has resolved a situation. We don’t know exactly how many miles cables away we will be at CPA, but we can make a good guess.
I always keep a HBC around my neck in the cockpit, and I think most ocean-going sailors do too when they are near shipping lanes.
