Idiots in the Fog

We get heavy fog in our area only 10 or 12 times a year and when it sweeps in it just sits on the river. It seldom lasts past 9:00 AM and the last area that burns off is above the water. 

Our little waterfront becomes ghostly when the fog settles in. The other morning we had one of those mornings. Wendy headed off to work early because of a patchy fog warning on the news, and I told her to be extra careful on her drive in to work. I took my coffee, my coffee cake, some dog biscuits and the dog down to the dock to enjoy the fog. The fog was in a layer about 4 to 6 feet thick on the surface of the water in the canal, and I could not see the far end of the canal to the river. All I could see well of the boats were the masts sticking out of the fog. I went down to our big boat and flipped on the running lights and went back on the dock to see what they looked like. I could just make out faint glows in the fog from only a few feet way. This was not very impressive. I got down in our dinghy and when I sat down I was not able to see the front of the dinghy and I could just see the side of the boat, but I knew where to look. When I stood up, my head was just above the densest part of the fog. I would have loved to take a photo of just my head sticking out of the fog.

The dog was not bothered by the fog, his nose was to the ground and enjoying the extra smells the fog carried. When he got on the boat he looked like he was walking on the fog. I enjoyed my coffee sitting dock side watching the fog burn off and the dog enjoying the smells.

I would not want to be out on the river in this fog. I remembered trying to get back to our dock when my brother and I had been fishing on an Indiana lake. We thought it would be great fun to fish in the fog and we took the row boat out. It took only a few minutes of fishing in the fog to find it was no fun. Then we were not sure where the dock was. We knew it was not too far away, but we had no idea which direction it was. We turned the boat around and started rowing in the direction we thought we had come. We ended up on the beach area about 40 feet to the side of where the dock was.­­­­ 

My older brother said he had aimed for the beach so we would not slam in to the dock. I just was glad we had found the beach.

Dealing with fog when on a boat is mostly common sense. First slow to a safe speed. The speed you go should be no greater than it would take time to stop. Post a lookout at the bow of the boat and have them look and listen. If you think you are near another vessel sound a signal. A danger signal is 5 short blasts. You need to watch your depth finder. Expect other boaters to be idiots in the fog. If possible, anchor and wait till the fog lifts. If using a GPS tracker or plotter, go very slow and have your VHF radio on. Periodically shut your engine down and listen

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All boats are required to carry a sound signaling devise. You can check inland and international rules to find out what meets these requirements or check in Chapman’s. For example, a power driven vessel, underway in fog, would sound one prolonged blast every 2 minutes. We carry both a bell and horn you can blow. We have an air horn but I find the air can is almost always empty and I do not count on it. When it works it would wake the dead.

  

Running aground, hitting another boat, or ramming a dock is not all that uncommon when fog comes in to visit. Just use your head and try to watch out for the idiots.