The term ‘eyeball pilotage’ is generally used to describe the process of conning a boat by direct visual clues, where charted information is incomplete or suspect. Those clues may be above or below the water and Rachel Sprott, in her article ‘Navigate any coast’ (YM July 2019), described the time-honoured method for crossing coral reefs, where a sandy bottom will look darker in the deeper areas, particularly when observed down-sun or through polarised glasses. In our home waters, around the British Isles and Atlantic France, that technique can be equally valid but needs to take account of local conditions.
Photo 1 was taken at Les Écrehou, the small group of islets and rocks to the north east of Jersey. Sailors from Jersey and Normandy usually arrive at around half ebb, with the tide slightly higher than in the photo. Some of them, approaching from the left of the picture, like to anchor in the Pool, the mooring area at the top right, and the most popular entry route is via the gully between the two rocks in the middle. Even when the reef is covered, at a greater height of tide, the submerged gully offers two visual clues: both the deepest channel and the weed-covered rocks look darker than the surrounding sand, although they convey different messages.
DEEP SAND
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Summer 2020 من Yachting Monthly.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Summer 2020 من Yachting Monthly.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Midsummer on Hanö
This wonderful little island in the south-east of Sweden is a real gem off the beaten track
ADVENTURE SAILING TO HAITI
After spending two months in the Dominican Republic, Andy Brown sails west to Haïti bringing medical and school supplies to the town of Mole Saint Nicholas
In celebration of bad sailing
New owner Monty Halls tests his sailing skills with his family aboard their Colvic 34 ketch, Sobek. A recently qualified Day Skipper, Monty faces a few unexpected challenges...
Winter brings excitement and opportunity
Oddity’s double glazing, insulation and heating create a warm, homely environment as I bash out this column.
ADVENTURE MAISIE GOES TO GOES
To depart or not to depart? That is the question. Is it safer to stay, or suffer the wind and weather of a rough North Sea?
'MAYDAY, GRANDAD OVERBOARD!'
When David Richards and his grandson Henry went out racing from lowey, they didn't expect their sail to end with a lifeboat rescue
VERTUE
For a 25-footer, the Vertue has a huge reputation and has conquered every ocean. So what makes this little boat quite such an enduring success? Nic Compton finds out
Sailing siblings
Mabel Stock, her brother Ralph, a friend Steve and an unnamed paying passenger passed through the Panama Canal in December 1919 on the sturdy Norwegian cutter Ogre. They were towed to a quiet anchorage in Balboa away from the boat traffic but within rowing distance of the shore.
TECHNICAL MAINSAIL MODIFICATIONS
Safety and performance improved hugely when Mike Reynolds reduced the size of his mainsail and re-configured the systems controlling it
PILOTAGE DONE PROPERLY
Chartplotters are an amazing aid, but can detract from your real-world pilotage if not used with caution, says Justin Morton