Column |A great navigation tool: radar!

Nowadays, with the continuous improvement of technology and electronic products, navigation becomes so simple. When sailing on the sea, you just need to use the GPS, navigation calculation (according to the direction indicated by the ship's most basic navigation instrument and distance, and the time of the wind, flow elements and ship maneuvering, under the condition of without the help of external navigation mark, calculate the track and position), even if you are an experienced ocean-going captain, with only a celestial navigation, can easily navigate. But for now, Chinese yachts rarely need to navigate very far out at sea, and we'll come back to deep-sea navigation later. Today to talk about is the focus of the coastal navigation, and involves an often overlooked great tools: radar.

Radar was first invented in 1895, but it didn't take off until world war ii and has been the most commonly used device for warships and merchant ships crossing busy shipping lanes. From a commercial point of view, with the development of technology, the size of the radar has been greatly reduced, can be widely used in small ships, and the cost is very reasonable, for every captain sailing to unfamiliar waters, it is worth equipped.

Of course, it must be made clear that the performance of the radar on a yacht is not as good as that on a large merchant ship. For example, the display screen is smaller, less accurate, limited in function, and limited by the low antenna height, resulting in a smaller effective coverage, usually only 24 miles.

The purpose of radar

The radar on the yacht has three main functions: anti-collision, location and search.

The anti-collision software can display the collision distance in real time, so that the crew can adjust the route at any time. Safety alerts can also be set up, even if the crew is tired or distracted.

In an emergency, the radar's search function can also be used to locate small ships. Surprisingly, this feature is also often used for fishing. When the sea is calm, a good radar can easily spot schools of fish, especially tuna that are hunting small fish on the surface.

Using radar navigation can quickly locate and provide many planning possibilities:

- quickly determine the distance and orientation;

- a perfect location can be quickly obtained by the distance between two or three points;

- the accurate time of course adjustment can be obtained through the distance and bearing of the base to the lighthouse or cape;

- quickly provide accurate contact time of targets within visual field;

- although most radars today are linked to a GPS system, it is much faster to determine the position and convert it to a chart using only a compass and radar compared to GPS coordinates.

Although radar is a great tool, it is also difficult to use. You should pay attention to the following points:

- the gain control shall be adjusted reasonably;

- the suppression setting for rain, snow and waves should not be too high to avoid the elimination of small echoes;

- the course and bearing shall be accurately calibrated;

- pay attention to low-lying landforms such as depressions and beaches, so as to avoid drawing errors due to the discrepancy between the radar scanning distance and the actual distance. At this time, it is best to carefully check the chart to ensure that the reef rocks, lighthouses or cliffs can be clearly displayed in front of you;

- when choosing radar, had better choose some professional brand (such as Raytheon, Raymarine, Garmin, Perry, JRC, Furuno, etc.), while the cost is expensive, but compared with these brands have decades of experience and technology, has better performance and reliability, it is so, these professional brand radar has become the best choice for many super yacht.