1400 foot container ship in the fog!!!!!

[spareparts]

I was running a boat(28 Sea Ray) on a sunny day, inside Charleston harbor. We were headed up the Wando river and i got it figured out, so i turn the boat around, only to be greeted by a fog bank that rolled in> i could see the top of the old bridges, but nothing below. I brought the boat off plane and started listening. I could hear a fog horn going off when suddenly out of the fog was the bow of a container ship, I ran 90 off of his course till I was in shallow water, then came about 90 again and creeped along till I could see the base of the bridges. Once I knew where I was, I idled under the bridges(staying out of the channel, but in deep enough water), kept going to i could see the Yorktown, ran parallel to it till I got the entrance to teh marina. The owner of the boat was with me and he was freaking out the whole time, I was a bit nervous my self, but I kept it close and never let on. Once we got the boat tied up and put away, he was asking me how i knew what to do and how to handle it, some how telling him I pulled it out of my *** wasn't going to sound very professional, so i told him I took the power squadron safety course and told him where to sign up and learn more. Sounded good anyways!

[willy]

A tip for you guys without radar but have a GPS.
It was actually an idea of mine that worked, LOL

I went out in the am. with a good buddy and my oldest son about six years ago on the V20 Old School. We were drifting the big channel on the NY side when we looked back to land on the NJ side we saw a giant sheet of white paper, literally nothing could be distinguished at all and it was rolling into us at a speed I could not believe.
Literally went from clear morning to can't see 50 yards in 15 minutes.
The Ambrose Channel is one of the biggest channels in the east for giant cargo ships pretty much non stop all day and night.
I went back nice and calm and made my way to my saved Track and Waypoint that I had done as soon as I got on the water when I put the new GPS in.
I had saved a track back following a contour in about 20 feet of water all the way back to the launch. I idled in and had eagle eye teenage soon standing forward of the windshield with the cuddy top pushed forward. All three of us in life jackets and handed my buddy a long shank heavy screw driver and had him tap the bow rail every thirty seconds or so with a decent sharp rap. Nice chime sound you know.
Had to cross two channels and had waypoints on the edge of each. Paused there looked as best as we could and got across them quick.
It is scary but it worked, the Coast Guard boys were running for a long time answering radio calls for help.
One guy got an assist real abrupt and quick as he drifted to close to the Earl Naval Weapons Pier and got a M60 pointed at his head for his mistake.

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by willy

One guy got an assist real abrupt and quick as he drifted to close to the Earl Naval Weapons Pier and got a M60 pointed at his head for his mistake.

LOL .. I was on my way back in to the Leonardo State ramp two years ago.. Missed the corner bouy in the sun... got about 50 feet inside of where I should have been...realized it and was headed back out around it when suddenly there was a boat alongside of me and this guy with an M16 pointed at me. Those guys got no sense of humor at all.

Shame about Earl... Before 9/11 I used to drift for Fluke right in the channel in front of the pier. Got run off every now and then, but everyone fished there... Now, you get that close, you have a date with the Naval Police on the pier.