I would like to share my experiences with you. Please read these pages and leave me your comments on the matter.
I would like to share my experiences with you. Please read these pages and leave me your comments on the matter.
Short about me: I have sailed for 40 years and I live nearby a sailing paradise: the southern Norway archipelago. I sail often alone (or almost) along the European coast. Now I own a 27 feet Danish-built "Grinde" which I enjoy very much.
GPS navigator.
The Global Positioning System made our life easier in many ways. I have a handheld Sony and a bulkhead-mounted Magellan. In addition, I have writen a program for my Macintosh PowerBook which reads the NMEA output and do some navigation planning on very simple vector-based electronic charts.
Radio equipment.
Beside a VHF set, I have a short-waves radio on board. Since I have both maritime and radio amateur licenses, I use a Icom 707 radio which is an amateur radio but with permission by the Norwegian Authorities to use also maritime bands.
If you use short-waves radio, please do it legally. DO NOT use radio amateur frequencies without a valid license. Some sailors use pirate ham callsigns and give us a bad reputation.
Radar.
I have a newly installed a JRC Radar1000. It is the only way I can get some sleep singlehanded. My boat being only 27 feet, I have always considered a radar as something too big but this one has a scanner weighting only 4 Kg. Using a stand-by period of 10 minutes and an alarm range of 6 NM, it is possible to get some rest when alone. Do you have experience of singlehanded sailing with radar watch?