Has the fog lifted permanently in New England?

[Blissboat]

In 1982 I sailed from Stuart, Florida to Martha's Vineyard for the first time. When fitting out for the extended trip, experienced boaters insisted that, because of the frequency of fog throughout New England waters, I would regret not having radar. Grudgingly, I bought the most affordable Furuno unit available, my first radar, and on the trip north learned to tune it. Indeed, after a week of northbound sailing offshore, I made a nighttime landfall, and with the help of Mr. Furuno was able to pick my way past Chappaquiddick, round Cape Poge light and anchor up in the Edgartown outer harbor, all under cover of darkness. After a few hours' sleep, I came on deck around mid-morning, feeling smug and salty.

After exploring New England for most of that summer, I observed that nearly every local boat in sight had a radome. I was certainly glad to have one too.

Fast-forward to 2023. A broker in Massachusetts returned my call about a downeast style motorboat whose looks and price had caught my fancy. In most respects it was nicely equipped, but I was surprised to see that its electronics suite lacked any kind of radar. The broker explained that radar is no longer considered essential in New England waters, because the prevalence of fog has diminished over the past twenty years or so. "Climate change," he added, with the brevity typical of the region.

So, okay - I get it that a modern chartplotter would guide me to that anchorage off Edgartown as easily, or more so, than radar did 41 years ago. But is it really true that today radar is no more necessary in New England than in my local Florida waters? And if so, is it true that climate conditions rarely sustain that magical dewpoint where atmospheric humidity becomes visible and sometimes thick enough to slice?

 

[Comodave]

Whether there is fog or not I would not go without radar. It is very affordable now. The chart plotter will not see a boat at night like radar will, or a bouy.

 

[hmason]

You don't need RADAR anywhere until you do. Then it's priceless.

 

[Comodave]

You don't need RADAR anywhere until you do. Then it's priceless.

Exactly.

 

[psneeld]

It's true that today's GPS chartplotters will keep you absolutely dead center on any nav problem and bring you in with "navigational" safety as well as or better than any other instrument. It is easy to read and follow.

RADAR needs a bit more skill to master but provides an excellent backup and greater situational awareness and collision avoidance. AIS helps, but is lame in comparison to RADAR for collision avoidance in a tight channel full of small high speed vessels not transmitting AIS...but can be seen on RADAR if you know how to use it.

So yes...many new boaters are forgoing RADAR if they have GPS and are willing to roll the dice with only AIS or even lacking that. They just pray for that "big water" theory that nothing will hit them if on course on the correct side of the channel.

That's what my first assistance towing boss said when I complained I didn't have a RADAR.

 

[Sababa]

I rely on radar even on clear days to acquire, track, and avoid collision with other boats using MARPA. It’s essential equipment in all conditions for this reason alone in my book.

 

[O C Diver]

The broker explained that radar is no longer considered essential in New England waters, because the prevalence of fog has diminished over the past twenty years or so. "Climate change," he added, with the brevity typical of the region.

And if the boat didn't have an anchor, I'm sure the broker would have explained to you that because of Climate change, nobody anchors out anymore.

Ted

 

[psneeld]

I rely on radar even on clear days to acquire, track, and avoid collision with other boats using MARPA. It’s essential equipment in all conditions for this reason alone in my book.

Are you really saying that you "NEED" RADAR on a clear day or it helps with collision avoidance and is good training for when it's not clear?

 

[CaptTom]

Pretty foggy out there today.

Yeah, that's a salesman just spouting whatever comes to mind. Sure, lots of people don't need radar. The ones who sit at the dock, or only go for brief day trips when the weather is perfect.

The one thing I'll give him is that there are a lot more of that type of boater, and fewer true cruisers, every year. Things have changed in New England, but it's not the weather.

 

[sunchaser]

Broker BS has no bounds. Chicago as a location exists because of climate change. Ask the broker to figure that out so he can really really understand climate change

 

[Aurora53]

Brokers can be worse than used car salesmen.

Last May I made a 7 day trip from Annapolis to Portland Maine, I need the radar 5 of the 7 days.
Last summer in Southern Maine it was not as foggy as years in the past but I still had foggy days and used my radar when it’s raining because of the reduced visibility. I’ve used my radar this week on my way to Boothbay. A fog bank rolled in that was not forecasted.
Most lobster boats don’t have AIS and lots of tuna fishermen turn off AIS so others don’t know where they are fishing.

Do you need radar? Well what kind of boating do you do?

I would not have a boat without it. The price of a chart plotter and radar system is easy justify for safety and piece of mind. The technology has become so easy to use and so accurate.

 

[Sababa]

Are you really saying that you "NEED" RADAR on a clear day or it helps with collision avoidance and is good training for when it's not clear?

I don’t *need* anything but a ship and a star to steer her by. But I do consider it to be an important safety tool in all weather.

 

[Comodave]

I run the radar every time we go out. I look at the screen and then look to pick the target out. It never hurts to polish your skills at interpreting the screen display so that when you really do need it you are prepared.

 

[Jeff F]

I grew up in Nova Scotia and sailed a lot there until leaving in the late 80s.

I was back in home waters for summer 2021. It was shockingly different. Warm, very little fog, seals everywhere, and Great Whites enjoying good hunting.

I'd suggest that fog in that area is likely forecastable and therefore easily avoidable. Maybe for fair weather boaters radar is optional.

 

[CharlieO.]

It's only foggy in the morning, you don't want to get up that early do you?

 

[Shrew]

The broker that is selling a boat without radar is telling you that you don't need radar??

LMFAO!!!

There isn't fog in New England every day. However, there is certainly enough fog that there is a high probability you're going to get caught out in it. I end up navigating in fog at least 2-3 times a summer.

Is that a lot? NO

Will I own a boat in New England without radar? NO!!!!

 

[catalinajack]

I ran my radar as an overlay on my chartplotter so that I could see other boats approaching from the stern so that I did not have to have my head on a swivel.

 

[Blissboat]

Yes, I would also not travel far from my home dock in any boat lacking radar. Fog or no fog, it's affordable safety equipment. The question in my original post was whether the historically prevalent weather in New England waters (i.e., frequent fog) has really changed so much over the past 40-some years. So far on this thread, some say yes, others not so much.

 

[psneeld]

Just read about 20 articles that pertain but don't really discuss Maine in particular.

But most, if not all, say the coastal sea water temperature off Delaware to Maine is rising faster than any other water temps around North America. Others discuss this warming and the reduction of foggy weather. There is a big study about Pacific Coast fog and how its reduction is affecting everything from crops to ?????.... while no mention of the Northeast...a lot sounded like just an example of what is happening around the globe with similar conditions.

Now with all that info, it seems that climate change even if rapid by scientific standards, still is painfully slow in our lifetime measurement.... I can only surmise in the years that we have warmer than normal waters in the Northeast, even in a decade by decade measuring system...there is probably less fog than other years. Does that mean a big change in the number of foggy days per summer? Probably not...but in some areas, any change may seem enough to notice.

Radar? Yep always a good tool for the competent mariner...the average boater????? They may have no clue how it even works let alone be competent enough to use it as a safety tool.

 

[Cigatoo]

If you are caught in dense fog it doesn’t matter how many times it has happened or will happen. You are living in the moment. Having done it both ways I will take radar. Lol.

 

[Benthic2]

Another factor to consider is how flexible your schedule is. If you have to go out, regardless of the weather, you need radar. If you can cherry pick your travel times, it may be less important.

If the last radar unit you used was 40 years old, you may be surprised at how much it has changed.

 

[LovetoBoat]

For those that may have forgotten -
Fog forms when the temperature and dew point of the air approach the same value (i.e., dew-point spread is less than 5°F) either through cooling of the air (producing advection, radiation, or upslope fog) or by adding enough moisture to raise the dew point (producing steam or frontal fog).
Nothing more nothing less. YMMV

 

[Shrew]

Another factor to consider is how flexible your schedule is. If you have to go out, regardless of the weather, you need radar. If you can cherry pick your travel times, it may be less important.

Many, many times, there was no fog when I left and I drove into it.

 

[C lectric]

Spring 2018 I installed my radar. Lots of people argued with me that I should get AIS instead. I argued back. My concern was the small fishing boats that I knew frequented the area and do not have the dual AIS if one at all. They were the real collision risk to me. So I installed the radar.

As far as the Radar vs AIS was concerned I had made up my mind. The big ships and tugs we never even saw but the RADAR highlighted them. THey must travel in a lane which put them several miles out of my intended pathways.
Unless they were seriously off course they were not the problem.

The radar showed the small boats that MAYBE had a radar, maybe an AIS
so I could avoid them with my radar.


THe trip out to Barkley Sound was fog free. The return trip when we started visibility was excellent but after the first couple of hours travel no where near so much. We were the pointer for a small radarless boat following us and He had to tuck in quite close to ensure he did not get lost with instructions to get on the VHF immediately if he lost sight of us and NOT WAIT hoping.2

Even the second day was like that untill after noon when the fog cleared.

I am thank full of that radar.

 

[BroadCove]

I boated in Maine from 2002 - 2021. I would never boat there without radar. Although I've moved, my last trip taking the boat up there (2021) it was socked in from the Cape Cod Canal to Portland.

Full disclosure, I wouldn't be without radar on any boat larger than a dinghy / runabout. There are other electronics I rely on more regularly of course, but in terms of importance, I'd say it's VHF / radar / EPIRB as the "holy trinity".

 

[CarlF]

Last summer in Maine we only needed the radar 4 times. Twenty years ago it would have been used 40. I assume climate change.

Although thirty years ago when I didn’t have enough money for radar (25ft boat), I did fine without radar - just some very scary moments when I could hear ferry engines nearby. But I was young and immortal.

Of course, we transmit AIS. Just about any boat big enough to see on radar now transmits AIS up here. Even many lobster boats. Much easier to read the CPA from AIS then try to calculate bearings on a radar screen.

But offshore at night radar is still pretty much mandatory.

I assume most of the sales guy’s customers are tucked in their slip with drinks out before the sun goes down.

How many still blow a fog horn underway in the fog? I seem to be one of the few.

 

[BroadCove]

Excellent point about AIS. The only concern I would have about relying on it in the fog is that not all the commercial fisherman have it on all the time...or so I hear. I have seen echoes in the fog that appear large enough that I should be receiving an AIS signal, but there isn't one.

I'd like to say I always sound my horn in the fog, but I usually only do it if I see an echo nearby, am entering a channel or otherwise approaching a higher traffic area.

 

[mickand]

Last Spring, I traveled up the Chesapeake for 2 days in constant thick fog.
Having working radar for me is paramount.

 

[Blissboat]

I'd like to say I always sound my horn in the fog, but I usually only do it if I see an echo nearby, am entering a channel or otherwise approaching a higher traffic area.

+1 on discretionary fog signaling, even as I contemplate that in case of a collision it's a strong opening defense against accusations of negligence.

Whether signaling or not, in heavy fog, even well offshore, I run slower than normal and leave the pilothouse door open, the better to hear another vessel. Oh, and yes - I use my radar beginning around dusk and in any conditions of reduced visibility.

 

[O C Diver]

How many still blow a fog horn underway in the fog? I seem to be one of the few.

Bought a very nice Raytheon fog horn / hailer 25 years ago with all the different signals. Use to love coming in the Ocean City, MD inlet with it toning in pea soup. All the sub 20' boats fishing the inlet, would scatter thinking one of the big clam dredgers was coming in.

Probably use it a half a dozen times a year. Have used it every summer on Lake Superior.

Ted