Many boaters who turn om their RADAR to transmit in the marina can be presented with an overwhelming  amount of information – so it’s turned off!

However your general boating experience can be greatly improved by having a greater understanding of Radar and its practical use when navigating in different sea and weather conditions.

The following rule under Coleregs / IRPCS will apply to every boat fitted with Radar. 

Rule 5 states: ‘Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision.’

In the event of a collision it will be difficult to argue that you had electronic aids aboard your vessel but were not using them because you found the information confusing!

This Radar course will give you practical experience of Radar in a safe environment. (If you hit something in fog you won’t get wet!)

Our simulator runs passages in real time in different areas, weather and sea conditions. The simulator can be set to change weather conditions and sea state, with hazards appearing unexpectedly.  i.e. from glorious sunshine to dark, or good visibility to a rolling fog bank

In reduced visibility i.e fog, RADAR and AIS will prove invaluable in keeping your vessel and crew safe .

Knowing how to set up or tune your Radar can make it much easier to interpret and to integrate with your chart plotter or charts. Radar is not only an aid to collision avoidance it is also a powerful navigation tool. Being able to navigate in poor visibility using Radar is a very underestimated skill that professional skippers use constantly but under-utilised by leisure boaters.

A modern chartplotter can be integrated with other electronic devices such as Radar, to give a highly detailed graphical representation of obstructions and traffic around you. Automatic Identification System (AIS), again is a great system if and when used correctly. AIS has a number of disadvantages that need to be understood. When integrated with Radar and a chart plotter you will have much better situational awareness, be better informed and able to make better navigational decisions.

As boat owners are likely to have different systems: B&G, Raymarine, Garmin, Simrad etc. these one day courses are carried out on your boat with your electronics packages.