[PUP] AIS

[Peter Pisciotta]

> We have had issues with fishing boats who don't 
> seem to care at all for anything else sharing 
> the sea, 

I was aboard Patrick Gerety's Willard 40 recently on
the Baja-Ha-Ha from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. We
had two nighttime encounters with fishing boats where
they would aim straight for us and 'herd' us away from
their nets in a maneuver we affectionaly called "The
Mexican J" due to the GPS path it left on the
chartplotter.

VHF contact was futile. And it took a few minutes to
figure out what was going on the first time it
happened. We were 20 or so miles offshore, 100 miles
south of San Diego, and steering a course to avoid
this boat. The scenario developed slowly over the
course of an hour, culminating with the fishing vessel
100-yards off the port beam protecting their net.
Suddenly, the boat would turn hardover and retreat at
full throttle, our only indication that it was time to
resume course (thus the "Mexican J" on the
chartplotter). I have no doubt they would risk a
collision rather than endanger their nets (and
livlihood). Given the construction/condition of their
boats, I have little doubt who would be the worse for
the collision....

Patrick can give full trip details, but I have to say
I was very impressed with the overall performance of
his 4-year old Willard 40 (Deere 4-cylinder 135hp
turbo). We AVERAGED just under 7.5 knots, and burned
slightly below 1.5gph. Obviously strong figures,
especially in open water (granted, mostly good
weather).

Peter
www.SeaSkills.com