“RULES OF THE ROAD” and Signaling Devices for Sea Kayakers

Outline for a clinic at WMCKA 2010 symposium

www.navcen.uscg.gov.mwv.navrules.rotr_online.htm

1. YOU are the Captain of your Ship—CONGRATULATIONS! "With great power comes great responsibility!"
   
2. Where do Navigation Rules Apply? International --> Inland --> State --> Municipal
   
3. What is a kayak under Navigation Rules? Where does it fit among others?
   
   1. Certainly a Vessel (any means of transportation), not excluded from being subject to the Rules
      
   2. Power Driven > Sailing > Fishing > Restricted in the Ability to Maneuver > Not Under Command
      
   3. Limited Maneuverability (speed) status is not explicitly granted to kayaks in the Rules; other vessels are required under law to consider kayak's limited speed when assessing risk of collision, but SO ARE YOU!
      
   4. Suggestion: Operate as if you are a Power Driven Vessel (any vessel propelled by machinery—paddle)
      
   5. Kayak is a Sailing Vessel when under sail
      
   6. Always remember that you are difficult to see and other vessels are not on the look-out for small craft when under way
      
4. Rules Abridged: Rights and Obligations = Good Seamanship
   1. Maintain proper look-out with eyes and ears and by any other available means
      
   2. Maintain safe distance and speed at all times
      
   3. Avoid collision with others. Other vessels need to avoid collision with you WHEN and IF they see you (limited visibility) and when and if they can (limited turning and stopping ability of big ships + shallow water)
      1. Take timely action
         
      2. Use decisive maneuvers—avoid small changes to speed and/or course
         
5. Right of the way (ROW) = the only time a kayak has the right of the way is when it is being passed by another vessel. Maintain course and speed—the other vessel has no right to cut you off. You should avoid collision if in danger when being passed and have the right to ignore the rule to maintain speed/course. Vessels limited by channels have the right of the way in areas of limited operational space
   
6. Interactions with Other Vessels—"stand-on"=vessel that will maintain course vs. "give-way"=vessel that should not cross in front of the other vessel by stopping, slowing, and/or turning:
   1. Open water=unlimited navigability:
      1. Overtaking: vessel being passed has ROW, overtaking vessel can pass on either side—keep course and speed unless in danger
         
      2. Head-on: neither of two power vessels has ROW, both turn to starboard/right to avoid collision. Sailing vessel has the ROW over power-driven, power-driven needs to turn to starboard/right
         
      3. Crossing: vessel on starboard/right has ROW if two power vessels; sailing has ROW over power
         
   2. Narrow channels=sides defined by sea walls or banks:
      1. Stay as far to starboard/right as safely possible—can use middle of channel if sides are not safe (rebounding waves)
         
      2. Do not impede vessels that can only navigate in the channel (sailboats only have ROW if limited by keel)
         
      3. Avoid crossing and cross fast, at right angles, and as a single group if many kayaks
         
   3. Fairways=shipping lanes and open water channels: treat as narrow channels with an additional challenge of knowing where they are (need current charts), cross fast in a group and with plenty of safety cushion. Safe distance in front of ship—need to get out of the way even if paddle gets broken, capsize, dislocate shoulder, etc.
      
7. Darkness: powerful white light exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision course; single constant white light will signify a sailing vessel or a stationary small boat to others
   
8. Limited visibility: generate a sound warning every two minutes with at least 0.5 mile audible range
   
   
9. Signaling devices—devices to attract attention:
   1. Hand and paddle signals
      
   2. Sound signals: Whistle, Air Horn, or Fog Horn for warning and communication
      
      1. One short blast = right/starboard (two long one short if passing on starboard)
         
      2. Two blasts = left/port (two long two short if passing on port)
         
      3. Three short blasts = backing/stern
         
      4. One long blast = warning/announcing location
         
      5. Five short blasts = imminent danger
         
      6. One long + one short blast = passing on starboard/right
         
      7. One long + two short blasts = passing on port/left
         
   3. Navigational Lights: required to display in order to alert other vessels
      
   4. Strobes: recognized call for help on inland waters; widely used in international waters but not technically legal there
      
   5. Flares—3 required at night
      
      1. Aerial
         
      2. Hand-held
         
      3. Light, smoke, dye
         
   6. Brightly-Colored Rescue Bag—when inflated can be used to increase visibility and aid in search and rescue
      
   7. VHF Radio—"Mayday", "Pan-Pan", "Securité"; distress, help, warning. Also to communicate to other vessels and Coast Guard
      
      1. Channel 9 = recreational boat hailing
         
      2. Channel 13/14 (listening only) = bridge-to-bridge, port operations, visibility reports
         
      3. Channel 16 = emergency hailing
         
      4. Channel 22a = Coast Guard
         
      5. Channels 68/69/71/72/78 = recreational boat-to-boat
         
   8. Family Two-Way Radio (FSR)
      
   9. Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB)/Personal Location Beacon (PLB) —to initiate rescue—Satellite Personal Tracker (SPOT)—alert Coast Guard or communicate with shore
      
   10. Cell Phone (dial *CG to reach Coast Guard within range of antennas)/Satellite Phone
       

Comments emphatically solicited.

ISLE ROYALE: PRE-TRIP RESEARCH

Go to: Introduction

Here are a couple of web resources I consulted in preparation for the trip. They are in the order in which I read them:

• Rogue Paddler sentimental account of Isle Royale circumnavigation with some inter-personal drama involved
  
• Another circumnavigation account by Chicago's own Dave Naudi with some technical detail and safety tips
  
• Canoe & Kayak article on the destination
  
• SKOAC has several trips to this location including the best picture galleries that I was able to find
  
• And, of course, Jim Dufresne book. This seems to be the ultimate wilderness guide to the destination. The water portion is largely for canoeists or kayakers who want to explore the inland lakes of Isle Royale or stay in protected harbors.
  

Relevant NOAA Nautical Charts include the 14968 (1:120,000 scale) or three times more detailed 14976 (1:40,000). Zoom in on the map and you can view the charts on-line. A little bit more work and you can download them for a more detailed look on your own desktop—see this "How-To" write-up. I bought the more detailed chart but, in the end, decided that printouts from the less detailed chart #14968 would be sufficient for our purposes. In retrospect, I missed the greater detail of the #14976 on the trip as little bays and inlets were sometimes difficult to judge accurately from the larger-scale map. Larger scale charts were sure convenient, though. In general, I would say that the National Geographic Tails Illustrated map would probably be the best resource to guide a circumnavigation. Rocks and depth markings on the NOAA charts are not particularly relevant for kayakers. It's good to know about the shoals during stormy conditions; however, these can be noted at home and maybe even transferred to the topographical land map. The only really useful thing that NOAA charts have is the information on navigational lights, so if you plant to get far off-shore or travel at night NOAA charts would come very handy.

Sticking with the topic of navigation, both Russ and I relied pretty heavily on the Garmin GPS. Russ had an old Legend with some recreational maps of the US and I have uploaded topographical maps of Michigan downloaded from GPS File Depot. Here's also a link to Isle Royale on-line forum thread which includes files with points of interests for Garmin as well as in general GPX format.

Camping on Isle Royale is on the first-come-first-served basis—in other words, you cannot reserve a specific campsite. In our case, we did not even know if we will paddle clockwise or counter-clockwise until we got there—the weather was to decide. Regardless, the park service requires that each camping party fill out an itinerary with a camping site indicated for each night's stay. A cross-country camping permit is also available. This free option allows one to camp anywhere on the Island bar a few areas reserved for wildlife and exclusion zones around trails as well as established camping sites. Most of these are on the island interior so a kayaker with the cross-country permit can basically camp along the entire coastline of the island.

National Data Buoy Center maintains an overlay on Google maps.

Buoys 45001 and 45006 will give you wave heights, water and air temperatures for the area in the days immediately prior to the trip. There are also two weather stations on the west (Rock of Ages) and east (Passage Island Lighthouse) sides of the island. These are the best sources for wind and temperature information. At the time of the writing, these weather stations were only useful in trip preparation. Who knows, maybe by the time you're reading this, real time access to these from the cockpit of the kayak will be available.

Go to:  Getting There – Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4 – Day 5 – Day 6 – Day 7 – Reflections