Navigation Rules: Rule 5
The "Look-out” Rule
"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 a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision." (International Navigational Rules Public Law 95-75)
I recall a late summer day in 1989 when I was a member of a crew of 3 that were delivering a 37’ ketch from Port Washington, New York to Florida. We had spent the previous night at a marina in Cape May, NJ. We departed Cape May early the following morning in a fog that was so thick that we couldn’t see more than a couple hundred feet. I was familiar enough with the area that I was confident that we could find our way from the marina back to the ocean. As luck would have it, we departed the marina just as a radar-equipped tugboat was passing by, headed in the same direction that we were going. We tucked in behind the tugboat and followed him across Cold Spring Harbor toward Wildwood. As long as we stayed close to the tugboat, we were okay. But, when we came to the intersection of the channel that intersects with the inlet, the tugboat kept going toward Wildwood, and we had to turn east to go out Cape May Inlet. We were on our own in the fog! The seas were friendly that morning, and we were able to stay close enough to the rocks lining the southern edge of the Inlet that we were able to follow the channel out into the ocean. Once outside the channel entrance, I breathed a short sigh of relief, and turned south, and it was DR (Dead Reckoning) from then on until the fog cleared. I say “short sigh of relief” because we still had yet to cross the mouth of Delaware Bay, and its shipping lanes in this fog. We had our radar reflector two-blocked to the spreader, and were sounding our “fog signal” but still…..
Long story short, we never heard any other fog signal's, our DR was spot on, and I was able to breath normally when we had the Gong Buoy that marked the Cape Henlopen edge of the outbound shipping lane behind us. A couple hours later, the sun had burned off the fog, and we had a good day of coastal sailing.
What’s this got to do with a “lookout?” How can you “look out” when you can’t see? As Pat Mundus points out in an Soundings article:
A “proper lookout” is not so much a person as it is an assessment system.
Fog navigation is a useful skill to have if you sail around areas known for heavy fog. With today’s advanced technology, fog navigation may be easier than it used to be, but there are still times when you need to “look" with senses other than your eyesight. It’s the law!
A good reminder, and a good review of the comprehensive nature of Rule 5 in Mundus' article.
/fl