"The C.A.R.D. system is working excellent ... I can sleep easy."

     At 2:30 a.m. my Collision Avoidance Radar Detector went ballistic. I max the volume before I go to sleep to make sure it wakes me up and it did it's job. I am used to hearing it because it also signals me of incoming communications. So half asleep, I'm thinking, who's e-mailing me now. Then I realize, I have my receiver off and this is the real thing. I bolt up and as I'm scrambling for the hatch, it goes off again with it's red lights indicating the approaching vessel is off my stern. I stick my head out and around and see a large, black, odd shape vessel less than 500 yards away.

I know this is serious, but still half asleep I am trying to decipher her running lights to indicate her direction. My first thought is, it's shaped funny because it's not going across the horizon, it has either just passed me or coming at me. Then it hits me. It didn't just pass me, the alarm would have gone off. Just as I digest the realization of her running lights, I hear the engines. Now let me tell you, there is nothing more intense and awakening to a sailor at night at sea than the sound of an approaching tanker's engines. A deep, low, steady rumble.

All of this took place in about 7 seconds. I glance at the full moon and my oars thinking, the moon has to be lighting me up enough for them to see me and my oars are in their locks and ready. I don't see a red port light on the ship so I know she's a little off angle as I head for the oars. She is definitely on me now and I take one last glance before rowing to a hard starboard and see that she is just going to go off my stern. I watch with mouth wide open as hundreds of tons of steel go by and am close enough to see several men off the back of the bridge puttering around.

I want to wave, but my arms won't move. It is hard to imagine that with millions of square miles of open sea, 2 ships will find the same few square yards at the same few seconds. If you don't think it can happen, go back to the GOALS homepage and please read John Oman's story about his voyage aboard Northwest Spirit.

It happens.

Mick/Reach
 

"They were able to detect ships at a range of 24 NM  and detected 100% of all vessels observed using 3-cm radar.

Capt. Mallett reports the unit is so reliable that, when operating in fog, the radars were left in standby and only energized when the radar detector alerted, signaling a ship in the area.

Both Capt. Mallett and Second officer Nowaski praise the unit and recommend installation on all MSC ships."

"It's one thing to be roused from your slumber by an alarm, but it's far more useful if it can also tell you whether to look for a ship on your port quarter or your starboard beam.

So how does it work? Anything in a radar's beam momentarily has a high level of microwave energy aimed precisely at it as the scanner rotates. C.A.R.D. detects the signal and produces a shriek loud enough to rouse the deepest sleeper from his bunk, warning of a radar nearby.

The C.A.R.D. uses a simple system. Its antenna consists of part of a wave guide, without the top and bottom reflectors so there's no metal in the way to stop signals being received at any angle of heel.

Each wave guide covers a 90-degree angle, and since each diode is connected to its own lights on the display, you can tell from which quadrant the signal has been received.

I'm sure many sailors, particularly single or short-handers, would sleep more soundly in their bunks if they had a C.A.R.D. scanning the horizon."

"A C.A.R.D. system is important to me as a backup for regular watch keeping because I sail off the Georgia coast with numerous ships going south inside the Gulf stream. The system has always worked well, frequently detecting ships just as they come up on the horizon and in plenty of time to make any avoidance errors.

The audio alarm, set on high, is enough to wake me in the midst of my hour-long naps at night, which is no mean feat. The extremely low power consumption allows me to keep the unit on all the time so I always have that edge of safety."