MacGregorSailors.com

Marty,
No control freq for the channel. Good luck on raising a freighter on CH 16. I got the biggest radar reflector I could find and scoot across the freighter lanes at a 90 degree angle to minimize time spent in them. Those big guys are hauling in the double digits and you still get a wake effect after they pass by for 15 min or so. Often wonder what my radar signature looks like? Who invented them...probably the radar mfg!

OK, now I'm really nervous. What kind of wake could I expect from one of these behemoths? I've never strayed close enough to the shipping lane to find out.

When I've sailed close to them as they approach Port Hueneme the wakes have been very small, but these are smaller ships at lower speeds. The navy's new guided missile frigate barely dents the water - but man, does she fly (and by the way, she replies promptly and politely on VHF 16).

Are you talking about the Perry Class Frigates with a hull number of double digits (likely 30-75, single low-profile stack)? If so, they are indeed the newest, however...they were commissioned in the 80's. If it is a twin stack, it may well be an Aegis Cruiser or newer yet Arleigh Burke Destroyer.

I am in the USCG Auxilary outr of Channel Islands Station. While out on patrols in the channel I have seen bow waves in the range of 8 feet. The wake off the stern is in the range of 4 feet within a couple hundred yards. Not to mess with. AThey have been tracked on our radar i nthe range of 15 to 22 knts.

Like the idea of getting together. I know several other mac owners in the area and some I have just met thru this list.

Captain Steve wrote:Good luck on raising a freighter on CH 16.

Your best bet to raise commercial traffic is on Channel 13, the Bridge-to-Bridge channel. Here in San Francisco Bay Area, we have a Vessel Traffic Service (VTS), which operates on channel 14 (Outside the bay), and channel 12 (Inside the bay). So, the best bet to raise a commercial ship would be on channels 12, 13, or 14. The channels for VTS (if it exists) may be different in your area. Check the Coast Pilot for your area to see if you are covered by a VTS. The Coast Pilot will list the locations of, and frequencies used, for the VTS areas covered by that Coast Pilot edition. If you are not in a VTS area, try channel 13 the next time you need to call a commercial ship.

--Mark

PORT HUENEME, Calif. (AP) - Navy officials Saturday commissioned a guided missile destroyer named for a World War II hero who rescued a wounded sailor in the South Pacific.

The USS Pinckney is named for Navy Cook 3rd Class William Pinckney, who was awarded the Navy Cross for courageous service on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in 1942 during the Battle of Santa Cruz.

The destroyer is one of only two ships in active service named for blacks. The other, the USS Rodney M. Davis, is a guided missile frigate based in Japan.

According to Navy records, when an explosion killed four of the six men at Pinckney's battle station in an ammunition handling room, he and the other surviving sailor tried to escape to the deck above them.

When the other man grasped a scorching hatch, he fell back, unconscious. Despite the suffocating smoke and flames, Pinckney carried the sailor to safety. Pinckney later died in 1975.

The USS Pinckney, which has a crew of 334, contains two launching systems capable of housing a variety of missiles, two triple torpedo tubes and advanced radar systems.

"I couldn't be more pleased and proud with the crew and the ship," said Cmdr. Robert M. Byron, commanding officer of the new destroyer.

The ship will spend the next year testing its weapons and computers. During that time, its home port will be San Diego.

Captain Steve wrote:While out on patrols in the channel I have seen bow waves in the range of 8 feet. The wake off the stern is in the range of 4 feet within a couple hundred yards. Not to mess with. AThey have been tracked on our radar i nthe range of 15 to 22 knts.

What do you think would happen if a Mac ran into a 20-knot roller of 8-4 feet?

zuma hans wrote: . . . What do you think would happen if a Mac ran into a 20-knot roller of 8-4 feet?

Just one opinion, ZH, I think the Mac would do fine if the skipper was "aware enough" to keep the bow 45 or more degrees on the wake. The weekend we went to Anacapa & Santa Cruz we had visibility of 1/2 mile at worst case, usually better. Swell was very mild, guessing 3 to 5 feet.

The day you described was definitely scary. It wouldn't be good to catch a 10' roller on the beam (say a 4' wake atop a 6' swell). When visibility is less than 1/4 mile . . . let's just say it's something I didn't consider before. Wakes should be about 30 degrees vs. the shipping channel. Guess that's another reason that it's best to proceed directly (90*) across the shipping lane. (For anyone not near commercial lanes, the channel at question is about 7 miles (?) wide).

When I took the USCG safety boating course last fall, our instructor, who skippers a commercial sport fishing boat, told us that the Trident nuclear submarines coming in and out of Port Canaveral could put out an eight foot wake out to a mile or more from the sub itself. Very impressive and definitely something to watch for if you are on on the deep blue sea.

-Walt

Hans,
Thanks for the article on the new tincan. I was an gas turbine engineer on several destroyers for 6 years. I know they can do the advertised 30+ knots. Talk about a rooster tail. You should see that 6' shaft spinning at 180 rpm. The GE LM2500 engines put out 20,000 HP each and there are 4 of them on a 8000 ton displacement ship. The draft is about 30' so you can imagine the wall of water it has to push aside. The bow wave at 30 knots is about 9'.

I cannot imagine what the wake from a carrier, displacing almost 100,000 tons at 30 knots would look like to a Mac 26X. I can my main acting as a parachute to come down into the trough.

Bruce