NAVIGATION BRIEFING

It’s a frequent question from cruisers: given advances in AIS and weather forecasting do we still need radar? In a recent feature in Yachting World, my friend and highly respected yachting journalist Ed Gorman wrote a revealing article about sailing single-handed. There were many good lessons in his summary, though one conclusion caught my eye: ‘Radar – don’t bother with it,’ he observed. I used to think similarly, but I’m afraid, Ed, that now I strongly disagree!

Conventional radar sets, the type I learned on while on the bridge of a Royal Navy destroyer and larger yachts, require