13 nautical miles
We first motored up to the Larnaca sailing club and moored to do a little bit of work on the boat. We had bought some extra folding mast steps to enable us (or me in particular) to climb the mast without having to stand on Tim's shoulders to get to the first step. Now why didn't we do this before fitting the radome?
We were very careful to make sure we mored away from the gas and oil pipelines in this area. There are all sorts of dire warnings on the chart about this. The new chain markers were good so we could (at last) tell how much chain we had deployed.
We sat and had a coffee and watched the club boats out sailing before going for a sail ourselves.
We tested the radar, using the MARPA system to track speed, direction CPA etc of targets. I also re-arranged the display to give what we want: Because the display is not that large we want some of the text data displayed larger than the default so we can read it easily from the wheel. One thing that we want to see easily is the LAT/LON numerically. This is because Oscar Charlie (the VTS system for sailing into Beirut) and others call you up with 'Vessel at position ___ traveling at ___ knots in direction ____, please identify yourself'. So we need to know the position easily and clearly to know if they are referring to us.
We tested the radar, using the MARPA system to track speed, direction CPA etc of targets. I also re-arranged the display to give what we want: Because the display is not that large we want some of the text data displayed larger than the default so we can read it easily from the wheel. One thing that we want to see easily is the LAT/LON numerically. This is because Oscar Charlie (the VTS system for sailing into Beirut) and others call you up with 'Vessel at position ___ traveling at ___ knots in direction ____, please identify yourself'. So we need to know the position easily and clearly to know if they are referring to us.
All in all, a very enjoyable day.
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