Raster, vector, schmaster, schmector.

We have done a fair amount of racing and cruising -- sometimes in fog and sometimes at night. We have a Garmin handheld chart plotter, no split screen, no RADAR, no AIS, nor any other TLA gadget (except VHF). Our sailing has been in Maine, land of ledge and low visibility.

I never, ever, zoom out the chart plotter so much that it would not show an island. Never, ever. And there is no need to do that on a 125-mile race. Keep it zoomed in enough to show the hard bits. Why would anyone zoom it out so much that you can't see the hazards in your path?

Second, we always have someone (or both of us) with our eyes and ears outside the boat. We've done many many fog runs and all of them were with just two of us on board.

Almost everyone here is talking about integrating this gadget with that gadget and using RADAR and all that when simply staying alert and aware of what's going on around you will generally help to save your butt.

Case in point: Monhegan Regatta, August 2003. We were becalmed at the mouth of the Portland Ship Channel at dusk in 0/0 vis. What worked in our favor was that the race organizers had the harbor pilots at the skippers meeting the night before, and they told us about the traffic expected for the race day and night. We were all tuned in to Ch. 13 and 16 on the VHF and heard the calls from the pilot. Knowing we were directly in the path of the tanker, we took our position, fired up the engine, moved to a spot right next to one of the channel markers, called the pilot and explained what we were doing, and the pilot thanked us, explained that she could see us on her radar, and told us to stay put. Tanker went out (look closely at the photo and you can kind of see her bow), ferry came in, we motored back to the old spot, killed the engine, and continued to bob around till the wind picked up.

Nearly got DSQ'ed for that move, but they ended up granting redress so we won the race (only one of two boats to finish). Now the SIs have a provision for allowing use of the engine if a boat is becalmed in the path of commercial traffic.