Hey Tom,

I'm really beginning to wonder, does ANYONE use a foghorn anymore? Seems to me a consequence of the increasingly widespread use of AIS, that many vessels are no longer sounding fog signals underway... During my trip north last summer, I can't recall encountering a single other vessel doing so...

I have never understood why installed horns are so rare on sailboats, when they're standard equipment on most every stinkpot over about 25 feet out there...

My horn got a serious workout last summer, it was sounding throughout my entire run along the Nova Scotia shore on the way up, and for many more days up in Labrador... On my return along the coast approaching the Strait of Belle Isle, I had very thick weather for 3-4 days straight. The morning after creeping into St. Mary's Harbor the previous evening, some guys from the fish plant came down to the dock to pay me a visit, and welcome me to their town... One of them remarked, "Yeah, we heard you coming for a couple of hours last night, and were starting to wonder whether you'd EVER find your way in here..." (grin)

I have my horn hooked up to an older device called the Fog Mate, but with virtually every VHF nowadays having the capability to program every manner of fog signals, it's a mystery to me why more folks don't bother to use them... My radar went tits up abeam of Halifax on my way north last year, so I was really glad to have every little bit of help I could...

best regards,

Jon