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Colorado Reef Buoy

L

Lightspeed

Willpower
As I MOTORED to the HMB finish I could not help but notice the Colorado Reef Buoy was nowhere close to my Garmin chart plotter location or the coordinates of N37 32.186 w122 32.192 on my handheld but much farther to the west….At dinner I think several other races mentioned the same thing….I thought the Buoy may have been moved (better out than in) by a storm so I mentioned it to the harbormaster while paying for my slip but he seemed to think the buoy is in the correct location…..Was I over served or did anyone else notice the different location?.....Rick/Lightspeed

PS here are some HMB pictures (hope the link works) http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0YbM2zRwxYsJq
 
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Light List vol. 6 (see P. 36) has it at 37 32.10.023 N, 122 33.09.011W*

That puts it about 1.5 nm W of Point Montara. Does that seem about right?


*Quoted at the precision stated in the Light List. This appeals to us accountant-types.
 
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The coordinates I had previously picked up from Colorado Reef buoy are 37 degrees 32 minutes 9 seconds North, 122 degrees 33 minutes 6 seconds West - which is right about where it was again over the weekend.

I'm always suspicious of lat/lon coordinates set up in thousandths of a minute (that's approximately 6.1 feet of latitude!), as that's far more precise than anyone needs to be... What's the watch circle on a buoy anchored at the depth?

- rob/beetle

[edit to correct seconds for minutes]
 
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As I recall, it was moved farther out about 5 years ago. It used to be that you definitely wanted to go outside it to avoid the reef; now it seems kind of pointless.

I think it was in '06, the last year we had no finishers in this race, that many of us were having all kinds of trouble getting around that buoy.
 
Montara Buoy vs Colorado Reef Buoy

Don't confuse the current CR Buoy with the old Montara Reef Buoy, which was located much closer to shore - right at the end of the reef off the lighthouse. The Montara Wind Hole was much realer when the buoy was closer in and all the HMB races had to do was clear it to port on the way down. At least 1.5 nm (or so) off gets us away from the hole a little. Certainly not enough on Saturday!
-- Pat B.
 
R "26"

Rick,

You point out a good lesson for us all: be careful of those "uncorrected" electronic charts. It sounds like you have old info. I entered a waypoint for R "26" using the Light List location and found it last year and again on Saturday right were it's supposed to be.

Tom
Dazzler
 
Yep, neither one of my Garmin chartplotters had the Colorado Reef buoy and I updated the software less than a year ago. It was in my old G-12 handheld because I'd entered it manually the last time I did the race.

Here's the link to subscribe to the Local Notice to Mariners, including the updated Light List:

http://cgls.uscg.mil/mailman/listinfo/eleventh-cg-dlnm
 
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