I was moving my 23 footer to a friends dock about 10 miles away this morning due to extreme high tides coming our way. I listened to the
vhf and checked weather on my phone like always and it said patches of fog with storms in the afternoon.. I started the motor and made it to the middle of the bay, started feeling a cool breeze and found myself completely smothered in "fog" within about 10 minutes. Immediately i get on the
vhf to try to contact any boats in the area with no response. next step is every minute or so using the airhorn. Now I am at a point where, do I turn and head back? or keep going. I decided to head on.. I establish contact with the bridge tender about a click from the bridge, no suprise he cant see me, then half, still cant see me. He tells me all is clear and to continue the transition. Finally about 300 feet out he can see me. On the south side it only got worse, no one responding to the
radio and now i can hear an engine and see wake rolling my way. Now at this point I really am out of luck I check the
gps and see where I am but still cannot see anything more than maybe 200 feet away. I make an announcement on the
radio to be advised i am headed into the mouth of the river to my destination via the north side of the Barnegat Bay. About a mile later within ten seconds everything had lifted.. i punched through the fog after the mouth of the river and it was overcast but clear! I have handled many a boats in such conditions, but when you dont have a proper
GPS or
Radar it really gives you a reality check. Im not reckless or careless, I knew there would be fog but weather said it was patchy fog, not the completely zero visibility that came in. luckily all was well as I was not nervous of my capabilitys, rather the other people who might not see or hear me until it was too late. I got back to the dock where I was greeted with a spot between two ensigns leaving me 6 inches bow and stern which was more stressfull than the fog! When it started to lift I even set the
jib and killed the engine to relax a bit. A little while passed and my friend called me from the yacht club asking if that was me. He said everyone claimed it was such an eerie/awesome sight with light winds, no sound, a wall of fog and a boat under sail popping through it! Had I known it would have been that bad I would not have gone and waited till later.. After docking ten minutes later it was absolutely clear.. go figure!
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We sail in soup fog very often with good 10-15 knot winds. While it does pile up on the windward side of islands and leave the lee of them in a clear pocket it can still be very thick, less than 250 feet vis, and still be windy. Fog and wind are not mutually exclusive in Maine & the Maritimes. 
