Speed.. What it is ??

There is nothing absolute in this world. Everything is relative to something. Speed too is measured with respect
to something adjacent. While travelling on a train you might feel increase in speed when another train passes
on opposite direction. Or sometime on railway station, we suddenly feel our train moving even when it is other
train adjacent to ours which has just started moving.
So what is the speed of your train in this case. You may say zero but I may disagree. Depends on with respect to
what we are talking about ?
Speed with respect to station will be zero, but with respect to other train will be equal to the speed of that train.
In the same way, the ships speed is either measured with respect to water or ground.
Speed Over water & Speed over ground
Speed over water is the distance traveled in one hour with respect to water. Similarly speed over ground is the
distance traveled in one hour with respect to ground. Now what does that mean ?
Let us understand this and look for the answers of our three conditions. Imagine your ship is moving from an
island and there is a floating boat near to the island. Sea conditions are perfect with no wind and current and
your ships GPS is showing speed of 15 knots.
In one hour you would have covered 15 NMs with respect to island as well as floating boat. This is because the
boat would have maintained its position as there is no wind/current.

So in Condition A, speed over ground and speed over water will be 15 knots.
Now as in Condition B, rest of the things being same, we have 2 knots current from ahead. In this case ship
would only cover 13 NM in one hour because of adverse current. So when measured from island, vessel has only
moved 13 NM. So the speed over ground will be 13 Knots.
Because of 2 Knots current, the boat would move 2 NM away from the ship. The distance covered by ship with
respect to floating boat will be 15 knots. So the speed over water will still be 15 knots.
Now finally lets assume that there is 2 Knots current from astern as in condition C. In this case ship would
cover 17 NM in one hour because of favorable current. So when measured from island, vessel has moved
17 NM. So the speed over ground will be 17 Knots.
But because of 2 Knots current, the boat would move 2 NM in the direction of the ship. The distance covered by
ship with respect to floating boat will still be 15 knots. So the speed over water will still be 15 knots.
What were your answers ??
Interpretation of Speed over water
As you would have noticed, current has nothing to do with speed over water. Irrespective of how much current
you have, the speed over water will remain same.
How can we use this information ? Lets see.
Speed over water for collision avoidance
If you have been sailing on tankers you would already know how much emphasis vetting inspections put on this
fact. They want us to use speed over water in radars for collision avoidance. Do you know why ?
To understand this, let me give you a situation. I know many of us are fed up with ROR situations during
competency exams but this one would be interesting.
Your vessel is moving on a true course of 000 Deg. You have another vessel right ahead on a course of 180 Deg.
There is strong easterly current and because of that your vessel is making good a course of 040 Deg. Other
Vessel is making good a course of 140 Deg.
Your radar screen would look something like this.
If there is risk of collision, what action you will take and under which rule ?
If you think you would take action as per crossing situation, you would be wrong. Collision avoidance rules and
situations are based on how we see the ship and not on how they are moving.
For example, as per ROR, Head on situation is when you see a ship right ahead or nearly right ahead. That is
when you can see both her Mast headlights in line or nearly in line and both of her sidelights.
Now Just visualise the situation I described. Will the defination of head on situation fit in this situation ? Yes it
would.
But the problem is that if you follow just the radar, It will give you a false sign that the situation is a crossing
situation. This is because the radar would be showing the course made good of both the ships.
This problem is tackled by using the speed over water in Radar. And that is the reason vetting companies
require use of speed over water for collision avoidance.
When we use speed over water the same situation would look as a head on situation. That is because when we
use speed over water, it does not consider the effect of current on the vessel.
But in both the cases, CPA and TCPA would not change. That is because CPA and TCPA are calculated with
range and bearing of the target between two or more intervals. Remember Radar plotting techniques ??
Is the GPS speed required in RADAR ?
There is no debate that GPS feed is required in Radars for position. But if we have to use speed over water in
radar, do we require GPS speed then ?
Yes, we do. Infact i have come across some vetting inspector who ask to put the radar on standby. They then
check what source of speed it is showing. If it shows GPS speed, they have an observation such as..
Vessel did not use speed over water while approaching the present port as was evidenced from the radar
screen in standby mode.
In my view, this is really incorrect observation. Navigators need to use both speed over water as well as speed
over ground judiciously. Speed over water is only required to be used for collision avoidance and not
necessarily for navigation.
By using speed over ground, a navigator is more aware of the situation than otherwise. For example, if the ship
is drifting towards a danger, navigator will know it better if he has speed over ground in radar. This is because,
with speed over ground radar will show a vector of course made good. (Vector need to be selected as true in this
case).
As you can see in above, with speed over water navigator may get an impression that ship is moving clear of the
danger. In actual it may be drifting towards the danger.
So Navigators should use both the speed to their benefit and as a tool to better navigation.
Log speed as Engine Speed
As we have seen, current has no effect on the log speed. For this reason, in normal wind force, log speed is very
close to the engine speed.
Engine speed is calculated by Propeller distance divided by the time. Propeller distance is obtained by
multiplying total revolution to a constant. This constant is proportional to the pitch of the propeller.
So
Engine speed = (total revs x constant) / Time
In normal wind conditions, this engine speed will be equal to the speed over water (or speed obtained from log).
If it is usually not same on you ship, there are few important conclusions that can be drawn.
1. Log is erratic
This can be a good indication of you log giving erratic readings. The conclusion however need to be verified
with other means too. These include comparison with the GPS speed in calm weather with no current.
2. Foul Hull
There is another conclusion that can drawn from the difference in actual engine speed and log speed. There are
chances of hull having considerable amount of marine growth. This will increase the resistance to the ship and
ships speed over water will reduce to that with the clean hull.
This can give considerable difference in engine speed and speed over water. There is another way to confirm
this finding. If the hull is fouled, ship may not be able to run on NCR rpm because of excessive torque. In run
on NCR with foul hull, it is very likely that you will get torque limit alarm on the engine.
Conclusion
Speed over water and speed over ground are two distinct tool. One does not replace other. Navigator should
make full use of these speeds where these best fit.
For example, navigator should use speed over water for collision avoidance. Speed over ground should be used
for navigation.
Using speed over water, a navigator can be sure of his assessment of colreg situation. Using speed over ground
can give an early signs if the ship is drifting towards a danger.