Non-verbal communication

It's well know in this newsgroup now that I don't talk much on the radio 
although I do maintain a listening watch with the scanner running through 
all the usual channels.  I also have the Restricted Radiotelephone 
Operator's Permit, ****p Station License, and MMSI.  I carry a handheld in 
the cockpit as well as the DSC unit hard mounted just inside the 
companionway.

There are a couple of theories about my infrequent use of the transmit 
button:

The first is that I an arrogant and irresponsible risk taker living in a 
world where everything that happens is someone else's fault.  Self 
examination is always a good thing so I was interested to see that 
possibility raised by the fellow who sails a 27 footer around in Long
Island 
Sound although I found the definitive and absolutists nature of his 
diagnosis rather amusing given the quantity of data he had to work with.

The second possibility is the topography of the area in which I sail.  In 
and around ****tland Harbor, in which there multiple routes and channels 
crossing and boats are proceeding in half a dozen or more different 
directions,  radio contact is apt to go like this:

"(Whoever) this is the white sailboat with white sails off your bow."

"Which of the 30 white sailboats with white sails off my bow is calling?"

By which time somebody already better have done something if it is a
traffic 
conflict.

Calling earlier doesn't help a lot because you'll then have to discuss the

half dozen boats in between you.  Even fewer of the yachts know how to use

the radio than know the rules of the road so calling them is usually a
waste 
of time and distracting them at a critical moment is often counter 
productive.

I'm pretty comfortable in this environment having done a lot of my early 
sailing in Boston Harbor in boat that didn't even have radios.

Once out of the harbor, the spaces in Maine open up so that crossing 
situations hardly ever develop.  I like looking at scenery so I'm usually 
inside the infrequent commercial traffic.

What makes this mime approach to traffic management possible and brings me

(finally) to the subject, is a technique mentioned in the rules but seldom

used in my experience.  When I'm in a head on passing situation, I don't 
just edge over to a clearing course but make a bigger swing and give other

boat a good view of the whole side of my vessel at about the time I might 
otherwise be making a radio call.  I then swing slowly back to a closer 
passing course.  There are all sorts of variations of this method.  If I'm

going to make a close astern pass of a starboard tack sailboat, I bear off

smartly as if I was going to go well astern and then edge back up for the 
close pass.  These methods leave no doubt about my intentions and are 
actually faster and less prone to miscommunication than radio calls in
many 
situations.

Which brings me to my trolling question?  Do people in this group use
vessel 
course changes to communicate intent or commonly see others do it in their

area?   Up here, when someone makes a course change to resolve a traffic 
conflict, they are usually just fleeing the area.

-- 
Roger Long