🔍 Key Concepts

• Relative motion vectors between your vessel and the hurricane • How to maximize Closest Point of Approach (CPA) by choosing a course that increases separation over time • The hurricane’s track (285°T at 25 knots) compared with your own maximum speed (12 knots)

💭 Think About

• Sketch the hurricane’s course line from its present position and mark its speed; then sketch your own possible course lines at 12 knots. Which general direction (relative to the hurricane’s track) tends to increase the distance between the two tracks over time? • Think about whether you should be steering more toward the hurricane, straight away from it, or across its track to get the greatest CPA when your vessel is slower than the storm. • Compare the relative bearing from you to the hurricane’s track line for each candidate course. For which heading does the line of relative motion between you and the hurricane point most nearly away from the hurricane’s path?

✅ Before You Answer

• Confirm your vector triangle: one vector for the hurricane (25 knots toward 285°T), one for your ship (12 knots toward an unknown course), and the resulting relative motion vector between ship and storm. • Make sure the course you pick gives a relative motion line that moves the hurricane’s track across your bow or stern in a way that increases separation, not decreases it. • Check that the chosen heading is not roughly parallel and in the same general direction as the hurricane’s course, since that could keep you closer for longer given the storm is faster than you.