OK, so I was nosing around Harkenstore.com looking for specs on some cam cleats I need for my Rhodes 18. Couldn’t help but check out the clearance section, and, wow, there beckon lots of the fine Italian boat shoes Harken started selling a few years back. I already have a pair of Torboles, which are very comfortable and beautifully made. Now I’m going to have a pair of the Rivas, right, marked way down to $40 with free ground shipping. They’re in most common sizes too, and Harken has printable shoe chart online. Thought you might want to know. Electronics later, hopefully.
I knew about “Easter Eggs”—little jokes or animations hidden behind odd key combinations in PC software, particularly games—but I just learned last week about pushing star69 on a Northstar. Apparently back in the Loran days, the key combo would display the message, “Help we’re prisoners in a Loran factory.” On the 6000i above, you get a full screen photo of the Northstar staff with a similar message taped to the factory windows. Are there other marine electronics out there with a sense of humor? By the way, the boat has four 6000i displays at one large helm, and you’ll hear more about the set up eventually.
Some 75 boats in tomorrow’s 97th running of the Mackinac race will be using a new FlagShip transponder supposedly built to very high standards. It’s quite compact (empty Bass Ale bottle for size reference only), operates on its own rechargeable battery, and will be sending location, speed and heading every hour. Once started, we’ll be able to track the race here. Interestingly, the FlagShip also “provides two-way communications”, though the press release is vague about how, and what can be done with it. Also interesting, the developer is a lady IT specialist who is a regular and successful captain in the race.
The animation above shows how AIS system data can be used to predict a vessel’s future track, even “bottom sweep”—in this case 2 minutes ahead of its actual position, speed, rate of turn, etc. It’s from AECDIS2000, a commercial grade PC software product developed by a Swedish company called Adveto, which has a long history with AIS. (Check out the interesting illustrations about how radar can misinterpret a target’s turn direction on Adveto’s AIS page). This software was pointed out to me by Fred Pot, who seems to be aware of numerous other AIS possibilites that most of us haven’t heard of yet. For instance, did you know that the system allows vessel traffic service (VTS) operations to transmit “ghost” AIS targets? In other words they can use ARPA radar to track a vessel that’s not AIS equipped—plus perhaps get its name, destination, etc. by VHF—and then send out AIS messages that let other boats in the vicinity “see” it. By the same token, some nations are apparently considering “virtual bouys” as a cost saving move. Instead of all that heavy hardware, an antenna ashore will simply broadcast an AIS message marking the position of the old entrance bouy. On the other hand, some are calling for actual bouys that transmit real time current and weather data. For example, there are critical passes along the inside passage to Alaska where even cruise ships have to wait for near slack current, but the actual time of slack can vary somewhat from the predictions. We’re just beginning to understand where AIS technology will lead.
I’ve been researching boat cameras and finding neat developements. One is the SeaMoon Passerelle, which sees 360 degrees at once. The screen image above shows the hind end of a big yacht in two 180 degree panoramas, no remote control panning needed. (Note that the boat is obviously in a yard; hence the vacuum cleaner and taped up glass doors). Below is a diagram of how it’s done without moving parts; two reflective surfaces (yellow) collect the 360 x 60 degree image for the CCD. SeaMoon seems to be a relatively new division of SeeNite, and its site is fairly minimal (lacking, for instance, these illustrations from the product brochure).
I’d appreciate any comments on unusual cameras and/or unusual ways to use them afloat.
Above is output from a free program developed in France called GPSActionRelay. It is written in Java, and will suppossedly run on any operating system. Features include replay of several boats in a regatta, polar diagrams, VMG, speed averages, etc. It looks pretty complicated but apparently is used by some sailing teams and a number of geeky windsurfers. I’d like to know what hardware they carry on their boards at 46.7 knots (yi!), but couldn’t find any information. A Garmin wearable Forerunner perhaps? And if so couldn’t heart rate be graphed to speed?
Last week I mentioned (relatively) inexpensive side scanning sonar, and here’s what I’m talking about. This 7” diagonal Humminbird 981c, which retails at about $1,650, is a conventional 750 watt dual frequency (50/200kHz) fishfinder that’s also able to scan sideways about 240’ out and 100’ down at 262kHz. The image on the screen (bigger here) is the left side of a scan, showing a submerged barge (distorted by the scanning dynamics) and a pile of dumped logs. You can see from the numbers that the depth was only 11’ and the scan is only looking out 30’, but there are more screen shots on Humminbird’s side scan page that show pretty good detail at somewhat greater range. Of course, these are all company images; has anyone out there tried one of these?
Good gracious, that’s IDEC’s engine lying in the rocks beneath her destroyed hull. It must have been hairy for Francis Joyon to wake from deep sleep and get off this boat in the pitch dark. Sea & See has amazing pictures of IDEC both just before her record transatlantic passage, and just after the post-finish-line accident. I don’t fully understand how Joyon’s off course alarm works—“I was using the autopilot, and I think it must have taken her off course, as happened once or twice during the record - but I wasn't going fast enough this time to be warned of the change”—but what an extraordinary shame (and ‘nuts’ to the few cynics who think he did it for insurance!).
Fred Pot showed me a really interesting new concept in target plotting that was developed at a Dutch maritime school. Currently many plotters/PCs and radars can automatically use ARPA and/or AIS info to calculate the CPA (Closest Point of Approach) and TCPA (Time of CPA) for vessels within range. Typically they flash a warning if a potential CPA drops below a preset threshold like 1 mile, meaning that you and the other vessel are going to pass that close if you both maintain current course and speed. This is all good—and beats the hell out of manual plotting—but still leaves the operator to figure out how to change course/speed to avoid tight CPAs, which can get especially complicated when there are multiple vessels involved. “Safe Pass” works a little like computerized weather routing, calculating various CPA/TCPA data versus possible changes in your course and then plotting potential safe, and dangerous, areas ahead. In the example above, bigger here, you are about to cross a shipping lane with two vessels crossing each way. Turning left will make things worse, but turning right between the red “danger clouds” will result in a safe passage (assuming the other vessels maintain course and speed). The concept seems to make a lot of sense, and has purportedly tested well in ship simulators (at that Dutch school), but so far no developer is yet working to make it available. I wonder why not?
This Friday’s gizmo is the big kahuna of all the portable power packs that can typically jump start a car (or boat), run 12v gadgets, inflate a tire, and more. Xantrex’s top-of-the-line 400R also includes a 400 watt inverter, an emergency light, and an AM/FM radio with alarm! Inside is a replaceable 20 amp hour AGM battery which seems to have guts (and contributes to a total unit weight of nearly 30 pounds). In my experience, the 400R powered quite a bit of reciprocal sanding, and then smartly alarmed and eventually cut out when the battery went too low, or if I bore down too hard. That’s a digital watt meter showing in the picture (bigger here); when the inverter is turned off, it can show percentage of charge. This thing is obviously designed for emergency backup during hurricanes and the like, but I found it darn useful around my little back field boat yard, and it might have a place on some cruising boats. It’s fairly well made, certainly better than other jump start packs I’ve had. Xantrex’s page on the 400R is here, and a fellow named Jack has written a lengthy and careful review here (he’s right that it takes a long time to recharge, but I thought the radio performed OK, at least a low volume).
OK, so I was nosing around Harkenstore.com looking for specs on some cam cleats I need for my Rhodes 18. Couldn’t help but check out the clearance section, and, wow, there beckon lots of the fine Italian boat shoes Harken started selling a few years back. I already have a pair of Torboles, which are very comfortable and beautifully made. Now I’m going to have a pair of the Rivas, right, marked way down to $40 with free ground shipping. They’re in most common sizes too, and Harken has printable shoe chart online. Thought you might want to know. Electronics later, hopefully.
Some 75 boats in tomorrow’s 97th running of the 
