Who isn’t fascinated by the Maltese Falcon, the 289’, $100,000,000 yacht that sails under a very unusual DynaRig, actually three rotating carbon fiber masts carrying fifteen automated square sails on carbon yards? I did get to see a phenomenal 18” model of the Falcon (built by Rob Eddy, another local gem), but I would so like to get a sail aboard this vessel, or least a glimpse at what the electronics its very techy owner Tom Perkins chose for her. I do know that Tacktick is quite proud that its Micronet wireless wind sensors were used to help test the rig during construction in Turkey. And today, which happens to be the Queen’s birthday, the company won the Queen’s Award in the Innovation category. A tip of the crown, then, to Tacktick. I’m pleased to report that I’m going to test a Micronet wind, depth, and speed system on my Rhodes 18 this summer, and that today is finally warm enough to think about boating.
PS: Speaking of Queens, check out this time-lapse video of the Queen Mary II visiting San Francisco. This site, BoatingSF, also has an interesting newsletter on AIS.
My April PMY column about Charles Industries, and isolation transformers specifically, is now online. Also up are some new product write-ups meant, in part, to illustrate how companies that traditionally supplied engine and boat manufacturers are now making plays for helm space and consumer attention. One is instrument maker F.W. Murphy, whose HelmView is seen above as part of Volvo Penta’s EVC system but is also capable of chart plotting using its SD slot for Navionics cards (below). This puppy can handled three simultaneous CANbus connections, including NMEA 2000, as explained here, and at the Murphy site (and also as used aboard a Cruisers Yachts 447). HelmView’s retail price is not trivial, but it might make a super geek gauge. I also covered Charles’ new IMcharger series, which has optional helm display and/or N2K output, electronically controlled fuel tank selectors from Parker Fluid Control, and a nifty BilgeWatch8 monitoring system that I still have in the test lab, and will expand on here one day.
The first LightShip I tested had rather stiff and ineffectual suction feet and kept falling off the south window I stuck it on so that its little solar panel would charge up its Ni-Cad battery (no doubt the winter chill coming through the glass didn’t help). Then one last fall killed it dead. But that’s how I found out that SolLight had upgraded the suction cups, and now test unit #2 is stuck firmly to my office window and working like a champ. You can switch between red and white LEDs, and there’s even a light-actuated off switch if you want to just leave the sucker on all the time. At $15 a piece, less in volume, I’ve got to believe that lots of LightShips are going to go boating. There’s more detail here and, by the way, the SolLight bottle lamp I tried almost two years ago is still working fine.
If I were at the New York Boat Show this week, I’d check out the headset systems being shown by the relatively new company Piratecom. Their wired gear doesn’t solve the roving deck hand problem, but looks like it can do most anything a captain and crew seated on a loud boat would want…like up to five headsets noise cancelling both ways, triple audio inputs plus a cell phone connection (some exceptions) to the skipper’s set, and an intercom. There’s also a “Captain Isolate” switch such that he/she can speak to the crew but they can’t speak back, useful for cell calls or, you know, just noise-cancelled peace.
Offshore Systems was showing this nifty fuel gauge at METS, and it was getting serious attention from show walkers. Developer Bruce Coward told me that last year he had to spend half his time explaining what NMEA 2000 is, but this year most folks seemed to understand it already. Progress! In fact, Offshore makes both an N2K networkable version and one that can just extend the tank info from an existing analog gauge. But going 2000 means you’d have tank info anywhere you wanted it, plus you could use Coward’s water-sensing and no-moving-parts tank sensors. I’m afraid this gear is pricey, however, and I can’t seem to find online dealers for it.
At METS it was announced that Nexus Marine, once a part of Silva, is now an independent operation. This won’t matter much in the U.S. where the gear has been marketed under the Nexus brand for some time (it’s a long story). What will matter is the two new instrument systems that Nexus previewed: the NXR, “unashamedly aimed at the international racing circuit and superyacht sector”, and the NX, “high-quality, compact instrumentation for the cruising sailor using technology usually associated with high-end racing systems”. The NX features a wireless connection to a (rather wild-looking) masthead wind sensor, which Nexus terms “wireless where it makes sense” (take that, TackTick!). Details should be revealed at the Miami Boat Show. In the meantime, I thought Nexus’s Web explanation of wind shear and its T.R.U.E. calibration system interesting (click on “Read more” at bottom right of main page).
If you’re now lusting after a thermal camera, you might consider the interesting idea of combining one with a searchlight. If you were on passage at night, you’d leave the thermal going and if you spotted something indistinct on the water (mind you, this camera, and the Flir, only output 320 x 240 pixels, which is higher res than many thermals), you could just hit it with the light, which would already be pointing at it. Ditto for some thief sneaking up a banana republic pier, especially effective as this baby packs 15 million candlepower and its Xenon beam size can be remotely controlled. The Carlisle & Finch NightFinder debuted at Ft. Lauderdale and is not on the company’s site just yet, but I recall that it costs something like a good used car. Hey, I was in the superyacht tent. I’m home again, with a zillion possible Panbo’s in hand, but also knackered and on deadline…so that’s it for today.
Notice the two throttle/shifts (bigger shot here); one controls a small Vetus diesel, the other an electric motor, both turning the same shaft. I didn’t get all the technical details or the performance numbers—this area outside the Cape Town Boat Show was noisy with cars and water taxis—but I did get the sweet story behind the boat. The gentleman shown, who spoke much more quietly than your average salesman, is in fact an instructor at the Whisper Boat Building Academy, which was recently started to teach deaf youngsters the skills need to join the region’s very active boat building industry. So the hybrid launch is a project boat, whose sales help finance the school, and the two young men below are two of its proud builders.
NVTi’s new 5000 and 6000 series multi-camera night vision gear got a nice mention from an interesting blog called Core77, which noted how the industrial designers behind the striking look above did a study of the yacht aesthetic which led them “to embody notions of speed, precision, durability and sex appeal as the camera's key characteristics. The camera head, consisting of a brilliant white aluminum body and tungsten rings, and its motor base are separated, allowing the unit to appear sleek, agile and vigilant on the deck.” (Which happens to be my personal on-deck goal as well.) It’s funny to see this baby and the company’s now rather plain-looking earlier designs all lined on NVTi’s product page. From there you can also find out about the various improvements the company has made on a technology that had already impressed me quite a bit. You can get wider field of vision on the thermal cams, yet more zoom on the low lights, plus 2-axis gyro stabilization on the whole shebang, and—very cool—the ability to lock onto a target selected off your radar screen. “…be it a floating container or another vessel, the cameras will automatically track to that location. Locking onto the object, the cameras will follow it until the craft passes by safely.” I’m guessing that this feature uses MARPA, but I’m not sure; there’s a picture, none too great, below, and good tracking videos here. All nice, but do note that this new design starts at $73,000.
Did you cruise some mega systems with Intelisea on Monday? Well, now you might want to visit another relatively new monitoring company, Krill Systems, and download its SoftDisplay demo (it’s a single zipped .exe file and needs only XP or 2000 to run, no installation). You may miss that “carefor more champagne, sir?” feeling, but I think you’ll find well thought out software for monitoring important stuff on, say, a 45’ trawler. Krill is aiming for less than mega with a starter kit at $4,500. That gets you an Electrical System Sensor Pod (below), a Tank & Switch Sensor Pod, all cables and sensors, an Ethernet Switch, and the SoftDisplay to run on your yacht’s computer. Krill also makes a waterproof 8.4” display (a dedicated CE PC actually) with built-in WiFi lest the Ethernet run is too difficult. Of course more sensor pods can be added and, because Krill’s front end is a small PC application, off ship monitoring should be fairly easy to setup. Here’s the full image of the SoftDisplay screen above but you really should try the demo, drilling down to see how tanks are calibrated, bilge alarms set, etc. Also note developer Casey Cox’s unique bonus display of incoming NMEA navigation data.
