Over the next few days I’ll be posting some guest blogs from Jeff Hummel, who writes, “Over the last 10 years I’ve been making an annual trek to the Marine Equipment Trade Show (METS) in Amsterdam, Holland. The show, now in its 18th year, is the premiere marine equipment show in the world.It only runs for three days and is primarily a business to business venue, and it’s enormous with over 1000 exhibitors spread over 4 halls. Walking non-stop it took me 2 hours to cover the show.”
Jeff, by the way, has worked in marine electronics for over 15 years. He started with Nobeltec in 1995 and was instrumental in developing the Insight Radar and Nobeltec’s Passport charts. He left in 2001 and wrote a 600 page book about using the software called Inside Visual Series. Now he’s the director of Sales and Marketing at Rose Point Navigation systems, which produces Coastal Explorer and Maptech’s Chart Navigator Professional. He also writes part time for PassageMaker magazine and owns an 80ft research trawler called Sea Blazer that he is currently setting up as an NMEA 2000 test vessel.
But don’t presume you need all those qualifications to write a guest blog on Panbo! If you’ve have an interesting bit of marine electronics, or a cool helm setup, or a lesson learned, please send us a note and we’ll discuss an entry.
We interrupt the normal new electronics programming for a brief rant. I just read this in the November issue of Boat.U.S., reportedly the largest circulation boating magazine on the planet (and generally quite good):
“But before you have visions of hitting ‘print’ on your computer and getting a high resolution quality chart, boaters need to understand the terms ‘raster’ and ‘vector’ charts. A raster chart is essentially a snapshot of a paper chart, composed of a bunch of dots, like a newspaper photo. While the resolution is not good enough for printing, it’s fine for a computer program and screen display.”
Say what!?! Everything printed is a bunch of dots, and the native resolution of most raster charts is 254 dots per inch, very darn close to the 300 dpi standard for quality glossy magazine images. Just about any decent charting program can print rasters very nicely at full scale (the only real trick is printing from the file, not the screen image).
The BoatU.S. article, titled “Charts Go PC”, starts with a decent explanation of NOAA’s new free RNC (and ENC) download policy. But then it veers into shaky territory like the above and various other misunderstandings about vector/plotter charts. It’s a shame because boaters are confused enough about marine electronics, software, digital charts, etc. that the “expert” magazines should be going out of their way to provide accurate information.
I wouldn’t rant on this subject—and risk sounding like an arrogant ass—except that I regularly come across electronics errors in the boating press. Lord knows, for instance, how many times I’ve seen Ethernet and NMEA 2000 treated as though they were essentially the same (not!). At any rate, take care to treat printed words with appropriate caution (and if you’re an editor please consider having technical articles from uncertain sources double checked by an expert or two).
Late on Friday I learned that PMY is sending a crew of editors to the delayed Fort Lauderdale show. I sympathize with all the exhibitors and locals who don’t think the show should be run while the city is still recovering from Wilma (see PMY forum), but I’m also glad to be going. The electronics companies will have at least someone to show their new stuff to, and it will likely be so quiet that I’ll have a good chance to look it.
As those of you in the industry no doubt know, there’s a lot of talk going around about the wisdom of trying to run the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show next Thursday, a week late. This afternoon PMY set up a forum to discuss the subject, or just vent. Like Panbo, you can post as yourself or under a handle.
My good buddy Ben “El Geekalones” Ellison has graciously given me some space here in his MEB (Most Excellent Blog) so that I can alert you all to the doings of another good buddy of mine, Reid Stowe. Reid is setting forth next month (ETD is approximately Thanksgiving) on a record-breaking 1,000-day voyage aboard his home-built 70-foot gaff-rigged schooner Anne. He intends to circumnavigate the globe multiple times non-stop in the Southern Ocean, looping up into warmer climes when conditions and his mood warrant, and will also sail north to the equator and back each time he hits the South Atlantic so as to get credit for an official circuit of the globe.Reid has been planning this voyage for many years, and in 1999 conducted a 200-day non-stop passage as a test flight for this one.Now his boat is prepped and he is finally ready to go.
But he could use some help in the electronics department!To enhance the significance of what he’s doing, Reid is hoping to pull together a communications/transponder system that will permit him to document his voyage to the world as it takes place---both so folks can follow him as he goes along and to verify his accomplishment.
Anyone interested in lending some equipment, expertise, or service time to this project should check out Reid’s site (or call him directly at 212-414-4891).Reid will make sure you get credit as a sponsor if you like and will gladly participate in any reasonable marketing scheme you care to build around your involvement.A thousand days at sea, after all, is the ultimate test for any product/service.Or you can get involved just because you think it’s a cool project!!! — Charlie Doane, Editor-at-large, SAIL Magazine
PS. I too am a fan of Stowe’s 1,000 day sail, which I consider performance art of the interesting kind. And, by the way, Panbo welcomes guest blogs…of the interesting kind. — Ben
Whew…back in Maine for a couple of days before NMEA conference. France is sort of a daze, but the pictures suggest I wasn’t just dreaming. The St. Tropez regatta of classic and modern sail boats (official site here) was phenomenal to behold. That’s Mari-Cha headed for “first to finish”. Note the size of the mast instruments, almost readable from where I was standing (on a tour boat handled by a very skillful and brave skipper) with my midsize telephoto (bigger image here). Below is one of the Wally fleet, crew relaxing after the race (bigger here ). I’m not sure what they all do as those sleek button pods at the helm run all sorts of hydraulic sail handling gear. If you want to see some of the classics—why not?—check out Philip Plisson’s images here.
I’m in a pre-travel dither today (evening flight to France), but I have a couple of thoughts about the recent sale of Simrad’s marine electronics assets to the “Nordic private equity fund Altor”. On the surface at least, it looks something like Raymarine’s split from giant Raytheon. I remember at the time how skeptics fretted that the new independent company would suffer for lack of the mother corp.’s R&D depth and deep pockets, but it certainly seems that Raymarine has been developing interesting and successful products ever since (and its financial backers enjoyed an IPO). Let’s hope Simrad gets a similar shot of energy. I also want to note one of Simrad’s significant assets. My wife and I got to tour two of its factories in Norway a few years ago and were impressed with what we saw and felt. The lady above is assembling autopilots in the old Robertson operation in the fishing port of Egersund (drying fish and socks below, how salty is that!). R&D, production, marketing all shared the same waterfront facilities, and many folks had been there for decades. There was a solid, peaceful feel to the whole operation. Afterwards, Andrea, who cares little about this stuff, said that if electronics were important to her, she’d like to have these people building them.
That tall white sport fishing boat, a Luhrs 41, is how I went missing the last few days. My daughter and I took it from lower Manhattan (above) up the Hudson River to Newburgh, N.Y. WiFi, even Internet cafes, were sadly missing, but we had us a fine time exploring our revolutionary era roots. I’m not all that familiar with driving big hp, big prop twin diesels but must say the possibilities are amazing once you get a feel for what just a wee moment in gear can do. Of course it didn’t help to start with an audience of thousands in North Cove. Not to mention the heavy security in these parts, like those heavily armed CG boats above (this is a block from Ground Zero). Plus that’s Ellen MacArthur’s B&Q trimaran moored next to the Luhrs (bigger picture here). She wasn’t around but her program guy Oli was. I tried to talk my way aboard to see the electronics setup but the timing didn’t work out. Oh well, I did get the Luhrs in and out without embarrassment.
Look what I found while surfing around Raymarine’s investor Web pages. That’s all there is, so here’s some guessing:
* New radar scanners — maybe using Ethernet for fast, flexible connection to the new SeaTalkHS network, and/or able to turn at double or variable speeds for dual ranges or high speed running (like Simrad)?
* New instrument range — might it be SeaTalk2 (NMEA 2000) based like the fine ST290 range, but less expensive?
* Cameras — perhaps relabeled gear from the security industry, but now branded, distributed, and warranted by Ray?
* Weather — is this the “relationship” with The Weather Channel Marine, announced a long time back, now bearing fruit, probably only on the E Series? Via Sirius, with tunes?
* Entry-level multifunction range — hmmm?
* Further integration — AIS receivers, even transponders? Music, etc.? Systems monitoring and switching? Text communications? Web browsing? What?
I’m posting this in the wee hours because I’m off to New York City and a cruise up the Hudson. I’ll be sleeping here tonight. Posting will be spotty for sure until I return next Tuesday.
I’ve got a cold today, and need a break. Meanwhile, it’s Labor Day Weekend here in the States, and that’s a little depressing too. On one hand, it’s becoming abundantly clear that the folks hurt the most by hurricane Katrina were the residents of New Orleans too poor to get out, and statistics suggest that the number of such people in our country is increasing. On the other hand, the biggest change I’ve seen in 35 years of watching my little harbor in Maine is the arrival of megayachts like Northern Star above, which charters for $425,000 per week, plus expenses. Last weekend I watched the three crew above labor half a day to wash down the 210’ hull, which already shone like a mirror. I’m not sure that’s labor we should be celebrating. I’m going to take a long weekend, refresh, and will get back to marine electronics next Tuesday.
