The Ocean Signal RescueMe PLB introduced this morning at METS is not just a little smaller than the competition; it's purportedly 30% smaller in volume and that claim seems borne out by the photo. Size is important because the smaller a distress beacon is the more likely it is that the owner will have it with him or her when it's actually needed. Of course when things go wrong a PLB has got to work well too, even if it's years old, and the RescueMe also looks good in those terms...
It's telling of the Great Convergence when the biggest electronics news of a boat show is arguably a software upgrade. I don't mean that innovation in marine electronics has slowed down, not at all. But whereas the Big Four have now all rationalized and modernized their product lines -- though in some cases it took painful operating system rebuilds -- big features can often be realized just by unleashing capabilities already build into MFDs or available from sensors that may already be interfaced. We just saw two neat new Fusion 700 audio interface updates, but now consider all the features crammed into Raymarine's Lighthouse v5 update, which was just announced the first day of FLIBS and -- holy cow -- is already available for all a-, c-, and e-Series MFDs...
I think that personal AIS beacons are a deservedly hot new safety technology but, as discussed in June, the display manufacturers are just learning how to handle them well. In fact, right around that same time I had to add bug alert comments to an earlier Kannad R10 AIS MoB beacon entry about how a certain Garmin software update could cause its MFDs to shut down after receiving the beacon's test signal! It was an embarrassing moment in product improvement, as documented in these email warnings to the Newport-Bermuda race fleet, but Garmin eventually solved the issue and may indeed have set a new bar for the proper integration of AIS beacons. The screen above, for instance, shows how clearly the Garmin 7212 on Gizmo alarmed shortly after I activated the test mode on a Kannad R10...
A Camden Harbor 2012 spring bonus has been getting to know that classy 85-foot wooden yawl as she prepared for an attempt at the Northwest Passage. Her name is Nordwind though her mainsail cover and life rings are marked Nordwind 1939, presumably in memory of both her launch year and the Fastnet Race in which she set a record that held for twenty-four years. Some of this history can be found on Nordwind's 2011 Transatlantic Race page along with mention of her recent rounding of Cape Horn. This old boat still gets around! I suspect that her greatest asset for the adventure north is the fact that her professional skipper, Alex Veccia, has already sailed her so many hard miles. But if you look closely in her rigging, you'll see that he will have some new electronic helpers...
One of the great things about the new AIS MoB beacons, like the recently FCC-approved Kannad SafeLink R10, is that they can send a short test signal over the air so that you can see how well your AIS plotter has been programmed to deal with one. But the fact that I've been encouraging folks to do just that makes it even more imperative that I report on a bug in very recent Garmin MFD software versions 7.30 7.20, 4.30 4.20, and 3.80 3.70. (See comments on the R10 entry above for more detail, but you probably don't have the bug unless you updated your Garmin in last few weeks). While Garmin purportedly did a great job of programming its displays to respond usefully to an AIS MoB, apparently the test signal from an R10 can cause its MFDs to shut down, which was just discovered in Newport where the Bermuda Race fleet is gathering...
DeLorme just started shipping a new 1.5 version of the inReach satellite messenger, tracker, and distress device that works with an Apple iOS version of the Earthmate app as well as an improved Android version. I again participated in the Beta testing and, though almost all of that was ashore, I'm even more convinced that inReach is going to become a constant cruising companion on Gizmo and many other boats. It's hard to say whether some improvements are due to the new hardware or the new apps versions or the platforms I'm using them on, but for boat use the combination of inReach 1.5 and even an iPad 1 is totally sweeeeet...
If it's heartbreaking to see a cheerful-looking Aegean crew underway in fine weather less than 24 hours before they perished -- as we discussed earlier this week -- isn't it even worse to know that they sent a fart joke to friends and family by satellite messenger just a few hours before everything went wrong on North Coronado Island? Getting access (via Sailing Anarchy) to Aegean's Spot Share Page is also how I surmised that they were using a Spot Connect rather than the more familiar stand-alone orange model, which is why they could send short custom messages typed on an iPhone, iPad, or Android device. Like "So far we didn't have to break wind ;-)" There's more I learned...
Kannad Marine's SafeLink R10 SRS (for Survivor Rescue System) just received FCC approval, and it's about time given that this personal AIS SART was introduced in Miami more than a year ago! But let's give Kannad a break as getting innovative safety hardware like this through the approval process is not trivial. Just skimming through all the documents filed with the FCC was an eye opener, and the company had already spent many months (and dollars) getting EU approval. Before discussing those details, though, let's look at how easy-to-use yet capable the finished product is. The collage above illustrates the activation process (click on it for a bigger image) and I personally love how a bit of cord is rigged both to keep all of the R10 attached to your life jacket or clothing and to remove the orange Arming Tag and the red Activation Cap in two quick motions. It's also key to the automatic activation possible when the four ounce R10 is "professionally fitted" to certain inflatable life jackets (as detailed on Kannad's R10 web page...
That's New Zealand's fascinating Fiordland coast and while I'm not positive the photo was taken from a helicopter, I do know that the solar-powered navigation light in the foreground is serviced by one. Which is how the technicians who recently added an AIS transponder to the site got there too. But you won't see the nav light on an AIS plotting screen because the transponder is programmed to mark a dangerous submerged rock at the mouth of Doubtful Sound 3.4 miles in the distance. Now the visiting cruise ships report that they can now plot Tarapunga Rock from 10 miles offshore or from two miles inside the Sound. The concept is called a Virtual Aid to Navigation, or VAtoN, and while it's the first I know detail of, I'm doubtful that it will be the last...
I was pleased to get an email from NOAA this weekend reminding me to renew the registration of the ACR AquaLink View PLB I first tested in 2010. I'm especially aware of how important it is to keep distress beacon info up to date because in Miami I got to visit the USCG District 7 SAR Command Center and meet the folks who tend to 44% of all CG EPIRB/PLB activations. And since ACR nicely gave all the attendees a new ResQLink+ to test, I registered that too. As the photo shows, ACR makes it easy by providing the NOAA form with the beacon specifics already filled in and even a postage paid envelope (and ditto for the warranty), but I went online...
