This was my view from a borrowed mooring on Saturday night, and it was quite a nostalgic one as my one and only transatlantic was sailed aboard this very same Nautor Swan 59 from the Canary Islands to Martinique in December, 1984. It's hard to believe how very techy the boat's electronics seemed at the time, how much they've changed since, and yet how old school they look today...
My first impression of this just-launched Maine Cat P-47 last June was all about how well the flying bridge looked on what I'd only known previously (and almost bought) as an express style design, and how much useful space it added. But, my, what a mess I found when I went aboard. The poor owner -- just about to embark on an already delayed delivery trip to his home waters on the Great Lakes -- gamely listed all the not-yet-functioning parts of the boat's elaborate Garmin networks while sitting in a main salon littered with bits and pieces of other unfinished systems. While delays for complex, semi-custom boats like this are nearly a cliche, and possibly worse in these tight times, this case seemed particularly egregious. However, I've stayed in touch with this gentleman and am relieved to report that he's a pretty happy boat owner today...
I've been trying to search out a low-power 12v PC for Gizmo, though I might give up for this season -- I'm so behind project-wise -- and it may not be such an issue once I install a decent solar panel or two. But it's certainly a dynamic subject, and one way to keep up is to watch the folks who are truly obsessed with power efficiency (and low weight)...offshore racing sailors. The photos of that unusual PC in the spartan interior of an Open 40 above were sent along by system designer Eric Steinberg, founder of Farallon Electronics, along with a few details...
Regardless of anchoring acrobatics -- and just how the heck do you tie this wild 146 foot trimaran alongside a dock, with a line throwing gun? -- M/Y Alastra joins the short list of exotic vessels I'd love to cruise around Penobscot Bay, if only briefly, and if only to freak out the traditionalists. And it's a safe bet that there will be some pretty interesting systems on board; in fact, I heard about this creature because Palladium Systems just announced the monster gear contract they've won. It includes not just their Ethernet/Windows-based SiMON monitoring system -- with some 269 data points reporting to wheel house and engine room, and probably various iThings as well -- but also their new Titan electrical system...
Please don't jump to conclusions about this first real slice of the finished Panbo/MTA survey until you better understand what it represents. The questions quoted at the top of the table above were "open ended". The 950 people who spent time taking the survey (thank you all!) got no check box type guidance toward their answers. In fact, no brand names were specifically mentioned anywhere in the survey. So the 1,558 positive responses, along with the 773 negative ones, are purely the brand names that came into those many minds when asked in privacy which marine technology products had either pleased or displeased them. The individual response totals then are a mix of at least three factors: market share (how many of the survey takers own, or have owned, some of a brand's products); brand awareness (most may remember whose MFD they use, but not necessarily whose inverter); and brand perception (the emotion that brings a brand name to mind). And there are more complexities beyond...
Bob Ebaugh got some GX2100 installation help over on the Panbo forum, and that gave me a chance to bug him for some more information on the interesting system he's put together. Check it out above: two laptops connected wirelessly and simultaneously to MFD, AP, VHF/rxAIS, and Internet. Bob's a pilot and ex-networking engineer who didn't think he could write up the project well, but I think he did just fine...
That's the hyper-green eco-adventure cat Plastiki posing for a press conference in San Francisco last Friday. Sure, the project is somewhat mockable -- they'll be recycling urine as they cross the Pacific, for cripe's sake -- and there are even some who think that Mick Jagger's daughter will join the already semi-glamorous crew. But I'm sensing that this is the real deal, as did Kimball when he visited (and then Charlie pointed out that there's a North Atlantic plastic patch too, damn it). Wired's detail on the innovative construction and a Treehugger interview with de Rothchild also helped hook me. I'm planning to following this adventure and, as you're about to see, that should be easy...
This morning I managed to talk my way onto Portland's new fire boat, City of Portland (IV), just before it headed home from Rockland Marine, and I was glad I did. Apparently the firemen themselves got to choose the electronics and they ended up with an interesting mix. Those are two Garmin GMR HD24 radar domes just forward of, and beneath, that remote-controlled 3,000 gallon-per-minute water cannon. It's aimed to starboard like that because when its dedicated 525hp diesel pump fires up, it burps a "large dollop" of salt water before going full stream, and the crew are trying to give the domes a chance. Given that the canon can purportedly hole a building at close range, the fire fighters must also have a strategy (like rotation stops) to avoid blowing that Furuno satellite compass (upper left) into space...
From Dan Corcoran in Valencia, SP: Because of the great speeds of the two sailboats, this America's cup will be held further from shore and on a longer race course than those of recent memory, causing tremendous challenges communicating on the race course. Even the judges are unsure that they will be able to communicate successfully in boats equipped like the one pictured above with retractable towers for VHF communications and satellite dishes.
I love this photo. It may look messy, but not only is one man's fine N2K+++ yacht system being tested here, but the standard itself is getting explored, possibly to the benefit of many boaters. This is Kees Verruijt's attic somewhere in the Netherlands and, as explained on his new Yacht Electronics blog, that Commodore PET is the "PC" he first learned programming on back in 1979. The rest of the gear is going on Merrimac II, a Stadship 56 now under construction that Kees and his family have obviously put a lot of thought into. Kees wants to extend the usefullness of his NMEA 2000 data system, even to his iPhone, and he's had to go to some serious trouble to do so...
