I'm not sure why I get such a kick out of fractured marketing copy, but I do. And I want to honor the energetic entrepreneur who's been trying hard to advertise the Mumbai Yacht Club via Panbo comments (even if I haven't let them go up). To "The Ownership Economic entails endless technical tensions of Man-management-n- Maintenance, Berthing, etc..." could we not add interfacing NMEA 2000 and 0183, making marine WiFi work, etc., etc.? And if I ever get back to the southwest coast of India, which I'd truly love to do, I might actually try to rent one of the "club's" yachts...
Here's hoping that American panbots had a wonderful holiday weekend, and that northern hemisphere readers everywhere are enjoying the boating season. I'm pleased to report that blue skies are finally breaking out here in Maine. Friday night's harbor fireworks were pretty sad -- even those of us out in boats could only see vague glows in the fog -- but there were times on the 4th that flags dried out enough to flutter. And isn't Gizmo looking good? I still haven't gotten around to changing the name lettering yet, but as an electronics test bed -- and a cruising celebration of independence -- she's really coming along...
Here I am trying to cover the world of marine electronics from my nest in Camden, Maine, and darned if I don't miss interesting happenings in my own neighborhood. Apparently Richard Baldwin, an experienced bluewater solo sailor who lives just up the Bay in Belfast, is the passion and brains behind an unique endeavor that's using mini sailing drones like the prototype above to teach students of all ages about oceanography, not to mention GPS and satellite communications...
It was a bit anticlimatic, but I'm told that on Friday the funds moved, bills of sale were signed, and -- good golly, miss molly -- the Duffy Atlantic 37 formerly known as Rain Dog III is mine! It was a learning process, for sure. I may know a fair bit about boats (Lord knows I should), but hardly beans about the intricacies of buying a real yacht. I'm very grateful for the help of two professionals who also happen to be friends: surveyor Steve Bunnell (above) and broker Dave Perry. If I ever need a yacht-buying A team again, I'm calling these guys.
Well, ain't that a bitch! Thanks to the vigilance of Steve Roberts I now know that an online "store" called Discount Marine Electronics is posting Panbo entries as though "it" created them. Actually all they're doing is putting up the same first picture and paragraph anyone can get via XML feed or email (see Subscribe button top right). But Discount Marine Electronics is cutting out the "read more" link, so readers really don't get the whole jist of the entry but may be fooled into thinking that the diligent staff of Discount Marine Electronics is testing gear and writing about it on a regular basis.
So it turns out that within my big old head still lurks the boat lust of a younger man, even when confronted with tangles of wires and other system complexities. No problem, I thought to myself, I can deal with this stuff! But was that the irrational voice of a love stricken boy speaking? I've been missing from Panbo for a couple of days because en route to NYC yesterday I checked out a boat I'd been admiring online...and fell much deeper under her spell. Today I've been consulting trusted advisors who know more about this sort of boat, and the used boat buying process, than I do. And I'd like to know what Panbots think...
The screen shot above could be from a "game" called Ship Simulator 2008, which in itself is pretty neat. (First I tried the demo, and then 17 Euros and a 705mb download later, I owned the darn thing ;-). But, in fact, the screen came from Raymarine Marketing Manager Jim McGowan who is using a beta copy of Ship Sim Pro 2.0, which among many other enhancements supports up to 8 serial ports that can send 23 NMEA 0183 output sentences and understand
9 input sentences. Thus McGowan can set up training or demo scenarios where what's happening in the simulation is also happening on his electronics. Thus the tug and barge being overtaken in New York Harbor above is also seen via AIS on the E-120 below...
That graph represents the teensy weensy difference over recent years between “real” solar system time and the time we oh-so-carefully keep with atomic clocks. As of this morning, real time—i.e. the mean sun dead south or north at noon (at the exact mid longitude of a time zone)—was 6/10ths of a second behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC or Zulu). You see, relative to the atomic clocks, the earth’s rotation is slowing down a bit—partly, you guessed it, from “tidal friction”—which is why all those corrective leap seconds (spikes) have been applied over the years. Including the one you may not have noticed just after 23:59:59 UTC (6:59:59pm EST) tonight. Time is a slippery thing…
As gray it is, but with pinpoints of light shining through, this image (bigger here) says Christmas season 2008 for me. It’s a slice of the view from near my borrowed apartment during last Friday’s snow storm. Sometimes even the massive buildings of lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty (way to the left), and the Brooklyn Bridge (way to the right) were invisible. But I’ve learned enough from AIS and VHF monitoring to know that New York Harbor goes about its essential duties regardless: the oil (barges) come in, the garbage (barges) go out, and the people (ferries) go round and round ;-) Later today, my wonderful wife comes down from Maine, along with my mail (including this year’s famous Echopilot Christmas card). All’s well here in New York, as I hope it is with you and yours where ever you are.
This weekend I’m working on a PMY column about Class B AIS, and now have three transponders up and running, which you’ll hear about. But I also went over my notes and audio recording of the NMEA AIS meeting, and recalled with a smile Jorge Arroyo’s dismay about repetitive and goofy recreational boat names. “We don’t want 250 Rum Runners in our database!” he exclaimed. The very next day I saw Bullship moored above at Catalina Island. The truth is that we can be pretty foolish about boat names, and they are going to look…um…unprofessional on AIS target screens and Web sites…
