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...
How about these command and navigation stations? Thursday evening turned out pretty horrid for a boat launching, but Lyman Morse pulled one off with its normal panache. The Hunt-designed 54' jet express Whistler (just visible beyond the catamaran's bow) is another stunner for its power boat portfolio, especially if she zips by you at her expected 30 knot cruise. While it was neat to check out Whistler's interior at the same time many of the local craftsmen involved were showing off details to their families, I particularly enjoyed some alone time on the 60' Morrelli & Melvin sailing cat Mala Conducta, which Lyman Morse launched just last month...
Aha, a worthy electronics-oriented blog I forgot in my "Resources" update (now fixed) is Tom Tripp's OceanLines. Check out this week's interesting project: Tom, who also blogs for MadMariner, got several major manufacturers to work up electronics packages for the new Kadey-Krogen 55. Here are detailed suggestions from Garmin, Furuno, and Raymarine. I'd be curious what an independent dealer/installer might suggest, particularly in terms of a more PC-based system, and what you all might do with that huge helm above (and a budget to match)?
PB200 with VHF extension pole for mounting atop a masthead
I am writing to share my excitement about a new product from Airmar, tested aboard my 39 foot sailboat this past October-November. The Airmar PB200 is a compact masthead sensor that includes an ultrasonic (no moving parts) wind sensor, solid state compass, GPS receiver and more, along with a 3-axis accelerometer. It has an NMEA-0183 output that I found compatible with my Raymarine instrument suite. Airmar doesn't market this for use on a sailboat, but when I learned about the new version of this powerboat product, I got excited about the potential to make my autopilot much more useful when sailing short-handed. Thanks in part to Panbo, I got the opportunity to evaluate a beta version on my own sailboat...
Tip of the beanie to Bob Taylor, who wrote from his Nordhavn 57 Istaboa to enthuse about the Cradlepoint MBR1000 router above, which can handle—even prioritize or load balance—multiple cellular, WiFi, DSL, etc. WAN (Internet) connections coming in via card, USB or Ethernet, and then deliver them to the LAN (PCs, iPod Touchs, etc. around the boat) via WiFi or Ethernet. In the photo Bob’s got an AT&T HSUPA USB Aircard, a Verizon EVDO USB Modem , and a Port Networks MWB-200 WiFi rig (which he heard about here) all connected to it and getting along fine, as he describes in his blog.
Bellissimo, no? Behold the WallyNano, which sports not only pink topsides, but all teak decks and smoked glass cabin sides, not to mention push-button hydraulic sheet handling. Tacktick is proud of this beauty as Wally put its Micronet Maxi displays (below) on the mast, controlled with a remote. She also uses Tacktick’s 4’5” high vertical wind wand in order to get more accurate readings, and—just maybe—to go with that pink plumb bow.
Here’s Russ and Fay enjoying the christening of New Morning last August (as did I). They’re now beyond the Gulf Stream en route to Bermuda. It would be nice if they posted a new entry on their blog (via Iridium/XGate, I think) and/or fired off a Spot OK message (which I get a copy of, and also gets plotted on their share page), but I’m confident that all is well.
The 18' Annie G. must have looked comical, not to mention bedraggled, circling the 169' schooner Meteor as she varoomed her 100 kW bow thruster to set twin 600 lb CQRs in the Outer Harbor yesterday. But my mate Max (once owner of his own noteworthy schooner) and I had never seen this superyacht before and had to gawk. In fact if it weren’t for a later Google search—hello Meteor!—I wouldn’t know a thing about her, and still can’t figure out what all those domes on the carbon spreaders do.
Two days in the deadline mill and I’m tuckered. But I thought you might enjoy this rather gorgeous helm, bigger image here. It’s the custom Wesmac 50 I mentioned back in June, i.e. the boat on which I got a taste of my writing subject, Garmin’s new autopilot. So let’s forget about that for the time being and take a look at the ergonomics of this dazzling command and control center. My notes:
Here’s some follow up on Russ Cooper, the Panbot who recently commented that he’s “spent >$10,000 to get an N2K coolant water pressure gauge that works...and still doesn't have one!” Ouch. He has a legitimate gripe, I think, though I doubt the problem is unique to Garmin. You see Russ bought a Bennington 2275RLi with a Yamaha 150 that he’s using on a particularly weedy lake in Ontario. Whereas the Yamaha is sort of NMEA 2000 compliant, he put together the nifty system you can see above (bigger here) and diagramed below. But—cue the Rolling Stones here—you can’t always get what you want, as Russ explains:
Now that, friends, is an antenna mast (bigger image here). By way of scale, the tubular frame radar array showing over the large horn is 24 feet wide. I also learned that while the crew of the USS Whidbey Island does get “slow” Internet access underway, it doesn’t work on some headings, which suggests that whichever dome delivers recreational Internet may sometimes be in the shadow of that huge mast. This 609’ LSD (dock landing ship) was here to celebrate Windjammer Weekend, and I lucked into a tour led by a cheerful Ensign in the “Electro” department. Details of interest:
Binoculars, sminoculars! Open the bigger image to get a hint of how well Sandrine’sFLIR Voyager multi-camera system is bringing in the little tower on Mt. Battie (from which I took Panbo’s header photo). Live in person you could easily watch the tourists climbing around, and we didn’t have it totally zoomed in. But, egads, on Oct. 1 FLIR will offer a Voyager II model with some must-have features. For one thing, it will input radar cursor data and thus automatically hone in on selected targets, which could be very valuable, I think. It will also have an IP address, and thus will be remote controllable from any computer on the yacht or beyond, which could be fun.
If a man must be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. — E. B. White
Some days I could be content just checking out the activities and links sent in by various Panbo readers. Who I like to call Panbots, somewhat in the spirit of Steve Roberts, the inimitable gizmologist with a knack for names. Yesterday Steve emailed notes on installing a Simrad AP20 (SimNet/N2K) autopilot he’s already dubbed “Tina” (as in Turner!). It went aboard his 44’ steel motor-sailor, the S/V Nomadness, which will have quite the systems when done. Steve’s blog has all the gory details, including a run down on the temporary electronics set up above (and the fuller White quote). You see he’s one of those frustrated folks waiting for a Furuno NavNet 3D delivery. {Meanwhile, a few of the Hull Truth posters who aren’t liking NN3D charts have gone around the bend into crazy conspiracy territory, even misinterpreting my entry on the subject; oy!, and more tomorrow.}
My first screen shots of Slancha’s Garmin 18” HD radar drew a lot of interest and I look forward to more experimenting with it later this week, but the real subject of the shot above, and this entry, is the fuel management information shown on the bottom bar. The boat’s owner, Peter Smith, installed a GFS 10 fuel sensor on the system’s NMEA 2000 network, and he’s tickled with the results, particularly the miles-per-gallon info, which has shown him where the sweet spots are on his power curve. That “Economy” number—a calculation based on flow versus Speed over Ground (from GPS) or Speed through Water (your choice)—may change with the boat’s load, bottom growth, sea conditions, or engine tune, but he’ll be able to see it happening.
Damn the Doane! Due to Charlie, my head’s stuck in maybe the funniest, and best written, cruising blog I’ve ever fallen into. That would be Clark Beek’s Adventures of the Vessel Condesa, and the post that got Charlie’s particular attention is Beek’s latest…a tale of failed charting computers, a quartet of “Bond girls”, and a hostage situation on Columbia’s remote Pacific coast. Make yourself a little reading time before you click here.
It’s good to hear that Aeolian shook the snow off her decks and made it to Bermuda. John Gass emailed that the skipper is “very pleased” with his new NavNet vx2 system, but the electronics in this included nav station shot (bigger here) look like they were installed when the boat was built by Holland Jachtbouw in 1998. It’s not 1985 vintage, but you don’t see some of these devices every day.
To heck with all the 2007 “best of…” lists, let’s reminisce. It’s 1984, the 47’ sloop Civais has just joined the list of new builds at the Paul Luke yard in Boothbay, Maine, and she’s sporting about as spiffy an electronics package as I recall from the era. Check the bigger picture here. That’s an International Offshore digital depth sounder and alarm at upper left, a back up perhaps to the Raytheon combination flasher and recording fathometer at the upper right. There’s also a Furuno CRT radar, with hood, just above the Trimble Navigation Loran C unit. Stacked just to their right, starting at the top, is a Stephens Engineering AM/SS radio telephone, a Magnovox satellite navigator (Transit, not GPS), and some sort of VHF radio (can’t make out the brand). Finally there’s weather fax (Alden?) and some sort of box that might be an antenna switch or tuner. And I dare say there are some spiffy old instruments in the cockpit. I doubt that any one piece of gear talks to any other, via NMEA 0183, 2000, Ethernet, or any other protocol. The good old days? Nah, but easier to get your installer head around. This photo is another from the great Red Boutilier Collection, courtesy of the Penobscot Marine Museum. More can enjoyed at MaineBoats.com. Reminisce!
PS On the book shelf is one of the better—and certainly the most humorous—star finding books I know, The Stars: A New Way to See Them by H. A. Rey (yes, the same man who created Curious George). And it’s still available.
Yup, check out the bigger image, it’s been snowing here again and this poor crew was getting ready to take the lovely Aeolian south for the charter season tomorrow. Yipe! Apparently this was not exactly the plan in early July when the boat was hauled (which, amazingly, is documented on You Tube). Schedules can slip when the project list includes major items like a deck overhaul, a new engine and an exotic electronics network. I might have gotten a peek but there was a little stress aboard as yesterday that network had a “melt down” when a PC was swapped out.
Good day. My fourth METS show in six years (starts tomorrow), but the first with my (fairly) patient wife along, and the first day that I’ve gotten out on the Amsterdam canals or even seen much blue sky here (in November). We got a ticket for a Blue Boat tour with our B&B, and that turned out lucky too. They seemed the most handsome and woody of all the tour boats, and our particular skipper hardly used the computerized “guide” (the mini PC screen upper right) in favor of his own patter and custom mix tape, both slightly cracked. His nav equipment? A Furuno GPS mainly displaying SOG, and a VHF that he used to keep in touch with the home office or, above, query an arrogant tug who cut him off cold. And mind you he’s driving a single screw vessel about 60’ long—no thruster, no deck hand—negotiating lots of traffic, and numerous bridges with barely a foot or two of leeway either side. His main safety tool seemed to be that rear view mirror over his left soldier and the mirrors strategically placed at many of the blind canal intersections. Not that a collision would cause any real harm. Great skipper; good day. And tomorrow, like Tuesday a year ago, should begin with a passel of Garmin press releases. What do you think…15” displays?…instruments?…Garmin branded auto pilot?
That’s an Argonaut Tflex-G615 under that extra layer of protection, just like the one I tested, and it’s connected to a down-below Mac Mini that’s running MacENC. This is on an “unsinkable” ETAP 37 belonging to Bob Etter, who’s a principal at ETAP Charter Lease and apparently a devoted Mac navigator. This shot was taken when he first tried the setup—“It could be brighter…For less that a grand, it is fantastic!”—and I hope to hear soon how well it worked this summer. I do know that he’s added a NSi waterproof touchpad, which looks like a neat piece a gear. It’s made of stainless steel, “vandalproof” too. Apparently it uses “Field Distortion Technology” which means it is not pressure sensitive—“a light touch is sufficient, tracking your fingertip precisely.” But because of “the capacitive working principle, the unit might not work with thicker gloves.” On the other hand (there I go again), “it will operate at all mounting angles and it does not require cleaning or maintenance.” There’s a lot to learn about touch technology. By the way, NSi also makes a trackball with software controlled back-lighting, called the Chameleon, which may well be the source of the neat Palladium visual alarming trackball I spotted at the Ft. Lauderdale show last year.
Above is a laptop screen from the Wheelhouse II program which is part of the Raven pilot package I discussed back in June when I got a ride on Penobscot Pilot. Skip Strong grabbed the screen from a recording of the Nor’easter outbound trip he piloted that day, and it’s well worth seeing at full resolution. As I wrote in my Sept. PMY column:
PMY’s Patrick Sciacca had quite a time testing this 3,600 hp Hatteras 60GT, at one point doing 48 mph in a serious seaway. He was also impressed with the 15” touch screen Northstar 8000i on center in the helm’s pop-up electronics console. I got quite excited about the 8000i when it was previewed to me back in late 2005, but then it didn’t actually get to market for some time, and now things are a bit up-in-the-air as Navico absorbs Northstar.
Darn, I was hoping to get a shot of Bruce Kessler in his wheelhouse departing the Camden Public Landing this morning, but got distracted by a contest idea (that you’ll find here this weekend). When I looked up, he and his all-ladies-of-a-certain-age crew were headed out into the haze. You may still be able to catch Spirit of Zopilote at Shine Micro’s Live AIS, which, as shown below, can now overlay on Google Earth (and shows Penobscot Bay thanks to the Penobscot Pilots). I really enjoyed meeting Bruce last summer, but my admiration is up a few notches further after a couple of coffee-sipping hours with him this morning.
Despite indications that I only think about AIS, I do have some other subjects! A big one recently has been Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding. This morning I just finished up a PMY Sept. feature about the company’s woodworking department—now 50 crafts-people strong, and doing phenomenal work—and I’m researching an eventual electronics column about Electra, which began with an early June trail run. What a boat! You can actually feel her lightness (carbon laminates, cored panels, etc.) as she gets up and cruises in the mid 20 knot range with a relatively minor wake. And what a helm! It’s unfinished and undressed in this shot, bigger here, but you can sense the excellent sight lines, both outside and to the various screens.
6/28 I’m now ashore and able to upload this shot of Malcom Willard showing off a three-meal dolphin on a lake-like Atlantic ocean. It was taken on Tuesday, a few hundred miles south of the Gulf Stream. I didn’t manage to get the text below online until Wed. afternoon. Note that no electronics played a part in the fish’s demise:
Note to self: If I ever get to try this again---posting a Panbo entry from offshore with a sat phone---
That’s Skip Strong making his way down Nor’easter’s twisty pilot ladder, as seen from the bow of the Penobscot Pilot. Man, that move must get the adrenaline pumping, say, on a dark night with a big sea running. (Capt. Ryan told me that they can manage a ladder like this in up to about eight footers, sometimes getting the ship to turn toward the ladder and using the flatter turbulence created inside the turn). At any rate, Strong, who is a bit of a geek (and I mean that in a good way) has quite the electronics in that bag he’s toting.
I’m way behind on work, not to mention the gizmo preparation, that needs doing before Bermuda (wow, Bill and Gram were fifth over the line and third in class corrected), so I’m turning it over to Milt Baker. These snippets are from today’s noon report, filed from almost the midpoint of the Med Bound 2007 Bermuda-Azores leg:
Ships are few and far between out here. We nearly always pick them up on AIS before seeing them on radar. Moana Kuewa (which has the same Furuno FA-150 AIS unit we have) clearly has the best installation {not trivial} and picks up the ships first every time, sometimes as much as 20-30 minutes before they show up on the AIS units aboard Salty Dawg and Bluewater.
Not only did I get up on Mt. Battie yesterday and take that new header picture of a more June-like Camden Harbor (remember the old November one?), but I got down the Bay last Friday, catching a ride on the Penobscot Pilot. That’s Captain Jane Ryan and I above, and bigger here , just after she’d smoothly maneuvered alongside Nor’easter to pick up pilot Skip Strong (who snapped the picture). I’m wearing the float coat and harness because I’d been out on the bow shooting Skip’s descent down gangway and ladder, and because Jane runs a very safety conscious operation (with very good reason).
That’s Bill Strassberg and Gram Schweikert on board Visions of Johanna, a gorgeous Chuck-Paine-designed Morris-built custom 62’ fast cruising sloop (check the PDF on this page). The name may ID a seminal Bob Dylan song but the real Johanna in this case is Bill’s wife and Gram’s mom; they are a stepdad-stepson racing team (how sweet is that!). They just began the Marion-Bermuda race this afternoon, and though they appear to be last in Class A as seen right now on iBoatTrack, they are contenders. After all just the two of them did the start and the somewhat complicated first leg out of Buzzard’s Bay while most all their competitors are fully crewed. Besides, the duo placed second in the 2005 race. Bill was deeply involved in VoJ’s design and build, and claims to know every system intimately, and Gram, a naval architect at Pedrick Yacht Design, had much to do with the yacht’s electronics, which include dual computers running The Cap’n and Explorer as well an Furuno NavNet radar and Raymarine instruments. Why am I so interested, besides the fact that these guys are homies? Well, I’ll be on board Visions this time next week, joining Bill and Gram, and Chuck Paine, for the trip back to Maine. And I’ll be dragging a large bag of electronical goodies along. How cool is that!
Spent a long weekend in New York City—big fun—but was feeling old and sorry for myself while driving home from the airport yesterday. Having the second kid (of three) turn 30 and missing some gorgeous Maine boating weather will have that effect! Thankfully, though, my buddy Jack got the week off right, taking me for a spur-of-the-moment sail on his spanky new J/100 this morning. Today was the first time I’ve sailed one—sweeeet!—but I’d already been aboard two of the several that have been commissioned here. I know, for instance, that the first four all got Raymarine autopilots, along with lots of instruments and C120’s mounted on forward cockpit bulkhead. You can see some of that on Smitten, above and bigger here . So Jack’s boat, with only Raymarine autopilot, wind, and depth, plus a Garmin 545 (I think, not installed yet), is relatively “old school.” All pretty amazing for boats that are essentially 32’ day sailers.
My buddy CharterWave Kim took these shots at an Italian charter boat show, and I thank her for passing them to Panbo. Najade’s dishwasher-size radar is an oldish1965 Furuno FR2010, which apparently still works fine…at least after its three minute warm up. Furuno may even still have parts (tubes!?) for it. That’s a Furuno policy that many owners appreciate almost as much as the performance. I mention it because I was bit shocked last week to see a Raymarine customer note stating that they are “sorry to say but we can no longer repair or provide parts for the ST 80 system.” Which seemed pretty harsh, as the customer says he installed his ST 80 instruments new in 2001.
That’s the mighty 94’ Electra being shown at Lyman Morse’s grand open house last weekend. The boat is still being finished but she’s already shown high performance and is said to have “a fantastic, state-of-the-art electrical and electronics system.” I got a peek at the opening plus met the man responsible, Electra’s owner/engineer, and was just now invited to join a sea trial tomorrow. I don’t believe I could have said “yes” any faster!
But it will be a busy weekend as I’ll also be helping Lee Heidel switch Panbo over to a new server, new blogging software, and a new design. I think—sure hope—you’re going like it, but no doubt mistakes will be made. In fact, I have to go silent for a day or two, and there may be trouble carrying the last comments over. Please bear with us, and be sure to come back next week.
I’m working on a Voyaging profile of Milt Baker’s Bluewater helm, which makes it particularly propitious that he and Judy are this minute sheparding a fleet of nine Nordhavns convoying to Bermuda from Ft. Lauderdale. Three, including Bluewater, will continue on to the Med, hence the rally name Med Bound 2007. There are supposed to be daily updates accessible from this Web page, but the fleet’s Yahoo group seems more current right now. But I’m also getting Milt’s email noon reports, which yesterday included some rhapsodic words on AIS. Six of the nine boats have Class A transponders (Bluewater a Furuno FA150), which is making it easy for Milt to monitor the convoy, and passing ships to understand what’s going on. Milt, by the way, is using OCENS Mail with an Iridium phone to e-mail from offshore (but note that Globalstar announced today that it just got four replacement birds up, which should improve its service situation). Note too that while Milt generally uses high end gear—with backups for the backups!—he’s also the guy who questions the need for big radar scanners. Which brings me to the picture above. That’s Milt showing me how he deals with a drawback of using conventional, if inexpensive, monitors on a bridge. The 15” View-Sonic LCDs can’t dim down enough for night running, but Milt took care of that with some sticky back hook-and-loop and red gel. Now, what I just noticed in these photos, and can’t find on the Net (or ask Milt about right now), is that odd doodad next to the compass. I have a feeling that it’s some sort of nav aid reminder—and no doubt useful if Milt’s got one—but how exactly does a Marker Mate work?
Thanks to gCaptain for leading me to the Flickr pages of a Houston ship pilot who is also a fine photographer. Unfortunately he doesn’t aim his camera around the bridges much, excepting a few like this shot of a Turkish captain (is that a periscope in front of the helmsman?). But, wow, his marine sets are sure worth browsing (don’t miss his “Darwin Award”).
Sometimes I like to wander around the many sites of one Stephen K. Roberts, a gent who appears to be a true original. Robert’s latest ride is the Corsair 36 trimaran Nomadness, which must feel like a megayacht after the Microship. It was on his photo tour of Nomadness where I saw this shot of a RadioLabs 12db steerable WiFi antenna, called a Wi-Pod, which Roberts calls his “secret weapon”. His current project seems to be a “pedal/paddle/sail kayak” tender for the tri, a replacement for Bubba, and featuring something he calls Kayaktopus:
At first glance, this may sound just a bit excessive... after all, I'm the guy who built the BEHEMOTHbicycle, an existence proof of the Roberts Law of Applied Mobile Gizmology: "If you take an infinite number of very light things and put them together, they become infinitely heavy." I have occasionally been accused, with some justification, of over-engineering.
Tip of the hat to Mr. Roberts for exploring the geek frontier, with a sense of humor.
Having crossed paths with some circumnavigating Panbo readers in a foreign port, I had to get aboard, and what a pleasure it was to meet Iris Schepelmann and Graeme Arnall and tour their steel catamaran Pelagic. This is not your go-fast multihull, but rather one designed to survive a collision with a container (so far untested!), and to carry everything the couple need to live afloat. In the starboard bow, for instance, there’s a several-hundred-book library/office and in the port one a workshop, both behind crash bulkheads and collapsible steel water tanks. You can see the boat’s details on Iris and Graeme’s Web site, though it’s not up-to-date on their travels, which now include the Red Sea, the Med, an excursion up to Norway and Scotland, and now a leisurely downhill tour of the Caribbean chain.
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.
A wildly coincidental e-mail is going around. While John was using his Raymarine E-Series to track AIS traffic in the Channel yesterday, Mike Harker was grooving on what his E and autopilot could do as he power reached (9.6k) toward Colon, Panama. Last night he somehow blast emailed the photo along with some enthusiastic text, including a good explanation of those five lines around his boat plot:
1) the thin red line (left) is the course the boat is steering to keep the boat headed in the direction of #2. {aka Heading} 2) the thin black line (middle) is the direct course to the destination {the Colon waypoint}, or as sailors call it the “Rhumb Line”.
I’m off to Miami, and posting may be sporadic this week, but one of many sights I’m hoping to take in is this raw carbon Navman/Northstar equipped helm (bigger here ) on the wild wave piercing trimaran Earthrace. While tieing this thing up to a dock must be a challenge, the boat has already proven itself over many ocean miles, and will soon try to set an around-the-world record, burning biodiesel yet. The whole story is here. I’m getting a thing about power multihulls.
Well, now, couldn’t we have some fun on this handsome beast! Bon Pigall is a new 24 meter water jet powered aluminum research vessel that’s pretty fast and pretty nicely appointed (other photos show teak decks, for instance). She was built in Spain and much of the PR material sent to me is in that language—which I lack—but I do know that she has a dynamic positioning system and carries a serious looking “robot submarino”. Speaking of serious, how about that Simrad crammed helm above (bigger here ), which includes Olex 3D bathymetry? Then there’s the monitor crammed cabin beneath the bridge, which is the control center for the submarino. The electronics are the work of a Barcelona company called Medenisa, whose site doesn’t have Bon Pigall info yet, but does list some serious megayacht setups the firm has installed. Medenisa developed the DP system with WCM Controls, and says it a first for this size vessel.
A scupture of B&G, Leica, Furuno, and Team-Italia electronics on a sail-powered teak lawn? Hell, I’d be willing to shave my head too. (More fantastic pictures at Wally and Gilles Martin-Raget.)
This is the helm of a Robertson and Caine Leopard 46, sometimes thought of as the Moorings Leopard 46 since this huge charter company is the builder’s main client. R&C is the biggest boat shop in South Africa, 14 hulls under construction when I toured the other day, one being launched every six days (the pressure was palpable). The boat above was just commissioned and may already have left on a 7,000 mile delivery to a Moorings base in the Caribbean. The electronics surprised me in two ways: * The plotter is the same damn Raymarine RC425 I was disappointed to find on an older Moorings Leopard 42 last winter. I didn’t even think this unit was still available. I guess its presence speaks to how easy it is to navigate where this boat charters, and how unwilling the actual owner is to put better gear in the hands of charterers. * But that doesn’t explain the TackTick wireless and solar powered instruments (bigger helm shot here). Apparently the Moorings has specified these on all new boats, and no one could tell me why. I think TackTick gear is very cool, but am really surprised that the Moorings would want to deal with another supplier, and more expensive gear at that. Anyone know the story? Long distance deliveries, by the way, are part of South Africa’s boatbuilding success. The young man on the bow above has logged 35,000 miles already this year, and the hand on the wheel belongs to R&C’s delivery manager who’s talking daily via Iridium to at least two vessels bound to the Caribbean, West coast of Mexico, Med, Australia, somewhere. It’s quite possible for owners to join these trips. In fact, Admiral Yachts, which specializes in cruising cats for Americans, includes with every boat sale a pair of plane tickets to Cape Town, two weeks in seaside apartment while your boat gets launched, and then the services of a pro delivery captain/instructor to get you to the Caribbean. That’s the story in the photograph below, bigger here, as Harlin and Brenda Allen watch their Admiralty 38 Banana Split leave the factory. Look for them in Trinidad in about six weeks. It was a pleasure meeting them, and we all enjoyed the South African expression for “wide load”. Aren’t all boats Abnormal Loads?
It is famously hard to photograph rough seas, and this (bigger here) is a good example. Only a bit of spray and Mark Delaney’s two-handed grip on the grab rails suggests that his Two Oceans Magnum 32’ sport fishing cat is slamming along at 20 knots across steep and confused five footers piling up just outside Cape Town Harbor. That crazy Frenchman is my new good buddy Laurent Fournier, the only other writer on this press tour, and it was his idea to test this boat in less than smooth conditions. We got way more than we bargained on, but it certainly confirmed the contention that South Africans tend to build serious boats because they boat in serious waters. Elsewhere in the world this test would likely have been postponed but Mark had no qualms about subjecting his boat to some real pain. In the process he proved beyond doubt that the hull he and his father Rod developed leans nicely into fast curves—unlike many power cats, which lean unnervingly outward—and also has enough reserve bouyancy forward to resist burying its bows even while surfing in extremis. The Delaneys favor Furuno electronics, both here and aboard a crackerjack Two Oceans cruising cat I toured. The latter even has a Furuno autopilot, the first I’ve seen on a sailboat (excellent preformance reports Rod). The Magnum also had the all-in-one DVD player below, from a Australian company called Majestic I’d never heard of. Mark says they hold up, and that’s saying something. It turns out that further up the African coast, where tuna are plentiful but harbors are not, Magnums and similarly tough boats are beach launched through surf using big wheeled tractors and special trailers. Serious about fishing too!
Well, I’d figured that posting might suffer, but I had no idea how long a two day plane trip and a miserable hotel WiFi voucher card system could knock me off line (why is it so easy to serve Internet via WiFi, so hard to charge for it?). If you’re reading this, then I’ve figured a way to update Panbo via the hotel’s “business center”, and we’re back in business. Which starts with my first boat ride in the southern hemisphere. While the electronics—Raymarine ST60 wind, depth, speed and a JRC 1500 radar—weren’t exotic in the least, the boat was. Fuji Cat is a Scape Yachts 39’ multihull purpose built for day sail chartering. Hence the “bug eye” hard dodger—odd looking, but very effective off Cape Town where the ocean is wide open and cold, and the weather changes fast—plus the on-center helm with all sheets led to it under the platform, and thus out of finger pinch range. The hulls are fairly narrow, construction fairly light, and Fuji acclerated quite nicely even with about dozen bodies on board. There’s a “sport cruiser” model that’s clocked runs in the high 20’s, and can fly a hull if you’re up to it. Meanwhile I’ve been to the Cape Town Boat Show, and am getting a feel for how vigorous the boat building business is here. In more general sense, things are sometimes oddly familiar, other times a bit different. I just heard “Sweet Home Alabama” playing on an FM station, but that plate on Fuji’s snack bar features “South African sushi”—the local joke name for beef (I think) jerky.
OK, it’s not exactly glamorous to drive a cargo ship full of used cars out through Germany’s Keil Canal and than across the Baltic to Lithuania, but it was this unfortunate skipper’s first command. That’s why he couldn’t rest well during the already stressful 6-on/6–off watch schedule (only two deck officers!), and possibly why he let the lookout—who was also the cook and about to be relieved the next day—go below to clean the galley for the next guy. Result? The captain fell asleep so solidly that Lerrix went a full hour past a turning mark before it went aground, even though VTS (vessel traffic service) operators were trying to warn him by radio. Yes, readers, I’ve been dipping once again into the rich archives of the U.K.”s MAIB (Marine Accident Investigation Bureau), and finding yet more dope that should make you very cautious about big ships. An interesting aspect of this particular case, detailed here, is how minimal the ship’s electronics were, though up to Brit code, and how funky the skipper’s own setup:
“Lerrix’s bridge equipment met the criteria required for the flag state {U.K.} Safety Equipment Certificate. Although compliant, the navigation equipment fit was basic, consisting of 3cm and 10cm radars, neither with an ARPA facility, an echo sounder with a paper plot, and stand alone AIS and GPS sets. During the investigation, it was noted that the master carried his own laptop computer from ship to ship, complete with a hand-held GPS. Loaded onto the laptop was a pirated programme of Transas electronic charting, which he had downloaded from the internet in 1999. The hand-held GPS, which the master had secured to the bridge console, provided the positional information for the laptop’s electronic chart (Figure 6). Examination of the programme showed that it had not been updated since 1999, and the charts on the system were based upon 1999 data. The downloaded software did not provide any of the optional operator functions, such as warnings and alarms.”
So I spoke to “the boys” on Saturday; they’d had a great first sail on their own. Good Enough is slippery, as I saw myself (note the 6.3 knots on the GPS, relatively flat seas in background). And, good news, Jo found himself getting more comfortable with his Garmin. Here's a bigger shot of the screen above, showing some of the things I set up that may be helping him: * In Map Setup, the Prefs sub tab, I put Orientation to “Track Up”. Now I know that some salts think North Up, paper chart style, is the only way to go, but I’ve come to believe that head up makes it easier to sort out what’s important on these little screens. That’s especially true on this Garmin (the Navman 8120 too) because Track Up and Course Up automatically put the screen into a “look ahead” mode so you see more chart ahead of the vessel. * In the same setup page, Nav sub tab, I set a Heading Line based on a distance of 1 nautical mile. I always set up one of these lines, which I think Garmin should be calling a COG line (there could be Heading line too, like on a Raymarine, but it would be based on compass input). Usually I use time, but in this case, with inexperienced users and those tiny lower right map scales, the 1 mile really helps the eye to understand the current chart scale easily. The effect is pretty obvious on this Split Chart page, which I think is another boon to maximum situational awareness on a minimal screen. * Finally, I also goosed up the spot soundings font size in the Labels sub tab, but I’m not sure that helps. I really wanted to enlarge the nav aids but couldn’t figure out a way to do this. Anyone? Or do you have any other ideas on how to make a small Garmin screen as easy and informative as possible? Do tell!
PS. In regard to inspirational old boat guys, I’m happy to report that my buddy Max didn’t last long without one. Plus: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who won the first non-stop race around the world, aka the Voyage for Madmen (excellent book), is doing it again.
Multihull sailing fascinates me anyway, but yesterday’s scoot around the Bay was inspirational and momentous. That grinning dude, bigger picture here, with the magnifying lens clipped to his already serious glasses is 73–year-old trimaran designer Jim Brown, who I’ve had the pleasure of knowing since my days in the 80’s running WoodenBoat School, where he and longtime boat-biz partner John Marples taught a wonderful class in Constant Camber multihull construction. Jim’s had macular degeneration nipping away at his vision for some fifteen years, and his good buddy Jo Hudson, 70 himself, is sporting some brand new artery stents. But yesterday was, in part, a test sail preparatory to Jo and Jim taking off today, headed for Jim’s dock in Virginia. And they’re dreaming about the Azores and an Atlantic circle starting next April. That’s the inspirational part! The momentous part is that Jo just bought Good Enough from Steve Neil, center below, who took Jim’s class in 1986 along with his dad, for whom he (beautifully) built this 35’ Constant Camber Marples-designed trimaran. Steve went on to build several other multis, took this one over after his dad’s passing, and is now production manager at Wayfarer Marine. It’s not easy to give up a boat with so much personal history, but he and his mate Diane (chasing us in a photo boat) seemed delighted about turning this one over to Jo and Jim. And, yes, there was a marine electronics element. Part of my function yesterday was trying to orient the old guys to the Garmin 3206 that Jo just bought and Steve installed. It was a challenge. This is a pretty complex machine, with a lot of buttons, and Jim can only see it by putting his magnifiered eye inches away. I tried to set it up to be as useful yet straightforward as possible—more about that in part 2—but Jo still found it overwhelming. Hopefully, he’s making friends with his 3206 right now, on the open Bay. If you live or boat along the Northeast Coast, keep an eye out for these old cats!
Bluewater, belt and suspenders, another belt and...
Sep 15, 2006
Above, and bigger here, is a proud Milt Baker at the helm of his Nordhavn 47 Bluewater, a just-one-year-old vessel that he and his spouse Judy have already cruised over 7,000 miles. The couple were already very experienced when they founded Bluewater Books & Charts in the mid 80’s (coincidentally their last Bluewater was a Grand Banks 42, like the one outside the window in Rockland, Maine, on the drizzly day I visited). Now, in retirement, they are really out there doing it; this vessel is meant to take them to Europe next spring. Milt gave me a good systems tour but fortunately I don’t have to repeat much of it as he’s put a complete electronics list, even PDFs of the layout (that he designed in AutoCAD), at their BluewaterNav Web site.
Now I like “belt and suspenders” as a folksy expression for redundancy, but it doesn’t do justice to Bluewater. Let’s see: Two complete autopilots, every component; two 10.4” Furuno NavNet MFDs, networked but each with its own radar scanner, plus a 7” in the master stateroom; and a laptop running Nobeltec Admiral to twin 15” monitors, with three backup Admiral-loaded laptops on board! There’s more redundancy, and more Bluewater gear to write about, but can we agree that it’s very unlikely this boat will drop its navigational pants?
Crack of dawn, really, and nearly flat calm as we’re inside Cape Cod Bay, Race Point/Provincetown on the port quarter. In the bigger version of this picture you can see some shore lights around the entrance to the CCC, as the Canal is called, from whence that ship emerged. You can also see the remnants of the bothersome light leakage I wrote about the other day, coming off the steaming light just below the compass and a little also off the green running light forward. Note that the engine gauge lights aren’t on because my mate Rich is actually running the boat from below, and Volvo automatically switches gauge lights with engine control (nice). But I had been up on this bridge from the very wee hours of the morning and, though it was clear, had much appreciated the quality of the Raymarine radar. Check the screen shot below, full size here; with the E-120 set head up at 24 mile range, that’s Race Point off my port bow, a MARPA target in the ship channel to Boston, and Cape Ann on the starboard beam. I’ve used the VRM to note that the boat’s relatively dinky 4kW dome scanner is seeing the Boston RACON buoy about 32 miles away, which seems quite good. A couple of days later we ran into thick fog when entering Fisher’s Island Sound and learned that this radar could also distinguish little outboard boats at close range, again all settings on ‘auto’. Impressive. I think the scanner may be one of Raymarine’s new models, which they’ve been rather quiet about, but I need to check that out. Eventually I will also tell you about the problems we had with this radar (nothing to do with the scanner). In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend, which is a three or four day end-of-summer Labor Day special here in the states. If you’re anywhere near me, you really should check out Windjammer Weekend, especially today’s gathering of the fleet.
Funny that just yesterday I referenced my own submarine experience, which involved a Garmin, and today two Panbotes tip me to an AP article about the brand new 377’ nuclear sub Texas, with a cool picture of the conning tower that just happens to have a Garmin 278, 376 or 478 stuck on its windshield (even Garmin doesn’t know which). I think I see a large screen mounted down lower—which goes with AP’s description of the sub’s high tech systems, even a fiber optic periscope—but the screen doesn’t seem to be on. Maybe the software is ‘delayed’, as they say (as if software could get a flat tire on the way to work), so someone went to West Marine and bought the Garmin? At any rate, bad guys on foreign shores should note that the USS Texas, among other lethal abilities, “can travel with a small special forces submarine, nine commandos and their gear”.
We’re on our second day of gray and wet here in Maine, and I’m missing that summer passage on Shanghai Baby. This shot shows us at sunset, Andrea and Rich, the-ex-sub-captain-brother-in-law on the bridge, about a quarter of the way across the Gulf of Maine on a straight shot from Monhegan Island to the Cape Cod Canal. We did the whole leg—Camden to Cuttyhunk nonstop in 25 hours—at about 1300 RPMs, or 7.5 knots, which got us about 2 miles to the gallon, a quiet ride, and a gorgeous night offshore. The electronics angle? Light pollution! That damn steaming light leaked annoyingly into both helms, a shame because otherwise both had good visibility and good control over the electronics glow levels. I’m not sure it would be legal to move the nav light to the antenna mast, which is offset because it also serves as the tender crane, but I’d sure look into it. When running at night, getting the lighting right around the helm is important.
I don’t know much about Erica’s electronics, but ain’t she ‘purty’ (bigger photo here). Yesterday I went out on the Bay to watch some of the annual Castine to Camden classic yacht race (also covered here last year). The poor boats were struggling to maintain headway in almost whiffless conditions, but it was great to see this just launched classic, especially with builder Todd French (French & Webb) driving and designer Chuck Paine as ‘afterguard’. From the closeup I’m guessing B&G instruments and a Northstar 6000i multifunction display. And, yes, that’s a URL on the transom of the spiff cold-molded tender, but so far there’s not much to see at www.artisanboatworks.com.
What with a holiday trip and the stolen boat drama, Panbo suffered recently. I will definitely get back to business next week, but in the meantime how about a peek at the all-business helm I got to see aboard Spirit of Zopilote last Friday. You really must open the larger shot (link fixed!) to appreciate how well the electronics are laid out—all within reach of the comfy double helm seat—and what good sight lines are retained (here looking out along the west side of Camden’s inner harbor).
SoZ, as it’s sometimes called, is the very first Northern Marine 64’, in fact the first Northern Marine anything, built in 1997. Trust me, she feels at least as hunky as she looks. The helm is in the “best of breed” style popular then, and still popular with many salts like captain Bruce Kessler. Note Furuno CRT fishfinder and radar, Northstar GPS, and PC running Nobeltec Admiral, all separate. Note too the lack of a steering wheel! In fact there is one—down at knee level, for emergencies only—plus the power steering jog stick can run either of the two entirely independent Simrad Robertson autopilots. It feels like everything’s been thoroughly thought through on SoZ, as you will gather in this Trawler World feature on bringing her around from San Diego. I also found this nice speech apparently penned by Georgs Kolesnikovs when Kessler (seen below in SoZ’s very squared away engine room) was awarded Passagemaker of the Year.
I hear it’s a little foggy in Newport today, but I doubt it’s dampening the excitement about tomorrow’s 100th Bermuda Race. A couple of weeks ago I visited Alex Merrill aboard his dad’s J42 Finesse, above, just before they sailed from her winter berth in Maine (the phenomenal Lyman Morse yard) to Newport. The compact electronics system, much upgraded last winter, features a Raymarine E80 networked with a built-in VEI Marci computer running RayTech 5.0 and displaying on a Big Bay 10.4” monitor. Note the little WiFi antenna at top left in the photo, bigger here. Finesse actually shifted berths while I was visiting to get a better WiFi connection so Alex could download all the weather he wanted for crossing the Gulf of Maine. I’m sure he’s doing something similar in Newport right now, but during the race he’ll be limited to the ultra narrow bandwidth data available via the fixed Iridium and the SGC SSB (no, I hadn’t heard of the SGC brand either, but the Lyman Morse electronics guy is fan). Alex will be updating Panbo during the race, and we’ll be looking at Finesse’s system in a little more depth.
This is the first wheelhouse photo I’ve seen of Jim Clark’s Athena, and it sure looks like the thoroughly PC followup on Hyperion we expected.I wish I had more detail on the electronics, but neither Seascape nor Royal Huisman is giving much away. In some respects, the most interesting aspect of the photo above is that I saw it at beautiful resolution (shown here) in the latest (June/July) online edition of Professional Boatbuilder. PB, or ProBoat, or whatever, is one of the best marine publications out there, I think, but it used to be damn hard to qualify for a subscription. Now the whole magazine is available online to everyone, and in a format that I find very readable on my various PCs. ProBoat has actually been doing this for a year, which means that Nigel Calder’s interesting three part article on “Networking: The three-cable boat” is completely available, starting with the Oct/Nov 05 edition (and also means, by the way, that I was wrong when I first mentioned the series here).
Super Cheater, do they make 'em like they used to?
May 30, 2006
Would you be surprised to learn that Audacity's electronics are minimal? Actually just a venerable Garmin 48 at the chart table and this fabulous Aqua Meter Super Cheater Tournament depth flasher in the aft companionway (bigger here). I had a flasher like this in the 70’s and they work darn well. Like an analog watch, it only takes a few brain cycles to keep track of depth on that big round dial (15 feet in this case). Plus it’s simple as pie; left button switches between the two ranges, right button controls gain and on/off. But it’s hard to see fish on these things and darn funny to think of one as a fisherman’s “Tournament Super Cheater”, but then again the similar Lowrance’s famous Fish-Lo-K-Tor was a million seller. Actually, there’s at least one company, Vexilar, still making flashers, though they look a little more sophisticated than this.
* Almost as expensive as the Raymarine C120 is the Simrad Taiyo TD-L1550 VHF direction finder. I’ve seen these on highliner sport fishing boats—for figuring out where the other guys are angling, especially the braggarts—but this was the first time I’d seen one in action. It’s impressively accurate, but Capt. Winkler and his team have to deal with the fact that oft times the VHF signals they get in the Harbor got to them on a bounce off the tall buildings on the waterfront. The Taiyo doesn’t know better, and points at the building.
* Notice the Raymarine Alphanumeric Keypad, a nice SeaTalk accessory that you don’t see that often. For Sea Tow the keypad is real help for quickly inputting a lat/long waypoint for someone needing help.
* With the keypad, the DF, and two Icom 502 VHF’s, not to mention Nextel push-to-talk cell phones, these guys are clearly equipped to find folks in distress, even if the folks can’t describe where they are very well. So wouldn’t you think they’d have the Icoms set up for DSC calls? Not yet, which surprised me. And I saw all sorts of signs—like the great Web cam and weather instruments—that Winkler runs a technically astute and customer responsive operation. I guess that there simply hasn’t been any demand for DSC. Will that change?
Zeus 1, the most innovative electronics at Miami was a propulsion system!?!
Apr 12, 2006
Above is a 42’ Maxum that Brunswick, specifically the Cummins MerCruiser division, was using as a special demo boat at the Miami Boat Show. Obviously (bigger here ) it’s loaded with Northstar’s new 8000i multifunction displays (and, yes, that lower one seemed a bit odd as you could kick it if you were being ‘casual’ like this model). Now I’d love to test the 8000i on the water (especially once the finished system ships in June), but this demo was much more about that fat joystick, and the engines, drives, and electronics it’s attached to, all called Project Zeus. I got to experience it myself and, by golly, it’s a very big deal indeed. The drives are similar to the IPS system that Volvo introduced last year, except that the props face aft (which I, from the bays of rocks and lobster traps, strongly favor). I won’t go into Zeus’s claims of efficiency, low noise, etc., though you might want to check out the press release. What I want to tell you about is how I watched a guy joystick this boat’s bow within a few feet of a day marker and then do a 360 around the mark with the bow always within those few feet. I also saw how you could push the “hold station” button on the Navman pilot and boat would sit exactly in place despite wind and current, and without thrusters. This is really revolutionary stuff, and important, I think, to the future of boating and marine electronics. More tomorrow.
Sharing my err…eclectic boat tastes is becoming an irregular Panbo weekend tradition. This one-of-a-kind wooden boat, bigger here, lives in Thomaston, Maine, and I understand the builder/owner is a crackerjack shipwright at Lyman Morse, one of whose shops is in the background. I’ve not been aboard, but judging from the total absence of antennas, I’d guess Asylum is way off the grid, with an ambiance distinctly different from, say, Friday’s Gunboat.
How about a 62’ sailing cat with an interior like a sleek apartment and the performance of a carbon racer? Sailing Anarchy has the story here, including a larger version of the picture above, in which you can better see all the Raymarine electronics. I’ll bet those big displays are E-120s, which have XVGA out ports, and thus that 42” LCD TV may be be set up to repeat one of the E screens. I’ve seen a Gunboat 42’ in a stiff breeze on Chesapeake Bay and she was flying. Check out the video at the company site.
This is the pilot house of a Nordic Tug 37 belonging to a Panbo reader in the state of Washington. It’s his very first boat! But he did spent an unusual amount of time learning navigation and analyzing all his electronics choices. It was the “locked-in” nature of dedicated electronics versus the flexibility of computers that ultimately drove his decision, plus a high comfort level with PCs. He did not, however, put all his eggs in one basket. Two matching Shuttle XPC computers (Athlon, for lower heat/power) drive the two 20” Viewsonic monitors, and all NMEA 0183 inputs/outputs are split and switched so that the chart table PC can do everything the helm PC can, and vice versa. Dual Raymarine active GPS antennas each split to one of the Standard Horizon GX3500 DSC VHFs and one of the Shuttles. (And, yes, I do think that NMEA 2000 could make most of this small data networking far simpler and more robust).
At any rate, besides being quite the contrast to yesterday’s helm, the photo above (bigger here) shows normal operating mode, with Nobeltec Admiral on radar duty to port, and Coastal Explorer at the helm as primary plotter. The owner seems to have mixed feelings about both packages, favoring CE a bit for its interface, "familiar, modern and easy to use". Apparently there’s a chance that CE will one day support the Nobeltec/Koden radar scanner that’s plugged into his Ethernet hub, but no guarantee. The boat also tracks AIS targets (with a SeaLinks receiver), which the owner says they “really, really like” in Puget Sound. Check out the key strips on both monitors; more on those tomorrow.
“In the foreground is a Furuno 1731MKIII radar, then behind it is a Garmin GPS162 usually left in a large map view, then there is the primary Simrad CP32 GPS which is left in a data display mode. The Simrad drives the next instrument, a Robertson AP22 autopilot. Then behind the nice Hynautic engine controls is a Dell Latitude laptop running Nobletec's Visual Navigator. Up above from left to right is the FM radio, weather telex and stabilizer controls (all out of the photo), then a B&G wind indicator, a B&G depth and speed indicator, then an Icom M-127 VHF radio which we used constantly, and finally an ICOM M-710RT SSB radio which when used causes the boat's autopilot to initiate a turn!” This is from a well-done blog I came across. Here the author is documenting an enjoyable 2003 trip down the ICW as mate aboard a friend’s 1999 Krogen 39. But there’s also a nautical sad side to the blog, which is when the author’s whole family flies to Fort Lauderdale for the dream cruise aboard their Nordhavn 46 (shipped ahead), goes out 4 miles into the Gulf Stream, then comes back to Florida, gives away all the provisions and puts the boat on the market! He’s not specific about what exactly went wrong, but this sort of thing happens more than many of us would imagine, and hats off to a guy who doesn’t try to hide it.
This is the gorgeous new schooner Maggie B. out on sea trails off Nova Scotia last weekend. I believe that big mallet is for busting ice off the rigging! Now, notice to the left the 10” Furuno NavNet vx2 on a cloth-covered extension arm. This is an almost all Furuno boat, including autopilot and an integrated computer running MaxSea. I helped the owner a bit to sort through all the possibilities before he settled on this system, which I look forward to trying some day. I am willing, however, to wait for warmer conditions.
Here’s some “what’s on board” perspective: this ‘boat’, technically a raft, is made of just four logs lashed together each day that it’s used. As you fish, the logs soak up water and the ‘boat’ loses freeboard, so when you get ashore you undo the lashing and lay the logs on a rack to dry in the sun. I have no idea how many centuries (millennia?) old this design is, but I saw the type in use all along the south coast of India, sometimes even in surf. No electronics, of course; hell, not even a nail! I took these pictures in October, 1999, a little after dawn in the fishing village of Vizhinjam, just a short walk from Kovalam, in the beautiful state of Kerala. I can still hear the babble: hundreds of fishermen messing with loggers, coming in from a night at sea in an outboard (with one kerosene lantern), and hauling a huge net that had been set into the harbor for the night…all while a mosque at one end of the beach and a cathedral at the other blasted amplified morning prayers. If you ever get a chance, go to this beach at dawn.
You’ve gotta admire John Williams’ keep-the-costs-down / keep-the-battery-full / let’s-go-sailing philosophy. The pride of his nav station (bigger here) is this antique (Windows 95), 12v sipping, pen computer (eBay, $50) which has a Holux PCMCIA GPS card (eBay, $55) plugged into it at left, and is running SeaClear charting software and NOAA raster charts (both free). John’s blog pictures the setup here and details it here, (and don’t miss his experiments with LED replacement bulbs here). This guy is having a lot of fun with a 25–year-old sailboat and some cast off electronics, though he does admit to desiring one of these. Thanks, John!
The listing is a little coy, but that’s definitely the mighty Maximus on the block for maximum millions. The equipment lists are interesting, but there are several items I can’t figure out, like:
Load Cell Pin Safe Ltd, 1 system Falcon 16 emergency system Furuno, 1 Man-overboard alert system Marine Alert, 1
Anyone? They also don’t list what software’s on the two laptops.
Here’s a closer view (bigger here) of the nav electronics at the “tank commander” helm of the Moorings 4200 charter cat. Frankly I was surprised that an expensive boat just a few years old only had a small grayscale plotter. The Raymarine RC425 seemed especially antiquated in Abaco, where the charts are tricky. I don’t think it was very quick to start with; today it seems positively sluggish. Plus it uses Navionics’ ‘Classic’ electronic chart format which was soon superseded by the better looking (even in monochrome) Gold format. Plus Navionics has recently added detailed private cartography to its Bahamas data (as has just about every chart vendor). Bottom line: almost all of the electronic charts I brought along were far more informative than the boat’s own.
The instruments and autopilot haven’t aged like the plotter, of course, but the speedo was also annoying. The paddle wheel was mounted in the starboard hull and only seemed close to accurate (compared to COG) on a a port tack. For instance, above we were actually doing about 7.5 knots on this starboard tack broad reach (pleasant!). The windward hull wasn’t out of the water, not even close, but I guess the hydrodynamics change quite a bit from tack to tack, making for an impossible to calibrate situation, which of course screws up the ST60’s ability to calculate true wind. Is this common on multihulls? By the way, there was an interesting discussion a while back at rec.boats.electronics about the ST60’s inability to use COG to calculate true wind.
Hmmm…reading the above I sound sour today. Truth is I’m happy to be back in Maine, even with snow coming down, but I am behind work wise. Back at it.
Geez, do I regret bragging about how wired I am here in the Bahamas. It’s not the WiFi, which so far is omnipresent in the mooring fields. It’s the fact that the 12v power supply for my laptop decided to pack up, and this vessel has neither inverter or generator to run the 110 supply I also brought. I’m down to 43% here, and will lose my PC until I can get ashore again. So you’ll understand if I’m short. Above is the helm of our catamaran, which is off center and raised up above the huge cockpit. You have fairly narrow vantage point—like a tank commander—and can’t see the sails well at all, but it does make sense overall. The boat goes pretty good. Later!
Above, and bigger here , is a ward room scene aboard the USS Salt Lake City last Sunday. It’s messy because the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (quite a visit in itself) had already strung work lights in preparation for shutting down all the sub’s power systems. In the shot, Rich is telling the current captain, Cmdr. Tracy Howard, how in the 80’s there was a pull down screen where the big plasma display is now, and they played 8mm films from a projector in the pantry. It was just a cool coincidence that the junior officers happened to be playing that old b&w WWII sub movie as the ‘elders’ conferred.
All week I’ve been thinking about that sub, and what it must be like to crew one. Rich tells me that, even on a big one like this, there’s so much engineering that not every crewman gets a private berth (which are, ahem, kind of squeezed together anyway). I even rented a documentary, Submarine: Steel Boats: Iron Men ;(excellent), to get some more feel for it. It is crowded living. While sub technology may be amazing—this one went 21 years on one charge of fuel—even more so are the skillful, gentle men who run them.
So I was excited just to get aboard the USS Salt Lake City; I can barely imagine what it was like for the 125 guys (+/-) who just cruised this technological marvel from San Diego, CA, to Portsmouth, NH, via the North Pole. Or what it was like for my dear brother-in-law, Richard Itkin, to be out there with the Russians back in the 80’s when he was the vessel’s first captain. You see my sub visit was a family event, and a sentimental one at that. Rich was on that conning tower above with his teenage son and daughter when the boat launched in 1982. What a kick then to show the controls to his 3 grandsons as the boat heads into retirement in 2006! The youngest, by the way (and bigger picture here ), is in the middle Diving Officer’s seat while the twins are in the Planesman’s (port) and Helmsman’s seats. Unfortunately, in terms of a technology tour, most all of the sub’s systems were shut down as it’s being prepared for reactor extraction. But suffice it to say that there are lots of places on the boat where the instrumentation is as dense as in this photo. Most of the gear is quite sub specific, but the Garmin plotter wasn’t the only COTS surprise. For instance, there was also Furuno sonar gear aboard, used during the last trip to look up at the ice, and judge its thickness. The USS Salt Lake City was able to find a thin spot and break through for a brief look at the North Pole. (Which makes Rich jealous; I would be too).
I knew the Navy used some regular marine electronics and even has an appropriate acronym—COTS, for Commercial Off The Shelf—but I was still amazed to see a Garmin 2006 tucked amongst the massive jumble of gear in the control room of a 360’ U.S. nuclear attack submarine. And what the hell was I doing on a submarine yesterday? More later.
Let me say right off that I’m a big fan of the U.S. Coast Guard. But they do screw up sometimes. The latest was doozy. A couple of weeks ago the brand new cutter Mackinaw, soon to be the Guard’s largest Great Lakes vessel, was making a grand entrance into Grand Haven, Michigan, when all of a sudden it did a 90 and rammed the sea wall. Only the sea wall and bow were injured, but the poor vessel earned a nickname that may be hard to live down. There’s even a video, and, no surprise, the skipper got “temporarily demoted”. The cause of the accident was inexperience with the controls. As you can see above, the Smackinaw has new fangled azimuth drives instead of rudders. It also has what sounds like a super high tech command and control system, judging from the verbiage on her Web site:
“Ship control is provided at 5 conning stations; Master Ship Control Console (MSCC), port & starboard consoles in the Pilothouse, the Engineering Control Center (ECC) and Aft Conning station. The Main Ship Control Console includes the Integrated Ship’s Control System (ISCS) provided by Kongsberg. The ISCS includes; Electronic Chart Display Information System (ECDIS), DGPS, Loran-C, Automatic Radar Plotting Aids (ARPA), ATON Information System (ATONIS)/Automated ATON Positioning System (AAPS), a dynamic positioning system, autopilot, a doppler speed log, deep and shallow depth sounders, forward scanning sonar, extensive meteorological sensors, VHF, ADF, IFF, and a voyage data recorder. All conning stations will have the same intuitive user interface, the same panel layout, and menu system. Route plans, mariner’s notes, charts, radar video and vector presentation are shared between the systems.”
So this is one of those stories that electronics skeptics can chuckle over. And I’ll bet there’s more than chuckling happening on the original Mackinaw, which has been in service since 1944 and is nicknamed Mighty Mac.
Here’s the nav station on Wild Oats, a brand new 30 meter maxi that just set a record for the Sydney-Hobart race. It’s obviously a carbon fiber construction, like most everything else on the boat. It’s interesting that as new and highly designed as this vessel is, the electronics are still a hodge podge of different brands with different looks. I spot B&G displays on the overhead (probably hooked into the new Wave Technology Processor), what’s probably a Raymarine E120 (radar and chart plotting?), and what look like Icom VHF and SSB radios. I’m not sure what the lower right display is (an MX Marine AIS?), and of course that’s a big PC monitor on center (Deckman and weather programs?). Operating that keyboard in the well must be awkward, but maybe it comes out? PS: There are more of these Andrea Francolini interior photos worth checking out at Scuttlebutt.
How about these idiot lights? Actually this is called a “mimic” panel, and it looks darn useful to me (bigger here). This particular one is from Mochi Craft in Italy, and is especially dense with information and controls. I do wonder if there are current sensors wired into those nav light indicators, so that they blink if a bulb fails (easy enough to do). And, yes, I think that is real leather (it sure felt like butter), as you can see more of below, and bigger here, along with a good looking Man engine display and an ever so retro cigarette lighter.
PS. No Panbo tomorrow as I’m off to visit Northstar, but I think I will be returning with an interesting report.
The deer hunters now stalking the woods where I live rate a trophy kill by the “points” in its antler “rack”. I’m guessing that the owner of Janie was thinking along the same lines when he ordered up the nine (9!) screen glass bridge partly shown above (all VEI 20” inset displays with a touch screen master control such that any input can go to any screen). The charter brochure even rather oddly includes a version of this same photo, except with TV sports scenes photoshopped onto every screen (as if the yacht’s 61” and 50” plasma screens weren’t enough). Apparently the owner is quite the sports fan.
Me, I was more interested in all the other gear and software that Janie’s captain could display, like: two Furuno black box radars, both Nobeltec and Transas charting sytems, a brace of EMI monitoring screens, plus feeds from umpteen onboard cameras and a NVTi long-range night vision system (that’s apparently had leaking problems during Janie’s multiple Atlantic crossings). It was real kick to get a tour of this helm with the yacht’s able skipper plus the gentleman from Yachtronics you oversaw the install. My huge frustration was that my Canon Digital Rebel chose this moment to half break. I could take pictures but couldn’t change lens, and therefore couldn’t use the amazing 14mm aspherical lens I’d dragged along, quite capable of showing you all 9 of those screens at once. Damn! Maybe I should have bought a higher quality camera in the first place, or had an extra body along. It was a reminder of how the guys in charge of massively complicated electronics like Janie’s must learn to think. Which is probably why I saw the same brands over and over again on the several megas I toured. I’ll detail more of what I saw soon.
Truth is I’m a little out of sorts, what with a stressful flight across the Atlantic, a missed flight in Paris, and a lost suitcase still not shown up 30 hrs later (there’s one of them French strikes going on). But, despite the fact I’m wearing the same clothes I left Maine in (and learning how to crank up Euro towel warmers to dry hand washed underwear), I had a great day touring megayacht yards in Toulon, La Ciotat, and Marseilles. These guys are intent on turning much of the withering shipbuilding assets of the region—man skills, cranes, drydocks, etc.—toward maintaining and refitting the world’s growing population of really big yachts. I saw evidence that the strategy is already working, and the future looks rosy indeed. It strikes me as smart that they’re not trying to compete with Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands at building these beasts, but instead are putting together the biggest yacht repair yards the planet has ever seen. This thought was confirmed by an American superyacht captain I ran into who said that South Florida has really blown its chance to keep being a significant megayacht center into the future—no new space. Oh well.
Above is the exception to the rule (bigger here ), a brand new mega speedboat from French builder Couach. This is only about 80’ but quite impressive with its gray gelcoat deck and surface piercing drives. The winner at the helm is Furuno with twin monitors, black box radar, black box NavNet, and a few RD30 data displays all onboard. There’s also a Simrad AP50 autopilot, and the only lit screens are a systems monitoring device I couldn’t figure out the maker of and a multi camera display. That’s Toulon in the background. I’m headed to Voiles des St. Tropez tomorrow and will post if possible.
Sorry if there’ve been too many “what’s on board” entries recently, but these are the high days of summer here, they don’t last long, and I’m enjoying them! Yesterday I took a little spin on this spiffy Eastbay 54SX; the ‘research’ will go into my next Helm Shot column in Voyaging. I’m particularly pleased with this picture (bigger here); I had to do a lot of fiddling to make it look like reality! (By the way, those are the Camden Hills out there; I live in the westward lee of the middle one).
Yes, there are FOUR Northstar 6000i’s on this single helm boat, but the very experienced owner—this may be his 13th sizable boat, he’s lost count—has his reasons. The two 10” displays on the Himalaya (that’s what they call that little mountain of an electronics cabinet you see on these tall windowed boats) are the main navigation tools, usually run chart left, radar right. (North up and head up, respectively…the man has been doing this a long time, and says he’s sticking with the modes he knows). They’re networked together with Northstar’s N2 (Ethernet), sharing a 4’ 12kw (special order) radar scanner, a GPS, and a black box fishfinder. The two smaller overhead displays share their own N2 network, another GPS, and a 4kw dome scanner. Redundancy! The system is also designed so that guests, or a co-pilot, can use that 6” display at far left without getting in the skipper’s way. Meanwhile the right 8” is ready to serve as backup if the main system packs up. (It’s also set to use radar overlay, which the owner admits to ‘peeking’ at on occasion ;-). There’s more of interest on this boat, but for later…
Once again the Maine Boats and Harbors show was a great chance to rejoice over how healthy boatbuilding is in my state, and to see some interesting electronics setups. This is a high end Sequin 52 built by Lyman Morse. I really like how the helmsman gets fingertip control over most everything, but the crew can also see what’s going on and easily help with the navigation. Left to right on the pedestal (bigger picture here) are a Maxwell windlass control, a remote for the Raymarine ST290 graphic instrument displays over the companionway (which can show most anything), plotter/radar on center, and finally thruster and autopilot controls. The big HSB networked display (now superceded by the E series) under the dodger means someone can, say, mind the radar in fog, selecting MARPA targets and otherwise assisting the driver. And there’s another 10” down at the nav station, so someone else could be, say, working on a route. All three could be using the electronics independently, except for sharing a single radar range, and everyone on board can know where they are on the chart, boat and wind speed, etc. Fairweather (good pictures there) even has an ST290 display mounted in the overhead above the owner’s berth, the modern version of a telltale compass. Looks like A+ ergonomics to me.
I’m a long time fan of the PDA charting program Memory Map, which is also sold as Maptech Pocket Navigator, and think that its developer, Richard Stephens, is one hell of a programmer. It’s no great surprise then that Richard has mastered mini PC navigation, even while overnight racing aboard a wickedly wet Corsair 28R trimaran (In fact, it was so wet, at one point we had a 2’ long fish flapping around in the cockpit!). But it’s good to know that a coder is out there getting his butt soggy (getting to be one of my favorite blogs), and it surely is interesting to hear about his set up:
I used a PDA for navigation (of course). Itwas connected by Bluetooth to a GPS and to a cell phone in the cabin, which was in turn connected to a Digital Antenna signal booster and 4' antenna. The PDA was an iPaq 4700, in a Otterbox 1900 hard case. I wear the PDA most of the time, strapped to my body with bungee cord (under my PFD belt so it does not flap around). It is turned off when I am not actively navigating, to save power. I also wear a Garmin Foretrex on my wrist, programmed with the route and strategic waypoints [using Memory Map either on the PDA or a PC].
The PDA runs Memory-Map for navigation, using the full detail of NOAA raster charts, with all weekly NTM corrections applied. I used the cellular internet connection to access weather information from NOAA. The real-time buoy/weather station reports, weather radar images, and the ETA wind model. were all extremely useful at different stages of the race. All of these were accessed just using the web browser on the PDA.
Richard and the rest of the Flight Simulator team won first in class in their latest race, the Mackinac. How geek cool is that?
That’s Elizabeth Meyer driving her ‘new’ 1916 Lawley yawl to a finish line off Camden yesterday afternoon. I saw this boat at Brooklin Boat Yard 4 years ago, when it looked like it might disintegrate if someone sneezed too hard. The complete (every stick of wood) restoration, just finished, included adding some modern electronics, as subtly as possible. Notice how the antennas—radar, VHF, GPS, and Iridium (I think)—have all been painted to blend with the mizzen mast. Actually, painting out logos is an affectation I see on lots of high end and/or classic yachts. Quite understandably I think. I wear logo shirts all the time, either for work or because they were free, but if I ever own a really good looking boat, I’ll be damned if it’s going to be an electronics billboard. Maybe some manufacturers will consider making the logos optional? By the way, Eli of Eli Boat, was racing too; I missed him at the finish but hope to learn more about the snazzy electronics he was using.
Unfortunately Web posting at PMY has gotten a little slow lately—just so many minutes in the day—but my June Wifi column is now up. It includes a thumbnail of this picture above, which deserves more detail. That’s a gentleman named Park Walker who lives aboard a 41’ Little Harbor trawler with the fine name of Om Sweet Om. He’s had good luck using WiFi to do some technical consulting while cruising. "Without wireless I would be severely restricted in where and when I could roam. Now my clients ask 'Where are you today?'." The details of Park's sophisticated setup are worth knowing for those of us who’d like to do something similar:
I have a 9dBi omni-directional antenna mounted on my radar arch with 25ft of LMR400 cable running into the main cabin. The antenna cable is connected to a LinkSys WET11 wireless bridge. This is an 802.11b device that operates as a pass-thru client rather than a router. The ethernet interface is currently connected to the WAN port on a Netgear WGR614 which provides wireless service to the desktop computer and the laptops on-board.
The LinkSys box is what makes the connection to the available WiFi service. With the 9dBi antenna I have been able to connect to base stations with a clear line of sight up to about 1 mile from the boat. We used it extensively in the Abacos over a two month period roaming from Green Turtle to Little Harbor without ever being without a usable signal. I didn't go with a higher gain antenna as this one suited my needs, but the range can be increased to 5 or 6 miles using a 15dBi standard antenna and even more using amplification.
Running the connection from the LinkSys into the Netgear router provides NAT, DHCP and a firewall to the computers on-board. While in a marina I typically make the service available to neighboring boats who happen to find out that it's available, although I have started putting MAC address filtering in place to keep track of who is using it.
The original hi res picture, by the way, was taken by Park and send via WiFi.
This is the upper helm on a big Marlow Explorer being shown at the Miami Boat Show. Look how many brands are involved; Furuno NavNet, a Nauticomp montior for a PC system, Raymarine instruments, and Simrad autopilot—and that’s just the top half! And of course there is an even more elaborate helm below. The radar scanners indicate that Nobeltec Admiral is probably the main charting/radar system with NavNet for redundancy. I would guess that this is a tremendously powerful system overall, but what a stew of data interfacing to install, not to mention man/machine interfaces to learn. I don’t know much about Marlows, but my buddy Bill Pike—who may have tested more power yachts than any man alive—loves them (here and here).
And, yes, sharp-eyed readers, the yacht is the background is named “Lucky Sperm”. Ewwwww! Actually, another writer friend knows the owner of that boat, and thinks he’s just being damn honest about the source of his money.
I can’t tell much about what he’s using—a small Furuno radar, B&G instruments, some PC program (MaxSea?)—but I do know that Francis Joyon is half way across the Atlantic and looking good to get the single handed record (better than 7d 2h 34m 42s) aboard his 90’ tri IDEC. Yesterday, he set a new solo 24-hour speed record of 543 miles! His site seems to be French only, but has great pictures. The one above is captioned “Francis etudie la carte” and was taken by Jocelyn Bleriot. Team Ellen is understandably keeping close track of Francis (in French & English); if he makes a new record, Ellen will try to break it in September.
Update, 7/6: Joyon took 22.5 hours off the transatlantic record!
Update, 7/7: Damn! Joyon elected to sail on alone to France after the finish, over slept, and totally wrecked IDEC on the coast of Brittany. What a strange single-handed mirror to the national joy of England getting the Olympics, immediately followed by the horror of terrorist bombs.
Monitoring and control systems can potentially do anything. Once you have a system of sensors, cable backbones, PCs, screens, and so forth performing the core task of collecting and distributing information and system commands, well heck, why not blend in security, entertainment, communications, inventory/maintenance management, digital documentation…whatever. A case in point is Hyperion (above), the 157’ super yacht built in 1998 by Royal Huisman for the legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jim Clark. Clark had to start a small company called Seascape Communications to create the system he envisioned, and what a humdinger the resulting “Genisys” is. 24 onboard computers monitor 50,000 data points and display on 22 touch screens throughout the vessel. Clark and his crew could mind and manage everything from windshield wipers to ballast transfer pumps to e-mail wherever they wished onboard. Clark could even “cruise” the yacht by satellite from his den in California (or his airplane), leading to the waggish comment that it was the world’s largest remote control toy. And guests had their own screens mounted into berth-side drawers so that they can amuse themselves with the system’s 1200 CD’s on hard disk, 400 DVD’s in changers, world band tuners, and masthead cameras!
Since then, Clark had Royal Huisman build him the even larger yacht Athena, launched last fall, with more Seascape software on board. Now he’s announced the formation of CommandScape, which sounds like Seascape repurposed to automate large homes as well as yachts. Clark was the subject of the wonderful biography The New, New Thing, which begins with a hysterical description of Hyperion’s trail run in rough weather—failing computers, seasick film crew, et all…a must read excerpt here).
It was bittersweet driving Charlie down to Spruce Head Marine to launch his Golden Hind Sophie. It was yet another gray day in this record breaking spring, and, besides, Charlie now lives out of state and had to jump in his car as soon as got Sophie onto her mooring in Rockland. But I did get a chance to see all the work that he’s put into the boat. The electronics — a slick Tacktick Sailmaster depth/wind system and an old Magellan 2000 XL GPS, both on a swing out arm — may be somewhat minimal, but the boat is otherwise ready go gunkholing or ocean voyaging. She is amazingly roomy for 31 feet, in a Brit sort of way, and Charlie put a nice new, and extra tall, rig in her. Sophie is for sale and will be a happy deal for someone, I think.
It was some fun getting a little wheel time on this Alden Brenton Reef 40 on Vineyard Sound last week. Despite bright sun and huge glass, you can see that the screen of the Raymarine C120 was up to the task. The radar overlay worked nicely too, and is much appreciated by the owner, who’s seasoned in boats and planes. I was there to write about cruising, not electronics, but presume that the C120 is getting heading info from the Simrad AP25’s compass via the fast version of NMEA 0183. You can also see (bigger here) an Icom VHF, an ACR pan & tilt spotlight, and ZF (Mathers) single lever electronic controls (whose delicacy took some getting used to). The owner laments that the E Series wasn’t yet out when he chose this rig, because he’d like to try the Weather Channel Marine satellite system that he’s heard will become an E option. And it shouldn’t be too long before fully electronic Yanmars and NMEA 2000 will create the choice of a second E in place of the analog gauges. The picture is courtesy my sharp shooting neighbor Jamie Bloomquist.
I’m back in Maine, but unfortunately won’t be able to make the Homecoming ceremony for single-hander Bruce Schwab that starts in Portland today. Bruce just sailed from France to Maine aboard his Open 60 Ocean Planet, which must have seemed like a day sail after two circumnavigations in three years, the second non-stop in 110 days racing the Vendee Globe. I understand that our Governor will declare today “Bruce Schwab Day”—kind of goofy, but wonderful to have this great sport better recognized here in the U.S.A.
I particularly wish I could make Bruce’s “Truly Offshore Seminar” on Sunday, which will include a discussion of electronics and “trouble-shooting and repairs on the run”. I got aboard OP in 2003, after the Around Alone race, and know that Schwab removed the Furuno radar and fixed PC/monitors he had then in favor of a lighter laptop with a Nobeltec PC radar dome. Many people think such a setup unreliable but it apparently held up fine on the grueling Vendee course, though there was a problem with the scanner’s tilt mount mechanics. Bruce’s posts describing how he amazingly got to, and fixed, the mount while underway are here (look around 12/21/04).
I wish I knew. ReggataNews.com has been posting some great photos of the yachts, but they almost never show electronics (generally the case for megayachts, unfortunately, as owners and charterers don’t often drive them). Above is a tight crop from a hi res image (more here, credit: Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex) of the 174’ (53m) Drumbeat. You can make out massively complex helm stations port and starboard (there’s redundancy!) and at least one large hooded ECDIS or radar unit. The guy in the middle may be “handling” 26,000 sq. ft. of sail with a little forest of joysticks. I must say that wearing PFD’s on this flying bridge seems a bit over the top. On the other hand, some of the boats that went too far north have been getting pounded. The skipper of Sojana reported dryly, "We're hammering along at 12 knots right on course, right down the great circle at 075 degrees true. Some of the electronics aren't working as well as they used to, but we are reasonably happy.”
Yike! Above is the OPC’s prediction for 8 pm tomorrow night, my time. Today, 20 of the mightiest sailing yachts on the planet will set off from New York in a Transatlantic Challenge meant to celebrate, and smash, the 12 day, 4 hour race record set by Charlie Barr 100 years ago (also well explained by Josh Adams here). Somewhere the famously hard-driving skipper may be chuckling. If I’d been invited to join the fascinating mix of swells, enthusiasts, and pros (some apparently obnoxious) making the crossing, I’d be feeling a bit like a squirrel in front of a truck. That low looks like a lot more weather than is normal this time of year. I’ll bet the onboard weather guys and routers like Commander’s are quite focused right now. It seems like communications and forecasting technology will play a big role in whether these boats get a sleigh ride or a pounding. I’ll be following the race with interest this week (and hoping to learn more about the electronics used).
Monday, 11 am update: the Grand Prix boats have headed way south and are now making 18 knots. Meanwhile the big low may stall right over Cape Cod, which is where I was supposed to go boating later this week. Drat!
Tuesday, 12 am update: the gale warnings here in Maine and on the Cape have been upgraded to storm warnings, NE gusts up to 50k tonight, but it’s still not clear how the racers will fare, though the ones who went way south are looking pretty smart right now.
A description of how this Greenpeace ship was Wi-Fi enabled. Somehow I missed this article before, it even got slashdotted.
"In the crows nest is a wireless bridge, there is the option to switch from an omni to a directional Vagi (not Yagi) antenna, should the host be far away. That runs to a switch in the radio room. Also running there is a standard 802.11b AP used by the crew and anyone else who wants to check their Email in the proximity of the moored vessel."
Randy Repass has a new boat, Convergence. If you are the founder of West Marine, the world's largest retailer of boat accessories, then surely there must be a lot of electronics on board. And that is true. Here's an article from 48° North, and here you can find the specifics on this Tom Wylie designed ketch rigged catboat.
"We have used PC-based chart plotting, primarily Nobletec, for several years in waters between the San Juan Islands and SE Alaska and like it very much. For long distance cruising we think PC-based plotting is more practical than dedicated plotters using vector charts. We have a PC at the navigation station, which is networked with Ray Marine's RL 80 radar, RayNav300 GPS, ST 290 speed, wind and depth instruments, and 8001 autopilot all on the HSB2 link. While we are able to display information from anything on the Ray Marine link we plan to use the LCD of the PC in the pilothouse to display electronic charts. We also have a Garmin 276C GPS at the navigation station and a faithful selection of paper charts."
With seven cameras and lots of wireless communication of video on board you can imagine that crew members in the Volvo Ocean Race are complaining about the energy it costs to power (and use) all of this. So now a company called Livewire claims to have found a solution for the 2005-2006 event, but unfortunately they do not explain how this works. So if anyone knows, drop me a line...
"But Livewire's communications exprts have now come up with a much more energy-efficient way of keeping the cameras rolling and have made power management an essential design element for the media centres on the Volvo 70 class yachts. The new design allows the media centre to be run at twenty times less power than in previous races. Wood comments: "Hopefully this will convince the teams that it is quite safe to leave the media centre on in this mode at all times."
Motor Boating Magazine takes a look at one of the ships participating in the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally, a high-seas adventure from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to Gibraltar. There's a lot of electronics stuff on board this ship... Here are some of the highlights:
-“It’s the autopilot that’s the most important thing,” he says. And for autopilots, Kinney selected two Furuno NavPilot 500s and added a SC 60 GPS satellite compass."
-"The first display supports Furuno’s 1953C chartplotter with a powerful 12-kW radar for 72-mile range and 1.2-degree horizontal beam width for accurate target separation."
-"The second chartplotter, an 1833C, uses a smaller radar with dome antenna that will pump out 4-kW of power for a range of about 36 miles"
-"Called NT-Link, this is a little sister to C-MAP’s rugged commercial product, only it’s coupled with the NT recreational cartography. One notable feature of NT-Link is its ability to handle online chart updates."
-"But the real heart of the navigation package is Furuno’s NavNet system, which allows for multiple sensor displays on three different display screens—the two 10.4" monitors in the pilothouse and an additional 7" remote display on the bridge."
How many marine electronics and communications equipments would you need on a rowboat...? Well, a lot if you would have to row for 3,000 miles non-stop.
"In addition to her GPS, she will have an array of safety and communication equipment onboard, including an Argos Beacon - which will report her position by satellite and, in an emergency, emit a distress signal - a desalinator to change sea water into fresh water, and an Iridium satellite phone. Several marine lights have also been installed to announce her position to approaching vessels."
And here's a funny quote on the usage of VHF radio:
"Quemere's only contact during her 2003 voyage was with an Italian supertanker that drew a little too-close-for-comfort. According to Quemere, she quickly grabbed her VHF radio and excitedly reported her position, telling one confused Italian crewman that she was in a small rowboat."
Singer Billy Joel appears to be a marine electronics fanatic as well... Apparently he asked Raymarine to outfit his new 57 Shelter Island Commuter, named Vendetta...
"When commissioned in early fall, Vendetta will be navigated with Raymarine products. The uniquely curved dash will include three C-120 displays with brilliant sunlight viewable displays, ST290 instruments, Ray215 radio, 4kw Radar open array, and the new gyro-enhanced SmartPilot with 8001 control head."
A private sailing yacht with a seven-seat helicopter and an aviation communications systems. How about that...?
"After completing sea-trials in Auckland in April and May, the 54m (178ft) Dubois-designed sloop Tiara landed an EC 130 helicopter on the aft-deck. It is believed Tiara is the first privately-owned sailing yacht with a helipad. Tiara, built by Alloy Yachts Auckland New Zealand, was specifically designed to accommodate the owner's seven-seat helicopter. The aft deck has landing lights sunk into the teak and the yacht has aviation communications systems."
In the 'What's On Board' series, we've seen some pretty amazing yachts. But when it comes to electronics, gadgets, etc, Paul Allen's Octopus is probably the one to beat. He is the co-founder of Microsoft and therefore, besides rich, pretty tech savvy we might assume... Although I can't find many specifics, I'm sure you'll get a feeling of it when you read one of the many articles on this new mega-yacht. For some additional pictures (and speculation) have a look at the Power & Motoryacht Forum.
"But guests reported that the boat was over the top -- even by billionaire-yacht standards. Details include: teak floors, a theater and basketball court, two helicopter pads and a sound-mixing studio large enough, guests were told, to produce a major motion picture. For times when Mr. Allen feels like roughing it, the yacht ports a 60-foot yacht and eventually will boast a 10-person submarine that will run on fuel cells so it can stay under water for as long as two weeks."
I've covered the gadgets and electronics on board of the WallyPower before. Since many visitors to this weblog come through Google searches on the 118 WallyPower, I thought I'd post this link to a New York Times article that discusses the WallyPower and the fact that it is relatively cheap at $25 millon... And, they found a gadget on board this yacht that I missed. The pizza oven.
"Over the course of many decades and countless deprived tycoons, it has been one of humankind's most vexing challenges: how to get, quickly and comfortably, from Portofino for breakfast to Sardinia for lunch and then, should the whim strike, St.-Tropez for dinner...."
"...It splits the difference between a lightning-quick motorboat with no room for a pizza oven (which the WallyPower has) and an individually tailored Titanic that can do a party of 500 people but just 20 miles per hour...."
"...He then explained how aerodynamic design, water-jet propulsion and a special polycarbonate material worked to make the WallyPower so fleet. He apparently did not think it worth mentioning that the boat's three 5,600 horsepower engines chug down about 1,000 gallons of fuel an hour at maximum cruising speed (75 miles an hour). He talked instead about applications of military technology and sophisticated wind-tunnel tests."
It's a fact that some of the military R&D spending will find its way back to the tax payer since innovative technologies are being applied in a commercial context at a later stage. For us boaters who have an interest in yacht automation, the U.S. Navy High Speed Vessel (HSV) SWIFT (at 294t long, it has a top-speed of 45 knots per hour) might trigger further innovation in this field. Computerworld takes a closer look at the technologies that have been deployed on this ship.
"The U.S. Navy has a new ship in its fleet that officers say may be the most technologically advanced vessel produced to date, with IT capabilities that are revolutionizing naval warfare and may play a vital role in responding to potential terrorist attacks in the U.S. The HSV (High Speed Vessel) 2 Swift, a 294-foot, aluminum-hulled catamaran, has a crew of only 42 sailors, but the lack of manpower is made up with extreme levels of automation. Nearly every function of the ship, from navigation and steering to engine and damage control, is conducted and monitored using commercial, off-the-shelf hardware and software."
The 118 WallyPower is one of the most amazing designs I have ever seen for a motor yacht. recently it has won the MYDA, the Millenium Yacht Design Award dedicated to the "layout of the Third Millennium, a design that remarkably contributed to the development of the concept of the yacht layout." The cruising speed of the 118 WallyPower is 60 knots... Interesting to see what kind of electronics are on board this ship. Some of the highlights:
Every now an then I will give you a glimpse into the electronic and communications heart of some of the most remarkable yachts in the world. Today we'll have a look at Cheyenne (former PlayStation), which is currently competing in The Jules Verne Trophy Round The World Record Attempt. Steve Fossett's design brief for this boat was pretty straightforward: "the best boat for racing fully crewed, non-stop, around the world, as fast as possible."
not only pink topsides, but all teak decks and smoked glass cabin sides, not to mention push-button hydraulic sheet handling. Tacktick is proud of this beauty as Wally put its 
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It’s made of stainless steel, “vandalproof” too. Apparently it uses “Field Distortion Technology” which means it is not pressure sensitive—“a light touch is sufficient, tracking your fingertip precisely.” But because of “the capacitive working principle, the unit might not work with thicker gloves.” On the other hand (there I go again), “it will operate at all mounting angles and it does not require cleaning or maintenance.” There’s a lot to learn about touch technology. By the way, NSi also makes a trackball with software controlled back-lighting, 
(other photos show teak decks, for instance). She was built in Spain and much of the PR material sent to me is in that language—which I lack—but I do know that she has a dynamic positioning system and carries a serious looking “
Steve went on to build several other multis, took this one over after his dad’s passing, and is now production manager at 
I don’t know much about Erica’s electronics, but ain’t she ‘purty’ (
good sight lines are retained (here looking out along the west side of Camden’s inner harbor). 
I won’t go into Zeus’s claims of efficiency, low noise, etc., though you might want to check out the 
big plasma display is now, and they played 8mm films from a projector in the pantry. It was just a cool coincidence that the junior officers happened to be playing that old b&w WWII sub movie as the ‘elders’ conferred.
, the Engineering Control Center (ECC) and Aft Conning station. The Main Ship Control Console includes the Integrated Ship’s Control System (ISCS) provided by Kongsberg. The ISCS includes; Electronic Chart Display Information System (ECDIS), DGPS, Loran-C, Automatic Radar Plotting Aids (ARPA), ATON Information System (ATONIS)/Automated ATON Positioning System (AAPS), a dynamic positioning system, autopilot, a doppler speed log, deep and shallow depth sounders, forward scanning sonar, extensive meteorological sensors, VHF, ADF, IFF, and a voyage data recorder. All conning stations will have the same intuitive user interface, the same panel layout, and menu system. Route plans, mariner’s notes, charts, radar video and vector presentation are shared between the systems.”
I’m a long time fan of the PDA charting program 
I saw this boat at Brooklin Boat 
Raymarine instruments, and Simrad autopilot—and that’s just the top half! And of course there is an even more elaborate helm below. The radar scanners indicate that Nobeltec Admiral is probably the main charting/radar system with NavNet for redundancy. I would guess that this is a tremendously powerful system overall, but what a stew of data interfacing to install, not to mention man/machine interfaces to learn. I don’t know much about Marlows, but my buddy Bill Pike—who may have tested more power yachts than any man alive—loves them (
I’m back in Maine, but unfortunately won’t be able to make the 
I particularly wish I could make Bruce’s “Truly Offshore Seminar” on Sunday, which will include a discussion of electronics and “trouble-shooting and repairs on the run”. I got aboard OP in 2003, after the Around Alone race, and know that Schwab removed the Furuno radar and fixed PC/monitors he had then in favor of a lighter laptop with a Nobeltec PC radar dome. Many people think such a setup unreliable but it apparently held up fine on the grueling Vendee course, though there was a problem with the scanner’s tilt mount mechanics. Bruce’s posts describing how he amazingly got to, and fixed, the mount while underway are 
A 
Randy Repass has a new boat, Convergence. If you are the founder of West Marine, the world's largest retailer of boat accessories, then surely there must be a lot of electronics on board. And that is true. Here's an 
With seven cameras and lots of wireless communication of video on board you can imagine that crew members in the Volvo Ocean Race are 
-“It’s the autopilot that’s the most important thing,” he says. And for autopilots, Kinney selected two Furuno NavPilot 500s and added a SC 60 GPS satellite compass."
"In addition to her GPS, she will have an array of safety and communication equipment onboard, including an Argos Beacon - which will report her position by satellite and, in an emergency, emit a distress signal - a desalinator to change sea water into fresh water, and an Iridium satellite phone. Several marine lights have also been installed to announce her position to approaching vessels."
Singer Billy Joel appears to be a marine electronics fanatic as well... Apparently he 
"After completing sea-trials in Auckland in April and May, the 54m (178ft) Dubois-designed sloop Tiara landed an EC 130 helicopter on the aft-deck. It is believed Tiara is the first privately-owned sailing yacht with a helipad. Tiara, built by Alloy Yachts Auckland New Zealand, was specifically designed to accommodate the owner's seven-seat helicopter. The aft deck has landing lights sunk into the teak and the yacht has aviation communications systems."
In the 'What's On Board' 
I've covered the gadgets and electronics on board of the WallyPower 
"...It splits the difference between a lightning-quick motorboat with no room for a pizza oven (which the WallyPower has) and an individually tailored Titanic that can do a party of 500 people but just 20 miles per hour...."
It's a fact that some of the military R&D spending will find its way back to the tax payer since innovative technologies are being applied in a commercial context at a later stage. For us boaters who have an interest in yacht automation, the U.S. Navy High Speed Vessel (HSV) SWIFT (at 294t long, it has a top-speed of 45 knots per hour) might trigger further 
The 118 WallyPower is one of the most amazing designs I have ever 
