Yes, I was a grinning fool when Panbo -- for the second year in a row! -- received the BWI Award for Original Online Content (all awards listed here). Plus it seemed the perfect moment to debut the new Panbo logo hat I'd just received the day before, and purely by happenstance I was joined at the podium by two friends from the even smaller world of marine electronics. Bill Bishop got Third Place for his Marine Installers Rant blog (check his Award entry here and don't miss the cartoon he submitted as the essay) and Bruce Angus did the presenting because he's now Interim Director of the NMEA, which sponsored the category. But don't think that NMEA had anything to do with the judging, which was done anonymously by three fellow members of BWI. Well, actually I do know the name of one judge because she was quoted thusly: "Ellison obviously knows his subject matter inside and out, but never takes himself too seriously, actively soliciting input and contributions from his readers." For which I will be eternally grateful...
I do enjoy the odd array of holiday cards, digital and otherwise, that I receive from the marine electronics industry each year. An image of animated snow (you may have to click on thumbnail above) seen on a beautiful KEP Marine monitor is joyful...
I may have become 65 years old yesterday, but no barnacles are growing under this blogger's keyboard! It's still a work in progress, but have you seen the new line of useful function and social media icons that recently appeared at the end of each Panbo entry (also seen above)? The "Print" button will get you a nicely formatted version of the entry with reader comments included, but without extraneous web page stuff. And the "Email" button makes it pie simple to send someone a link plus a bit of the entry with an image and an optional comment from you. The Email button also leads to all sorts of other share possibilities, though you may have to join ShareThis to use some of them. I'm not clear on that and a few other things...
That's the helm of the Hinckley T55 with the wireless JetStick I discussed yesterday in my first entry about the Newport International Boat Show. It's undeniably gorgeous but it's also fairly terrifying to a guy like me who changes electronics frequently. I so believe in mounting as many electronics as possible in panels that are easily replaced. And I'm really not all that odd; electronics get updated a lot these days. Heck, that ST70 on center is already being replaced with the i70 which would way better compliment those twin E-Wides, but the simple hole-saw i70 cutout is quite different than the ST70 hole. Here's betting that it won't be too long before sweat and money is expended chopping into that fine joiner work. Note, too, how many different little control systems are sprinkled around this helm, which is no fault of Hinckley, but rather an indication of how much further the marine electronics industry has to go toward truly integrated helms...
It's rare that I go so long without writing an entry, and I'd like to say that I spent the time digging deep into electronics at the Newport International Boat Show. But the truth is that most of my time there went to working as one of the several Newport for New Products award judges, plus I met with my Cruising World and Yachting editors (first office visit ever ;-) and did a lot of driving. So unfortunately I didn't get much more than a glance at the new Raymarine i70 instrument display (and p70 pilot head) seen above. The i70 display is wicked bright, the buttons are big, and moving through menus is snappy, but a fuller appraisal will have to wait. Incidentally, the WiFi and Bluetooth signs in the background of course refer to Ray's new e7 MFD and are germane because those two capabilities are probably the main reasons that the e7 won the Best New Boating Product award...
So it's Sunday morning and the early signs of Irene are here in the form of 100% humidity and easterlies in the high teens. That wonderfully large Fortress 55 anchor, seen above in my tender yesterday afternoon, is now set about 150 feet to weather in 20-30 feet of water and Gizmo's regular hook, a Kingston K-45, is about the same distance to the southwest. The best part, though, is that I'm snugged into Pulpit Harbor where it's quite unlikely that I'll experience any significant wave action. In my experience it's that action and the resulting line chafe that usually causes boats to go ashore in conditions like we're expecting. You can see Gizmo's position on this Spot share map, and I'm also using this situation to try out a number of other electronics...
That's Craig Owings and he's justifiably proud of what may be the world's first trailerable cruising RHIB. But if you check out builder Rosborough Boats, you'll see that it is not actually a custom boat, but rather a clever combination of its production 25' sedan cruiser and the 29-foot deep vee inflatable it builds for marine professionals. I got a tantalizing glimpse of Conepatus early last week as it zipped around Mt. Desert island and was pleased to find her being used as the Rosborough exhibit at the Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Show this weekend...
Now that there's evidence that there really will be a summer in Maine -- it went into the 70's and beyond all last week, with hardly any fog -- I want to deliver a rousing endorsement for a new boating event that might fit on your cruising schedule this August or next. It's called the Penobscot Bay Rendezvous and one thing I particularly like is that both power and sailboats are welcome. The differences between "stink potters" and "blow boaters" are vastly exaggerated, I think, and I claim some expertise as I've been both. Of course this also makes sense because at heart the Rendezvous is a public relations event for two premier boatyards that serve all kinds, though I think it will be PR is nicest sense of the term...
Last week in San Francisco, Russell Coutts probably did the America's Cup racing program a great service when he not only capsized an AC 45, but personally took a dramatic header right through its wing sail, all before a fleet of press boats! You want to see the video. Heck, Charlie Doane admits to watching the crash "about fifty times" and looking forward to more. I like a shot of NASCAR in my sailboat racing, too, but I'll bet that an equally important element in making this sport more popular will be the broadcast TV wizardry being spearheaded by the remarkable Stan Honey...
Admittedly, that vessel immediately makes me think of Reese Witherspoon's moderately immortal line in the moderately famous 1996 black comedy Freeway: "Holy sh*t! Look who got beat with the ugly stick." (Clip here, but do treat yourself to the whole warped take off on Little Red Riding Hood.) However, this entry is actually about the unquestionably immortal blog aptly titled The Marine Installer's Rant. Which is where I learned about Seafair and her special duties as megayacht art gallery. Bill Bishop not only documents the travails of an installer, right down to the bloody wounds, but he notes and photographs perks like getting to see the weird boats that show up in his Sarasota, FL, home waters...
: "Holy sh*t! Look who got beat with the ugly stick." (