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A bit late in the day I have been researching replacements for my Class B 121.5Mhz EPIRB which will be relegated to the grab bag and used as a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) in an emergency. Cospas-Sarsat ceased satellite processing of 121.5/243 MHz beacons 1 February 2009. These beacons will only be able to be detected by ground-based receivers and aircraft for example actually engaged in a SAR operation that had been initiated using the new systems.

A bit of internet research reminded me that the old analog system was accurate to around 20km (10.8nm) and that a SAR (search and rescue) operation would only be launched after two satellite passes - which could mean a delay of about 2 to 3 hours, often it would take 6 hrs to resolve the location by using multiple passes of the weather satellites system. The other factor to note is that the old 121.5Mhz system transmitted using about 75-100 milliwatts of power as opposed to the new beacons that are using 5 watts of power - a stronger transmission is a good thing in bad weather or storm conditions or when your location may be obstructed by things like cliffs!

Satellites receiving the old analog 121.5Mhz and the new digital 406Mhz systems still use doplar shift techniques to try and resolve the location of the beacon. But the new system is accurate to about 5km (2.6nm) as opposed to the old 20km (10.8nm). The old analog system only transmits a tone so the SAR operation cannot determine what is going on until they locate the beacon and find out that it isn’t a false alarm or some errant piece of electronics like a set top box on TV! The new system transmits actual data digitally which can then be linked automatically to your registration data bringing up who to phone and details of your vessel and so on. In the UK you must register your 406Mhz beacon with the MCA

Is added GPS a useful feature?

If the unit you buy has the added facility to transmit GPS location data as well then the accuracy is even greater - about +/-125m. It isn’t as accurate as your chartplotter GPS simply because the transmission of the GPS data is limited by the message length of the protocol being used. Even if your beacon is destroyed in the emergency it only needs to transmit for a few minutes for the satellites to pick it up and resolve the location. Pretty damn good I think:-)

The main satellite system for picking the beacon’s signal is the SARSAT system, but in addition the geostationary GEOSAR satellites that cover more than 80% of the earths surface also pick up signals and can relay the GPS location data even though they cannot compute location themselves using the doplar effect.

So how do you choose a 406Mhx beacon for your boat?

The choice is then between Category I (auto deployment) and Category II (manual deployment) 406Mhz beacons…and also units with or without GPS.

I have prepared a small table of units available in the UK market below. Click on the images for a larger view.

Clearly I think you should get one with built in GPS, and if you can get a 16 channel GPS all the better. I dont think the CatI auto deployment is worth the extra money…

The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) provides scientific stewardship, products and services for geophysical data describing the solid earth, marine, and solar-terrestrial environment, as well as earth observations from space. It is their work on the marine geophysical data or bathymetry that is of interest to me. Bathymetry is the study of underwater depth of the ocean floors. A bathymetric map or chart usually shows floor relief or terrain as contour lines (called depth contours or isobaths), and may additionally provide surface navigational information.

It is this information often shown in 3D that many of our marine chartplotter suppliers are using as a way of impressing us to buy their expensive chartplotters and other products. Of course the NGDC are not alone in adding value to all this data and the reason I started to look into the source and uses of this data was the announcement from Google of the extension of their Google Earth initiative to include bathymetric data

Most surveys of navigable waterways in the United States are performed or commissioned by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, for inland waterways, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for oceans.

Coastal bathymetry data is available from the National Geodetic Data Center. Bathymetry data is often referenced to tidal vertical datums of MSL or MLW.

The picture on the right shows a bathymetric chart for the North Atlantic trench for example. All thanks to the US Navy sonar surveys - and the US taxpayer of course:-)

I am very excited by the news that the US Navy will share information on the worlds oceans with Google.

“….From Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. (NNS) — The Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NMOC) entered a cooperative research agreement to share unclassified of information about the world’s oceans through the new version of Google Earth launched Feb. 2.

The unclassified bathymetric data sets, sea surface temperatures and ocean current information from NAVOCEANO are incorporated in the new version of Google Earth, launched today.

As part of the research and development agreement, the Navy has received Google Earth Enterprise licenses which provide for technical support that will enable the Navy to better search, view and prepare products from their extensive oceanographic data holdings…..”

This is one huge boost to the trend for many amateur and not so amateur people all over the world who have been laboriously trying to use a variety of data sources - and now Google Earth - to display bathymetric data for our ports and other areas of sailing interest.

People like Peter Minton who over the past year has mapped all the islands from Papua New Guinea to the west coast of South America. This is an enormous piece of voluntary effort that involved over 10,000 island polygons. For example, Ailuk Atoll is made up of 57 small islets or motus. To accomplish this Herculean task Peter used the software from Global Mapper and Landsat ETM+ as base imagery.

Have a look at Peter’s own web site here . I just love his slogan “Enhanced Vector Shorelines of the World - One Island, One Coastline, One River and One Lake at a time….”

People like Peter are not alone however …as this post from the Googleplex (Feb 2009) shows…

“…the latest release of Google Earth, making features like Ocean, Historical Imagery, and Touring available to Google Earth users everywhere.

We’re happy to open up these new worlds of exploration to our Enterprise customers, with new releases of Google Earth Pro and Google Earth Enterprise also available today. This is a tremendous advance for organizations who work on — or under — the Seven Seas, or who have archives of historical photos and data that they’d like to make more accessible to their employees.

People who use Google Earth Pro, the workplace edition of Google Earth, will see the new oceanographic data, historical imagery, and other features through their connection to Google’s public globe of satellite imagery, maps, terrain & 3D buildings. With today’s release of the Google Earth Enterprise 5.0 client, customers can start to realize the benefits by layering their own private data on top of the Google-hosted Ocean or Historical Imagery via KML. Google’s public data about the world’s oceans and images from the past should give a glimmer of what’s possible….”

This work is being master minded by Bryan Atwood, Product Manager, Google Earth Enterprise.

As you all know by now Google Earth provides a 3D view of earth that you can zoom in and out of, comprised of compositing satellite imagery into one skin. The counterpart to that product is the 2D Google Maps, which can be viewed from within a web browser. The KML specification developed by Keyhole, dubbed by Atwood “the HTML of the geographic web,” is an XML type format that describes geospatial data, which allows you to see your data on top of different platforms. Recently KML was submitted to OGC and will be approved in the next month or two.

Funded in 2000 by In-Q-Tel, a company that identifies and partners with companies developing cutting-edge technologies to deliver these solutions to the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), Keyhole was a separate company, acquired by Google in 2004. As a result of that purchase, in 2005 Google Earth was released.

In-Q-Tel is a CIA funded agency..

“..Throughout much of the last fifty years, the CIA has operated at the cutting edge of science and technology. From the U-2 spy plane to the CORONA satellite, CIA’s “wizards of Langley” earned a reputation for bold innovation and risk taking, working in advance of the private sector and other branches of government. Much of CIA’s technology success was a result of identifying gaps and opportunities….”

Naturally IQT partners with many other US Government agencies such as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and DoD’s Defense HUMINT Management Office (DHMO). now the Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center (DCHC).

This symbiotic relationship between the US Gov, Google and private enterprise is so interesting. And this post builds on my post that reminded us how dependant we are on the grace and favour of US Government agencies for good old HF radio…never mind GPS and the Internet itself !

I am not really that bothered that the US Govt is the funding source and the major source of the initiatives behind geospatial technology - combined with Google of course as a major channel to private enterprise and world wide adoption and, of course, dependence.

Have a look at the excellent work at this “visualize Singapore” blog called SinGeo. This just shows how data from Google Earth can be be used to greatly enhance many types of activity not only sailing using the coastal and bathymetric data now being made available.

The work being carried out by OGC to standardise the interfaces and KML scripting language and their strategic partner scheme that is helping to develop the businesses of companies such as PCI Geomatics will simply challenge the incumbents in our marine industry (yes, Raymarine! ) to up their game and also to reduce prices.

I am really just selfishly wondering how and when I will be able to get all this fantastic information on a device on my boat for Free…yes I am really that selfish…:-)

It is just over a year ago that, thanks to the feedback of the cruising community around the world, the future of HF radio services was saved!

You may recall that the U.S. Coast Guard’s issued a notice dated April 18, 2007, soliciting public comment on the need to continue providing high frequency (HF) radio broadcasts of weather forecasts and warnings via:

(1) Radiofacsimile;
(2) voice; and,
(3) Simplex Teletype Over Radio (SITOR)

This was issued by C.S. Johnson, JR.,Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Acting Assistant Commandant for Command, Control, Communications, computers and Information Technology - well that is one powerful CIO job!.

The notice stated that in summary:

“…The Coast Guard is soliciting public comment on the need to continue providing high frequency (HF) radio broadcasts of weather forecasts and warnings. Public comment is necessary in order to assess the demand for the HF radio broadcasts of weather forecasts in each of three forms: (1) Radiofacsimile;(2) voice; and, (3) Simplex Teletype Over Radio (SITOR), also known as Narrow Band Direct Printing (NBDP).

The infrastructure necessary to provide these services has exceeded its life expectancy; the equipment is no longer manufactured, repairs are difficult to accomplish, and spare parts generally are not available. Because of the very significant costs involved to continue these specific HF radio services, the Coast Guard requires information on the extent to which these services are used by the public and what alternative services are being used or are available to obtain weather forecasts and warnings.
…”

Luckily after an outcry the US Coast Guard concluded that:

“The responding public collectively perceives that the USCG HF broadcasts are essential to their safety. There is no viable alternative to the USCG HF broadcasts because present alternatives are perceived by the public to be out of financial reach. Also, marine weather forecasts available through these alternative sources may not guarantee the same level of accuracy, timeliness, and/or sufficiency as provided by the USCG HF broadcasts…”

Should we not have a separate mandate for the sailing community that protects it’s interests on a formal basis rather than leave it to the discretion and judgement of professional staff who may have many other challenging objectives and other more powerful stakeholders to satisfy?

What about the US GPS network?…when will that run out of “grace and favour” ?

I remember seeing Dee Caffari being given an Honorary Doctorate for her achievements during my son’s graduation ceremony at Leeds Met . Dee herself graduated from Leeds Met in 1995, and she became a teacher, shortly after that she took up sailing…after only 10 years Dee set a world record in the Aviva Challenge 2006, for being the first woman to sail around the world single handed against the prevailing winds.

Then in February 2007, she went to work with a team of sports science experts from Leeds Met to shape her into the ultimate professional sailor. She was preparing to race the world’s ‘Open 60′ elite sailors in her Aviva Ocean Racing Campaign. She has set out on an accelerated learning curve to go from ‘zero to Open 60′ in under two years.

Sports science experts at the Carnegie Faculty of Sport & Education’s Centre for Performance Sport. set to work. The centre is one of the world’s leading sports development centres and has helped some of Britain’s best athletes including Dame Kelly Holmes and Tracey Morris.

The scientists regularly carried out measurements on her heart, body mass and the effects of the training programme. To assess her fitness levels, the Carnegie Centre for Performance Sport used state of the art finger-tip blood sampling technology to measure haemoglobin and blood lactate alongside monitoring heart rate response and blood pressure during incremental running on a treadmill.

Then after only 18 months experience with the open 60’s she came 6th in the Vendee Globe 2008 becoming the fist woman to sail singlehanded round the world in both directions

Elapsed time for course: 99 days 1 hours 10 mn. 57 sec.
Actual distance sailed: 27906.9 Nm.
Actual average speed: 11.7 KTS
Average speed over course: 10.45 KTS

This is another great Google Map from Louise Busby..and in her own words “An increasing number of superyacht owners and charter operators are relocating their vessels to far-flung corners of the globe to entice the growing band of charter guests tired of cruising round the same old watering holes. We’ve searched the planet for the pick of these yachts and the experiences they offer, from sun bathing with iguanas in the Galapagos to snorkelling with elephants off those gems of the Indian Ocean. “….Great job Louise !

View Larger Map

..although sailors and power boaters dont always get along:-) - I have to take my hat off to Louise who is web editor of the Broom Users Club and who has also the author of Inland Waterways of the Netherlands.

Its not often we hear the BBC Shipping Forecast start with the words “There are warnings of gales in all areas except Trafalgar…” as I write this the wind is howling around the South Downs and the coast around Brighton…but look at this for the …for a weather forecast..

Rockall Malin Hebrides:
Cyclonic storm 10 to hurricane force 12, becoming west or southwest 7 to severe gale 9. High or very high. Rain or wintry showers. Moderate or poor, occasionally very poor.

The screen shots here are from the excellent Magic Seaweed site…who do a really good job of showing wave heights and near shore effects for surfers and of course therefore for coastal cruisers. The wave heights in mid Atlantic are shown as 50-75ft and the wind speeds up to F12 of the north coast of Scotland.

I really would not want to be fishing off the north coast of Scotland tonight!

The owner of the pretty catamaran “Phlat Chat” has sent in an updated copy of the passage plan that I first posted here.

You can download the updated passage planner here…

…Yes, its free and its virus free too!

The update is a useful calculator for fuel consumption especially if you have two engines and anticipate motoring for any length of time.

So now you get the following displays inside the passage plan:

..or if the calculations shows you havn’t got enough fuel then the display shows…

“Phlat Chat” will be cruising up the east coast of Australia over the Christmas period from Sydney to Lake Macquarie….am I envious?….no we love the rolling fog and bitter cold of the English Channel in December

I have long lamented the poor service that boaters whether power or sail get when installing electronics on their vessels. Getting someone that understands a good installation, is honest enough to read the manual before starting, and doesn’t rip you off with unexpected “extras” is as rare as getting a good plumber or an honest politician.

I have recently been looking at the The British Marine Electronics Association web site and noticed that they do more than represent the trade. The obviously are a trade organisations that represents installers and manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment for marine use.

But they do have a “Code of Practice for Electrical and Electronic Installations in Small Craft”. This code is produced by the BMEA as a guide to how installations should meet the Standards required for compliance with the Recreational Craft Directive (RCD). It is based on the ISO Standards for AC & DC installations. The Code of Practice is available to all including trade and DIY installers alike and can be obtained through the BMF technical department (phone 01784 223634 or email: cabel@britishmarine.co.uk)

They also run an accreditation scheme called BMET. British Marine Electronics Technician accreditation is a new scheme that has been introduced to recognise the qualifications and experience of those involved with the installation of electronic and electrical equipment in boats.The scheme consists of intermediate and advanced level examinations and, verification of a candidate’s practical competence.

One can but hope that by choosing a company with staff that have attained BMET accreditation …”you can be confident that you will get the highest standards of workmanship and expertise …”

hmmm…is this like the logos that builders put on the back of their vans - or is it a real qualification?….I would love to know…

Well against the general tone of doom and gloom I thought you may be interested, in a list of gadgets that you may want to treat yourself this festive season..or perhaps drop someone a hint…

1. Monitor your boat using the internet…the Spykee from Meccano comes ready assembled for those who cant cope with kit instructions. The Spykee can be controlled using WiFi and the internet. It has a webcam, microphone and it has a sentry mode that senses movement and would send you a photo by email. You can even shout at any potential burglar or yacht thief using the built in speaker …oh, and he plays MP3’s - of course!

2. The snazily named ATC5K has a 48 degree field of view and a new CMOS sensor. The camera runs on AA batteries (included) and can handle up to 4GB SD cards giving over 2hours of recording time. Weighing at half a pound (with batteries), this self-contained, hands-free digital video cam delivers full colour digital video in 640 x 480 VGA at 30 frames per second – even underwater. It’s water proof to 3m (10ft), shock resistant all-in-one digital video camera has been designed for hands-free use in the most extreme conditions. Simply mount the Action Camera on your yacht and take your YouTube videos…

3. Sony CyberShot DSC-T70 has an 8.2 megapixel CCD, a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens, 3x optical zoom (without a lens that retracts) and a 3″ LCD touch screen. There are only 4 buttons on the camera so it my be difficult to use the touch screen controls with gloves on - but on the other hand less places fro water ingress - especially if you use an aquapack water proof cover. The best bit is that it has Super SteadyShot and ISO 3200 High Sensitivity (REI) - so taking pictures on a pitching deck can easily be handled by the speed of the electronics in this camera.

4. How about a digital photo frame to store and display all those beautiful sunset pictures - The classy Sony S-Frame DPF-V700 Has an intelligent orientation sensor which automatically rotates picture for correct viewing even if you position the frame in landscape or portrait positions. It can accept
Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, SD, MMC, CompactFlash, MicroDrive or xD media It comes with a wireless remote commander so that you dont have to power up your laptop in order to view all your great sailing pics, and you can add the optional DPPA-BT1 Bluetooth Adaptor for wireless image transfer from your camera or camera phone or laptop.

5. What about MP3 players that can also show pictures and videos - I stubbornly refuse to join the iPod fanatics - for me it has to be the geeks choice of iRiver or if you are more mainstream then the Creative ZEN XF1 16Gb is the one to go for. It supports a large number of digital audio standards: WMA, WAV, ADPCM, Audible, MP3, AAC. It’s about the width of a credit card. It will store 64 hours of videos, 4,000 songs or hundreds of photos. The 2.5-inch TFT color display has 320 x 240-pixel resolution and will display 16.7 million colors. It has a clock and alarm function, eight equalizer settings, and a USB hard drive mode.

6. When it comes to gadget phones you are spoilt for choice. Here are just six that combine all sorts of features like mobile phone and MP3/4 players with simply telling the time!.. Perhaps the most appropriate for sailing is the Suunto X9i which has a GPS receiver; thermometer; barometer; digital compass; and when you get some time you can plug it into Google Earth using your laptop and see your whole journey in glorious 3D.
The other watches that you may consider as top gadgets are the mobile phone watches such as the Cool V2 or if you really want to make telling the time as difficult as possible check out these from TokyoFlash!

All essential gadgets for the boat I am sure you will agree !

Rocna Anchors has released a comprehensive online collection of information on the topic of anchors, anchoring accessories, and the science of anchoring.

The Rocna Knowledge Base is a comprehensive, indexed and searchable digital encyclopedia covering anchors and anchoring.

The new website includes a section specific to anchors, including a collection of Rocna installation case studies, and guidelines for designing and building the ideal bow roller. Analyses of independent testing, explanations of anchor classification/certification, advice on sizing anchors and much more is also available online.

Content is not restricted to anchors; major sections focus on the rest of the anchoring system – chain, rope, connectors (shackles and swivels), windlasses, etc. Optimising rode make-up, best practice anchoring techniques, multiple anchor rigs, tandem anchoring and optimising the scope and catenary of the rode for best anchor performance are just a few of the topics covered in-depth.

You may also like to check out my previous postings on the subject of anchoring.