Are sailors addicted to TECH

[LONG_KEELER]

Or is everybody ?

It started off for me when the Garmin H/H 45 came on the scene. Great...........
Then a friend came sailing with me bringing his mobile phone. Unfortunately, he had his own business and the constant calls spoiled the sailing.

I did eventually get a mobile phone (no Smartphones then) and it was great not to have to go ashore to find a phone box. You could use the VHF for link calls but they were quite expensive. I mainly used texts on the phone and still used the VHF and Radio 4 for weather forecasts.

So the mobile phone and Garmin complimented my sailing perfectly.

Since then, I honestly don't know if tech has either enhanced my life or my sailing.

I suppose solar energy made modern marine electrics possible without having to find a marina every night.

We don't have to have it of course. I wonder if there are boat owners who reject marine tech/consumerism etc . I have yet to meet one.

A friend of mine purchased a yacht which had a nice package of electronics . He took the plotter out and sold it. He said that he didn't like them. So far, he is the only person I know who has reduced his tech.

What does the panel think ?

 

[Sandy]

I sorted out the wind and water instrumentation this year. It made a huge difference to my enjoyment. Getting the GPS track off the chartplotter with the water depth and temperature always confirms that it was too cold to go swimming.

 

[seivadnehpets]

I sail a mirror dinghy out of the Medway, furthest I've got so far is the Maplin Buoy, but I'm convinced one day, with the right wind, I'll make the Blackwater. Getting back will be another problem.
I have a Baofeng $10 VHF in a waterproof pouch, and one of those little gps devices that gives coordinates or an arrow towards a waypoint. The only thing I use regularly is an led masthead lamp, strapped to the top of my yard with a motorbike battery.
The smart phone gets put in my waterproof bag when sailing and I have an old brick phone that I keep on me.
The problem I had with the smart phone was turning the brightness down at night, then being unable to turn it back up in the day.
I feel I'm simply not competent to use these devices beneficially.

 

[LadyInBed]

On a cruising boat, being away for more than just a weekend, I like my tech, why rough it?

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Because I have a techie background and generally try to be as helpful as possible to those I crew for I fairly often get asked opinions about electronics for yachts. I always start out by asking asking what they need, then patiently explain that's what they want, not what they need. It's strange the number of people who put knowing the exact apparent wind speed and angle ahead of knowing the depth of water under them or exactly where they are. Some are actually quite anti-tech though and I agree with them to an extent. It's remarkably hard to get simple, high-quality gear that just has one function and does that all the time really well. Mainstream yachting electronics has gone the way of many cars, where the ability to change the temperature is alongside the massage seat function in a touch screen remain that is great when you're parked in a lay-by. It's also got eye-wateringly expensive.

In a lottery win boat I'd probably have top-end B&G stuff, Airmar transducers, etc. but I'd also be willing to bet that I'd learn a few particular functions, program in shortcuts to them and then that would be just about all I'd ever use on it.

 

[Keith 66]

Apart from dinghies i think our Sabre is the last yacht in our club that does not have a masthead like a russian trawler.
It has a burgee flying above it thats it.

 

[Stemar]

For Jazzcat I bought a combined depth(need) & log (want), plus a wind instrument (want). I'll be adding a tablet with GPS (need/want), plotter (want) and IAS (want). I've also added voltmeters, which give me all the battery management I need.

Yes, I could manage without GPS, but crossing the channel, I reckon that knowing that's Cherbourg ahead and you're up tide of the up tide entrance beats wondering whether you're looking at the Val de Saire or la Hague. It's there, it's cheap and it adds safety, especially if things go wrong and you need help in a hurry. "I'm at position X", accurate to 20m or less beats "I'm mid Channel about halfway between Chichester and Cherbourg" when the water's coming in fast.

I could also do without AIS, but knowing I can go between ships 2 & 3 beats trying to guess, and it isn't expensive in the context of a refurbishment.

Yes, the sailing heroes of our parents generation did incredible things without the toys, but would they have they have turned them down? With very few fanatically minimalist exceptions, would they hell. The only danger comes when the toys become essential, and you can't find your way from Weymouth to Poole without that little boat icon on the map

PS Would my lottery win boat have all the toys? Too right it would, but I hope that, while I'd learn to use them all, most of them would remain useful toys, not things I depend on

 

[Minerva]

What do you mean by tech?

AIS Transiever? Good quality battteries? a laptop to stream Netflix when stormbound for a few days? Reliable weather information? GPS? Goretex ? A reliable VHF? Echosounder? Dacron Sails? A reliable Diesel engine? Charts? Sextant? Chronometer? Pintle hung rudder? A mainsail/foresail rig?

These would all, in their time, be considered 'tech' and be new. I'm sure we would agree that they have improved either the safety or comfort or enjoyably of sailing.

I would put it forward that sailing has always grappled for new technologies and always welcomed and embraced new stuff to make the experience more comfortable, and more enjoyable.

 

[johnalison]

We cruised from ‘72 to ‘87 without a VHF, including ten years of going foreign, so I wouldn’t call myself an addict. I got Decca in 1988, radar in 2000, and a modern plotter about eight years ago, which I am very fond of. I would say that the biggest change came with the mobile phone and the ability to text-message. Previous to that, in my case 1999, the only way of communicating was by finding a call box, and with other sailors it was almost impossible unless you left a message with a harbourmaster. From 1999 we were able to meet up at random points with friends when our cruises overlapped, as well as keeping in contact generally and saving a fortune on postcards.

 

[Robin]

I went hightech with a Seafix RDF, then cheanged it for a better one with digital frequency entering. Speed log wass a Walkertrailing log with speed kept but replaced in daily useby a Wasp mechanical one driven by a rotating cable from through hull impellor. in arush of blood with mast down fitted a Smiths windspeed sensor which was self powered and only had a windvane for direction.. Added a VHF with 24 channels once they were available instead of ubiquitous 12 channel Seavoice ones. Had a real rush of blood one day in Guernsey and bought a Phillips DYN decca set then later on a different boat did the same and bought a Mars Vigil CRT radar. and another visit added a set of Autohelm ST50 speed, log and wind instruments. Vigil radar went unrepairably tits up after a super thick foggy crossing from Dartmpoth to Camaret so called into Concarneau and had a brilliant Furuno set fitted which broke the holiday budget badly. I dded a Yeoman plotter to the charttable run from thethen Decca, later switchable betwixt that and a newly acquired GPS, later upgraded to dGPS. A Soton Boatshow special deal had me buy an outdated Autohelm plotter, later asdded 2 Navman ones bought cheap in the USA.
Throughout all thisall navigation was and still is from 1st principles though i also bought a Neptune plotter/planner program for my laptop. SWMBO, self and Neptune wouldd compete for who could get the best results overall.

Nowadays with a mobo have a network of Axiom, stuff with radar, AIS transceiver, VHF tridata depth speed/log but no wind instruments a sad omission .Autopilot is an ancient one inherited and with Seatalk/nmea 0183 refuses to talk controllably to the N2K network at least affordably.

Oh also have OpenCPN running on my laptop as well ass SWMBOs and a an Android tablet Wifi linked Raymarine network for remote display and control fom lower helm.

Do I need any of this -NO
Will I dump any of it -NO.

 

[Minerva]

The most recent bit of tech I've seen which really impressed me, was a forward facing camera (including infrared night vision camera) which displayed on the chart plotter overlaid with navigation info - ships AIS data, position of buoys, headlands etc.

It looks really, really clever.

 

[johnalison]

I went hightech with a Seafix RDF, then cheanged it for a better one with digital frequency entering. Speed log wass a Walkertrailing log with speed kept but replaced in daily useby a Wasp mechanical one driven by a rotating cable from through hull impellor. in arush of blood with mast down fitted a Smiths windspeed sensor which was self powered and only had a windvane for direction.. Added a VHF with 24 channels once they were available instead of ubiquitous 12 channel Seavoice ones. Had a real rush of blood one day in Guernsey and bought a Phillips DYN decca set then later on a different boat did the same and bought a Mars Vigil CRT radar. and another visit added a set of Autohelm ST50 speed, log and wind instruments. Vigil radar went unrepairably tits up after a super thick foggy crossing from Dartmpoth to Camaret so called into Concarneau and had a brilliant Furuno set fitted which broke the holiday budget badly. I dded a Yeoman plotter to the charttable run from thethen Decca, later switchable betwixt that and a newly acquired GPS, later upgraded to dGPS. A Soton Boatshow special deal had me buy an outdated Autohelm plotter, later asdded 2 Navman ones bought cheap in the USA.
Throughout all thisall navigation was and still is from 1st principles though i also bought a Neptune plotter/planner program for my laptop. SWMBO, self and Neptune wouldd compete for who could get the best results overall.

Nowadays with a mobo have a network of Axiom, stuff with radar, AIS transceiver, VHF tridata depth speed/log but no wind instruments a sad omission .Autopilot is an ancient one inherited and with Seatalk/nmea 0183 refuses to talk controllably to the N2K network at least affordably.

Oh also have OpenCPN running on my laptop as well ass SWMBOs and a an Android tablet Wifi linked Raymarine network for remote display and control fom lower helm.

Do I need any of this -NO
Will I dump any of it -NO.

I probably still have somewhere my digital Seafix, which actually worked very well for the one or two years it was any use, certainly better than the Hitachi radio with a rotating aerial on top that I had before. The Seafarer electronic log was very effective; I had it in the late '70s, with a repeater readout in the cockpit.

Another piece of tech that I value is my pair of stabilised binoculars, Canon 10x40. I acquired them after sailing in Danish waters in 2000. It was a particularly windy period and we found it very hard to read the little stick buoys that guide you through the many channels because we couldn't hold our traditional 7x50s steady enough. I bought the new ones from Monk Optics at the Southhampton show that year and they are still a great pleasure to use, both at sea and on land.

 

[CLP]

A bit like others, I started offshore sailing in the seventies with virtually nothing, position fixing was with hand held compass, RDF gave huge cocked hats, and weather forecasts were the Shipping Forecast on long wave, there was no Inshore Waters Forecast. I love the tech stuff now and it removes all the stress! But I am grateful for the earlier experience of basic navigation, I know what to do when modern equipment fails which it can do, like when, a couple of years ago we lost ALL power and gps between the Scillies and Cork in F6/7 winds. Getting to our destination was down to eye balls, a compass, emergency torches, basic dead reckoning and a fair amount of worry, but it worked. The 2 most important tech/modern things I would hate to lose are weather forecasts and a simple gps.

 

[dunedin]

Of course we use appropriate technology which we find increases our safety and/or enjoyment.
We have embraced terylene/Dacron sails to replace flax and cotton; stainless steel fittings and rigging to replace galvanaised; reliable Diesel engines to replace sail only, or unreliable early petrol engines; low maintenance GRP to replace leaky wooden hulls and decks. WoJody you want to roll pathetic clock back on these technologies (as opposed to utilise when we have them, and move to better ones when available).
We use echo sounders to replace lead lines; GPS to replace Decca to replace DR and hope; VHF to replace throwing messages across to passing vessels and lightships.
I am happy to make cruising both much safer and more enjoyable using my mobile devices to get longer range / more accurate forecasts; chart plotters and tablets to aid navigation; AIS and Radar to reduce stress in bad visibility or crossing busy commercial shipping lanes; etc

Why not

 

[Moodysailor]

Yes, and nothing wrong with it in my view. IMO, dependency is the issue as I'm of the Personal belief that you should still be able to navigate and/or find your way to a safe haven if the tech dies.

I usually have my calls, emails, messages etc muted when on board, but still like to play music from my phone to the boat stereo. The 4G WiFi router we had on our previous boat not only provided a way for me to get navigation data at the outside helm, but also meant I could work from the boat if I want to, or stream a movie if the weather is rubbish and we were confined inside.

We had a high-end plotter, but also sailed with a paper chart out and would reference both. I practice DR and plot hourly more to 'keep my hand in' than anything else, but it's fun.

Tech is fun, so is knowing you can cope without - but don't have to

 

[Wansworth]

Hi tech…….pencil rack?

 

[Robin]

I wasreturning one foggy day from Cherbourg to Poole with a fellow club member as crew. He told me he'd gone electronic on his Achilles 24 (with Seagull outboard) He'd bought a secondhand Seafix neon spinner echosounder. I was using Decca and CH88 VHF lighthouse direction finding but he was fully convinced we were a mile or more west of Poole fairway buoy - until we very nearly ran into it in the fog.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

I member having an odd feeling on a friend's boat seeing our moving position on a chart plotter for the first time. I now have it on a tablet and a phone .

I sometimes feel that when there is too much, there is something missing .

As mentioned, there is nothing stopping us turning some of it off.

In this age of time poverty in the west, we can still buy stuff for the boat as some consolation which may also be part of it.

 

[Moodysailor]

If I may add something from on of my other pastimes which is cycling - there is a joke in cycling circles "if it isn't on Strava, it didn't happen"

There is also a metaphor about true words spoken in jest.... cyclists are among the most techy people I have met, I knew one guy who was distraught after an 80 mile ride as his HR monitor dies halfway round - it was as if he hadn't finished the ride

 

[Blueboatman]

Hi tech…….pencil rack?

I hope you carry a spare pencil sharpener