Confession time

[Spacewaist]

Re: A couple of web cams...

I did give this some thought.

You could set up a whole bluetooth experience in front of the fire with cockpit repeaters off the instruments and a joystick to steer with. It would add a touch of reality to the Virtual reality type programmes, since it would actually be your yacht that you would be parking on the rock in the middle of Cuan Sound (you've taken the long way round on the tide to hear the growl of Correvreckan on your audio hook up).

You can make mistakes without putting you and your crew in danger, without troubling the rescue services - a whole new distance "learning experience" for you.

LOOK OUT!!! Behind y.......! Five more hoots and you're history!

 

[claymore]

Re: A couple of web cams...

How close then between virtual and reality. I have actually parked on the rock in Cuan sound - not the Cleit rock, but that bastard that was waiting to catch anyone sneaking through a bit later than they should have done and hung too far left (going east) then spent a couple of hours waiting for the flood - which of course goes the wrong way - then spent 20 minutes with white knuckles and dry mouth looking at the SOG on the GPS to find out whether the 48hp of Leylands finest was going to be enough or whether we were going to end up sailing backwards past the Cleit.
Well - it is confession time!!

regards
Claymore

 

[NigeCh]

Warts and all ....

I'll stay just me. I looked into the mirror this morning after having read your post and had the shock of my life. It reminded me of 'Those were the days' by Mary Hopkins in 1964 ... God how wrinkles have warped a post-supine brain and led it downwards to thinking that sailing is all that is left for the image in that mirror

Never mind I'm NigeCh and still am and still __/)_ 'ing all the year round.

 

[kdf]

Re: A couple of web cams...

I was involved in a pilot project off the coast of California that linked a number of ships via gps and a big server on shore. The server tracked where the ships were, their speed, course and figured out if there was a chance of a collision. It could then send back a couse change the the autopilots on the respective ships so as to avoid the collision. No foolproof but was to be used in emergencies only (didnt take into account that there might be someone in a Kayak right where you tell the ship to turn).

I have also played around with a Laptop and the autopilot and sending commands to the laptop remotely from a phone (1 is port 10 degrees ,2 port 1, 3 starboard 1 and 4 starboard 10) and changing the course of the boat. Its not difficult to do but I'm not sure if its something I'd really need or want.

 

[claymore]

On the contrary

I think its the way to go
We'd not need to get up then and could save a fortune on yachting caps and lumbago docksiders and those strange pants with zip flys at the ankle - how the hell you pee out of there without filling your shoes simply beats me

regards
Claymore

 

[tcm]

Re: On the contrary

the zip flies go all the way up the legs, so these trousers are really for male strippers who *woosh* take their trousis off very quickly. Not quite sure why they wear them on sailboats.

 

[claymore]

Re: On the contrary

someone is talking about having oily trousers over on the boatknife thread - I tend to get mine in the wash fairly often - do you have oily trousers.
Went to the Museum of photography in Bratfut last week - really fantastic - as was bratfut really.

regards
Claymore

 

[Spacewaist]

Bratfut, Yeurks?

I thought they had closed Bratfut as a health hazard. Too many vindaloos - not enough portaloos.

LOOK OUT!!! Behind y.......! Five more hoots and you're history!

 

[claymore]

Don\'t go There....

TCM is a proud son and he's not without influence. You may well not live to see the sunset if you continue in this vein

regards
Claymore

 

[Spacewaist]

Re: Don\'t go There....

tcm has already shown us his colours on your "I am a simple soul.." thread, on which I've not dared to tread (and which looks like a budding centurion).

I think I'd be safe with him, but I wdnt go to Bratfut even if invited.

LOOK OUT!!! Behind y.......! Five more hoots and you're history!

 

[TheBoatman]

Re: I\'ll fess up as well ....

Nige
For my trip into Ramsgate in the fog, I did have the benefit of a Raytheon 10" colour chart plotter and a C-Map cartrage that I had asked C-Map to upgrade to my specs i.e. I had them remove some charts from the northern end of the area and add charts such as the Ramsgate Approach chart. Which meant that I could "zoom" in so-much-so that I could not actually see the ends of the East/West outer harbour walls. This allowed me to (with the DGPS) to steer a course right down the middle of the channel(s).
I would add that whilst I was doing this, I had already told Ramsgate Port Control exactly what I was going to do and was in constant VHF contact with them as to when I intended to make course changes, they also watched me all the way in on their radar. BTW, I would think that at least 5 other boats followed me in because it "looked" like I knew what I was doing<s>, but I also have the benefit of being a Ramsgate Lic boatman which means I know the area reasonably well. I'm not sure if I would attempt it on a port enterance I did not know as well?
BTW I also have a modified C-Map cartrage of the Medway which allows me to pick my way safely up the river right onto my mooring in fog (done that too!)

 

[ccscott49]

Re: I\'ll fess up as well ....

Thats not a confession, thats a very sensible modification to charts for your own area. Even if you just used a paper chart and GPS plotting, it's the same thing, it's still using GPS, I think thats fine, use the aids to navigation which are supplied for us, to not do so, is plain ludditish ignorance. I wish I could afford all these bells and whistles, but one day. IMHO

 

[jimi]

Re: Yes ...Peter_Aird

I thought he'd run off with Jimmie!

 

[billmacfarlane]

What's the problem Peter ? You're merely showing what a good navigator you are by using all the tools you've got at your disposal and double checking everything . Sounds emminently sensible to me. Yes I know some prophets of doom say that you should never trust electrickery implicitly but can can any navigator trust his own DR 100 % ? Any navigator that thinks that his DR is 100% accurate will sooner or later be in for a shock , hopefully a harmless one. Anyway you can't be the world's laziest navigator - I am !!!!!!!!

 

[TheBoatman]

Bill, I'll always be happy to be number 2 to you<s>

 

[NigeCh]

Ramsgate

Peter,

I've only been into Ramsgate once and that was in the dark and slightly foggy too. Passed it many times. I'm essentially a west coast sailor who has been introduced into the joys and difficulties of east coast sailing. From memory, I recall that there is a designated approach and that I was in touch with Port Control via VHF.

The point that I was trying to make was that you can use a sufficiently large GPS screen as a sortof quasi chart plotter. Yes, it's easier to use a proper chart plotter. Last summer I was on a Farr 50 out of Lelystad to Malaga and it had a Raytheon (Now Raymarine) SL top of the range something .... and WOW! It doesn't half make push button navigation easy.

I think that most of us here are reading the same songsheet: 'Use whatever tools that you have to hand to their best advantage.' Anyway, thank Bill Clinton for switching off SA. .... And that reminds me of another goof that I made. Coming into Caernarfon one moonless night and in thick mist I forgot to switch the GPS horizonal datum from WGS84 to OSGB36 .... crunch, crunch, crunch .... aground ... No probs. It was a rising tide. The stupid thing was that it took me a couple of days to work out why the GPS was wrong. It wasn't wrong - It was me who was using mixed datum charts and not resetting the GPS !!!!

There is another thing that comes out of the above where I've goofed again and again and again and it concerns the use of a Raymarine (ex-Raytheon) chart plotter. I do a fair number of deliveries around the Atlantic. A common mistake that many people make is not to check fluxgate calibration prior to setting off. IMO, it is vital, if we are going to rely on electronic instrumentation, is to check instrument datum and calibration and then do a simple check to see whether the electronic displayed references correspond with the still essential paper charts.

Yes, I'm a belt and braces person ... BUT several times I've found (the hard way) that the belt was holding up something that the braces weren't .... and crunch, crunch, crunch .... In each case it was my fault because I had failed to go through the electronic instrumentation setup and calibration processes.

Anyway I'm still sailing and all deliveries have sofar been made with no loss of crew - But, perhaps twice, it's been a close call.

Cheers,

Nige