That is the crucial question. Others have given plenty of alternatives if you have a phone signal and AIS has also been mentioned. The most expensive way but probably most reliable is one of the many trackers as Iliad suggests
Most of the time I just keep in touch via mobile phone either voice, video or text but do have a Yellow Brick which gave my best friend and family some reassurance when crossing the Pacific on my own.
I think there are two approaches to this subject:
Any of the other tracking apps/services will do the same. Some like google maps location sharing may have other advantages like showing the state of the battery on your phone. Others like Apple 'Find my' may still be locatable when the phone powers down to save the last few percent of battery.
It is if you have sailed to a remote anchorage with no phone signal and so cannot hit the button to confirm your arrival (or reach by voice etc). Then (i) you have to radio CG to say - expect a concerned call, but im just out of range; (ii) next time you find yourself late and unobtainable is it real or just the technology weakness - there will be a finite number of times a worried wife is going to sheepishly call the CG to see if you are just of out of range!
Doesn't actually tell them you are safe though. SafeTrx says wonky is overdue... vesselfinder shows he's where he was expecting to be though and the safetrx showed him headed there so must be ok... whilst you actually fell overboard trying to set the anchor!
I think it is useful - how useful on a long passage is something I'm not so sure about. Their concept is you put your plan in at the start of the day and off you go until you reach your destination when you log yourself safe. Knowing I'm over due at 7pm is better than not knowing until I don't return the following day, but knowing something has gone wrong at 10am and the boat's been sailing on autopilot since then might be more helpful! If you were actually using it as "proof of life" it would be nice if it prompted you periodically to check all OK, no change to plans etc, or actually if it was intergrated to boat network, or activity trackers on phone and realised when inactivity might suggest an issue. Once you've had a few "no signal" moments like above - you start adding an hour on to the plan to allow for attempts to get a signal by going ashore, going up a hill etc... That means if I do fall in before my actual ETA I have to wait an extra hour for help so its probably a false comfort blanket.
if I was concerned about being constantly spyed on, it wouldn't be by my wife. It seems an increasing number of yachts are adding AIS transmitters which means not only every ship nearby can see them but a number of commercial services publish that data to the web.
Interestingly we turned on location sharing for some specific reason ages ago. It actually has proven to be far more useful than your philosophy suggests - rather than being used for some nepharious or over eager purpose or demanding that we must check in with each other (by telegram or otherwise) it means when the other party is wondering where you are but doesn't want to pester you they can quickly check. This can help plan food, find you in a busy area or provide reassurance that you've time for another pint before anyone complains you weren't home to make the dinner!
But many an adventurer has been found because a wife realised they were overdue and triggered a search.
His wife is probably smart enough to know that its unlikely he's immortal so there's a flaw in your logic!
Perhaps the way for her not to worry is to have some form of reassuring update, or access to such information.
But if there is no Internet at your destination how do you confirm passage completed?
I appreciate the time you spent to take isolated sentences of my post and contradict them. Of course there is always one scenario where - whatever it is - would have been useful, had we only had it with us...
That's your problem. Keep the phone in pocket to take photos, check charts, and message / tale calls if choose to
Yes that is a key issue with SafeTrx - often sheltered anchorages have less phone signal than when at sea, so can't send message to close the passage. Then needless false alarms.
Now that is something to worry aboutMy wife doesn't seem unduly concerned when I go off on my own.
There's many scenarios both on and off the water where a loved one being able to see where you are is helpful. Some of them are serious, others are trivial. Personally since I'm not bothered if my spouse knows where I am - I just leave it switched on all the time, that saves anyone remembering to turn it on/off.
Well might I suggest that its precisely because she does understand mortality, probability and ageing that she's brought this up now... ...and "don't worry dear nothing bad had happened before, so won't in the future" means either that speaker or the recipient must be unable to understand that the correlation is a poor one!
Not really - if you read all my posts properly you'll see that whilst there are technical solutions which may reassure the spouse at home several are not that robust in more remote locations. There was a time pre-mobile phone when sailors could make ship to shore calls, and phone boxes were more prevalent where people would go ashore specifically to "call in". For at least the last 40 years (and probably far longer) the coastguard have encouraged you to tell people where and when you were going and expected to be back. Reading the OP it sounds like he doesn't do that.
I would politely suggest that you've fallen into the trap of thinking peace of mind is about your state not those of the loved one worrying about you! It is really irrelevant if you are at one with nature and "the real value of solitude" if doing so leaves your loved ones in a state of heightened anxiety. It may be entirely a placebo to placate the loved one - but there's almost zero intrusion on your life to sharing your location and providing them minimal reassurance.
Not everyone will agree but reaching retirement with a loved one who cares enough to be concerned about you is a good goal for life. Those who aren't merely tolerating their life partner waiting for the grim reaper, will probably agree that making them feel more comfortable about what you are up to (whether its sailing, hill climbing, cycling or life modelling) actually means you will have more opportunities to do what you enjoy without worrying that you are upsetting them.
You can but the cost of a stamp will probably make your think again! £1.70 (1st class) or 87p for 2nd. If you step ashore at 5pm (Mon) and post it today in some rural UK outpost its likely to be Wed PM at the earliest before it arrives, so perhaps not great for reassurance!
Really? From what I heard she was at it the moment you drove out the end of the street.
My greatest fear is that if I am ever late home…the wife will adopt another dogReally? From what I heard she was at it the moment you drove out the end of the street.
