SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Follow the ARC

5K views 42 replies 14 participants last post by  MarkofSeaLife 
#1 · (Edited)
The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) has been underway for a couple of days. The route covers the 2800 nm from Canaries to Caribbean via the tradewind route. I'm following it because we may do the passage in 2014.

At the website you can follow the fleet ("fleet tracker" buttton) and read logs of participants. See ARC

I spent an hour or so this morning reading through the logs and found some very interesting. For those who have not made an ocean crossing, this reading might be educational as you'll get a sense for how crews are coping with various challenges -- gear failures, weather, sea sickness, etc.

The start was delayed this year by a low pressure system that produced strong winds coming up the rhumb line. After the start they had a few days of sub-gale force winds and big seas. It's a tough way to get the crew and boat settled into a routine, but it seems like most participants are doing well so far. My guess is that within a few days all boats will be well into the trades and the reading will mostly be about big fish caught and the resulting cuisine, and will produce much less interesting reading. :)

Have a look!

If you find something worth sharing -- post it on this thread and we can discuss / learn form it.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
The people in the slip next to us did the ARC 2010 in a Sundeer 62.

It completely changed them and was a great experience. I got to crew from the Panama to the Gallapagos. Interesting how they completed avaoided the Somalia area and how fierce the Angulas current was as well as the sea state going to South Africa.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Interesting point brought up in the log by Northern Child. They have done a number of ARCs and is quite a large Swan. They are having a tough time in heavy seas and strong winds... Following winds and seas, though. The owner wonders what it's like to be on smaller boats and the non Swan /Oyster type boats.

Then he mentions that he is further north than the rest of the fleet who are in calmer, sunnier conditions. He has gone north to get stronger winds to sail faster.

So the Atlantic can be managed by very different size boats, or sailing methods... The further south the more trades winds, the further north the different weather patterns...

On my crossing in Nov 2010 the northern route was into 35 knot head winds and the southern route was very light winds. You could go the way your cruisng style wanted it to be.

Anyway, here's a video of my boat half way across the Atlantic.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Its always interesting reading what types of boats are entered in the ARCs and other blue water rallies.

On this site, you will find page after page of people comparing one blue water boat to another and when the question of a mass-production boat comes into the fray, then the fecal matter starts to really hits the fan.

But looking at the entries, one sees a bunch of Beneteau Oceanises, Jeanneau Sun Odysseyies, and other production boats that don't get as much respect as the Amels and Valiants of this world.

So its pretty educational to see what people on sailing forums consider blue water boats, versus the actual type of boats that are sailed in blue water.
 
#12 ·
Its always interesting reading what types of boats are entered in the ARCs and other blue water rallies.

On this site, you will find page after page of people comparing one blue water boat to another and when the question of a mass-production boat comes into the fray, then the fecal matter starts to really hits the fan.

But looking at the entries, one sees a bunch of Beneteau Oceanises, Jeanneau Sun Odysseyies, and other production boats that don't get as much respect as the Amels and Valiants of this world.

So its pretty educational to see what people on sailing forums consider blue water boats, versus the actual type of boats that are sailed in blue water.
I am currently writing a book about extended cruising and the people and boats involved. You do see an incredible variety of boats in obscure places (think Mangareva or Mauritius), but there are a disproportionate number of Amels for example. To point out that it is not just a matter of money, you also see quite a few Albin Vegas. Also note that the ARC is used to take new charter boats to the Caribbean from Europe so this accounts for some of the new, 'production boats' (note that Amels and Valiants are also production boats). Also note, that Europeans typically have newer boats than North Americans (Ainia just had her 30th birthday, so we are typical of North Americans).
 
#8 ·
I kinda think it's nice to have a boat that will get one through; "to err is human", is it not?
For instance; wouldn't you rather have a masthead rig and a back stay, if you were knocked down or capsized? Wouldn't it be nice to sustain no damage after being hit by a container in a gale at night? Wouldn't it be nice to have a skeg to protect the rudder if it hit something?
 
#7 · (Edited)
I'll attach a few quotes from this mornings ARC logs and add a few comments on each. I didn't have time to read them all, but the ones below offer a few lessons for those dreaming of crossing oceans. (Note: I haven't corrected typos in the log posts.) See World Cruising Club - ARC Logs.

Ailsa writes...."They say fire at sea is the worst nightmare well we had smoke in the engine compartment arising from the generator! No flames on this occasion although the fire control team were standing by. Scotty tried to rescue the situation by changing the impellor - a pretty trick manoeuvre in a heavy sea - but the culprit appears to be the generator coil itself??? Outwith the scope of the onboard expertise me thinks. Well we have two alternative supplies of charging - the engine and the solar panels. The latter have had disappointing use to date but there is sun today so that will help."
From my experience in the USN, I can second the comment about "fire at sea". It's one of the best ways I know to ruin your day. This log post raises the question about the type of fire retarding canisters you use. For years I sailed with the powder type until a guy asked me if I'd ever seen the aftermath of using a powder extinguisher. I had not and he went on to tell me about what a mess it makes -- the powder is very fine and gets into everything -- electronics, engine intakes, food, clothes, bedding. Now imagine that you have to let go with one or more 5 # powder-filled bottles when you're mid-ocean and then have to live in the residue for a week or more. The thought of that caused me to invest the few extra bucks in the newer halon-type extinguishers that kill the fire and leave no mess behind. Just a thought for the next time you need to invest in one of the little red bottles.

Second thought that arises from this post is this -- why is it that a generator (or, for that matter, any other piece of vital gear) that has run perfectly for years and years decides to pack up three days into a passage when it's performance is critical to safety and comfort on the voyage? I have no answer for that other than "sh*t happens". For some reason gear fails on long passages that hasn't failed on all those coastal trips you've taken over the years. I guess the lesson here is that all critical systems need a very thorough going over before departure and, if something is getting near the end of its useful life, perhaps it's best to replace it before it breaks, especially if you're facing long passages like the ARC.

Baringo writes...."Fifth day at sea and our first belated blog. As by now well reported the start was not as in the brochure! It was cloudy, blustery, squally and as we headed out to sea a big swell developed. Not much has changed! We have been running downwind with wind speeds of about 25-30 knots and a large swell. The boat is rolling all over the place and difficult to keep anything in one place. We have broken our main genoa having inadvertently gybed it several times in strong winds so that the clew ring has nearly parted from the body of the sail. So we are using the smaller genny which is working surprisingly well giving us speeds of about 6 knots or more. But it would be nice to go faster in this wind but steering would be more difficult so perhaps we would be using the smaller sail in any case."
A couple of thoughts come to mind here. First, while there are many advantages to rallys like the ARC, one of the big disadvantages is that you need to depart with the fleet (of course, you don't have to, but the psychological pressure to do so is intense). Starting a long ocean passage in marginal weather, as they did with this years ARC, is not optimal because the crew has not had time to "shift gears" physically and emotionally from live on the hard. Going from a secure marina berth to 40 kts and 15 ft seas in 4-6 hours time is a rude way to adjust to life at sea. On a long passage like the ARC you will probably have some rough weather, but IMHO its better to have it after the boat and crew have settled into a passage routine.

Second thought -- for those who haven't yet experienced the joys of offshore sailing is the comment above about "rolling all over the place". It's true and it's generally no fun -- yes, you get used to it, but there is just no way to know the toll it will take on you and your crew until you've done it a few times. So, just for "fun" find some really windy, big sea days close to home to "practice" rolling around for 12-16 hours. It's an important part of getting ready for that idyllic sailing life you've dreamed about.

Finally, the log references issues with the sails and unintended gybes. Chances are that if you leave with old sails you may not arrive with them intact (unless they've been very well maintained over the years). Long ocean passages are 24/7 affairs. You will probably put more miles / hours on your sails in one ten day passage than you will in a season or more of coastal sailing. The ARC is a 20 day trip for most boats -- that equals 2-3 seasons of coastal sailing. In some instances the passage is harder on the sails as you will use them in conditions that would probably be avoided in summer coastal sailing.

And, re gybes -- they happen more than you'd think offshore where the seas are big, the boat is pushed around more than you're used to and where the helmsman is tired, or the autopilot isn't up to the sea conditions. There is NO reason not to have a preventer rigged on the main when the wind is more that 90 degrees apparent. You don't have to change course that often, so preventers MUST be part of the standard rig practice. Re gyping the genny, as mentioned in the post, you can't "prevent" it as you can with the main, but when conditions rise to the point where gypes are dangerous, perhaps it's best to run with something smaller than a poled-out 130% genoa.

Just Do it 5....."About 2pm the wind drops and 3/4 hour later we gibe to head more west. Nathan ends up on the wrong side of the sheet durng the gibe and he's lifted off the deck saving himself by hanging on to the stays."
So what's the lesson here? Communicate? Life can change in an instant? Be careful out there? From the sounds of it, the main sheet had some slack in it. The only gypes you want to do offshore are of the highly-controlled variety where the main sheet is bar tight before you move the helm to weather. And it he winds are really strong -- say 35 kts +, you can always do a long circular tack. It's safer in most circumstances (big, steep, short-interval seas being a possible exception).
 
#9 ·
Really good post Billy,

The sea state and the ability to deal with heavy seas of 10+ for long periods of time is taxing on many facets of the 20-22 days at sea. The human drain of staying secure and in vigilant position on the boat whetether topside or below is a huge energy expenditure whoch over a few days is draining. Hard to have any sembeance of a routine when this happens...especially when in the beginning you havent even settled into one. One thing I noticed on my passage of 22 days was the rountine you and you internal clock eventually get into.

As far as fire supression systems in the restuarant business all of my kitchens ar eequiped with the powder ansul type systems and the havoc it wreaks when they are used is unbeleiveable due to what you identified the fine nature of the powder. I gets in every crevace and inhaled is also a danger. They work great and are the best assurance to pit even the ost stubbron of fires out. Having a fire at seas....that tought is just chilling.

Dave
 
#10 ·
Here's another great log post:

This seems amazing fun I think. We seem to be human pinballs most of the time, with scores rated on the amount of bruises we each have. First I would like to amend our breakage list. 1 reef pennant, 1 spinaker sheet, 1 spinnaker track car, 2 mainsail battens, 2 coffe cups, several toe nails. Most of the time we have winds of 25-30 knots and the atmosphere is more like a volvo ocean racer than blue water cruising. On the second night or was it the third, I was powering along on the helm and then decided to give the auto pilot a go. Big mistake, he coped well for half an hour then in a big gust and huge set of waves he broached. This is the closest we have come to a knock down but this was not the problem. As Jeeves (our autopilot) over corrected we spun around and over onto the other side. This thrust the spinnaker pole into the next wave, ouch. The track exploded launching the pole into space followed by lots banging as it was still attached by a sheet.

We have learned our lesson and have a much reduced sail plan at night now.
You can't make this stuff up!
 
#11 · (Edited)
You can't make this stuff up!
No one needs to make it up.
Most people on their early long passages cruising break more stuff. You don't need to be in a rally. You want to see ex-racers go in their first long passage. Bits flying off the boat like confetti at a wedding. :)

After a period of time people learn is much less expensive on the wallet and toe nails to slow the friggin boat down!

Another point from an earlier post, Billy, no one MUST start at the time of the rally. The ARC are very clear on it. You can start whenever you like, just not before the start time. But you are right that most want to start on time because they want to "win". For those that didnt want to be smashed around would have gone south first. It would all have been explained, the different weathe route options at the skippers briefing. :)

Mark
Ps is there a better spell checker for iPad than the moron ice on apple put in?
 
#13 ·
"The night brought yet more drama. With Minkey on solo watch, a strong squall hit Pea sending her on a thrilling high speed run. Luckily for us, he held his nerve and kept the boat flying along for a good 30mins until the squall had passed over. Once things had settled down and we'd changed watch we had another moment of high drama. We saw a single red navigational light begin to close our position from our starboard quarter and it quickly became obvious that we were on a collision course with another yacht.

In this situation it is important to know which vessel is the "stand on" boat, as it is a requirement for the vessel with right of way to hold their course and for the other vessel to take avoiding action. Around the cans in the Solent this is easy to assess, but out here in the middle of the Atlantic, at night, it was a bit more challenging. However, having established that we were the Stand On vessel, it was our obligation to hold our course unless we felt the other vessel was not going to take avoiding action. So we stood on while they closed in us.... and we stood on whilst they got closer and closer becoming increasingly anxious. We tried to call them on the VHF radio without success and then signalled them with our search light - to which they responded!. Feeling reassured we stood on again anticipating that they would now take action to avoid us. However they failed to do so. In desperation, we lit up our sails with the emergency search light to ensure they knew they did not have the right of way and that we intended to Stand On.

We should also mention that we were running dead downwind in 30 kts of breeze with a preventer line attached to our boom to hold it in position, and our genoa headsail poled out to windward. Neither of these features of our sail plan made it particularly easy to take quick avoiding action.

We clinged to the hope that the other boat understood their obligation to avoid us and indeed would do so. BUT, sadly not. With what could only have been a couple of hundred metres between us - ironic whilst surrounded by the vastness of the ocean - here we were in a very real potential collision situation. The other yacht was coming straight for us and now we couldn't drop our pole fast enough to harden up onto the wind and sail behind them as were already to close to do this, and we couldn't gybe the main sail because of the preventer line.

So all we could do was leave the sails exactly as they were, and go into a controlled gybe, without releasing the preventer in order to stall the boat and let the other vessel sail past us. Normally this is the sort of thing that breaks rigs but we were lucky, just a lot of shaken nerves. Once our nerves had calmed and we finished sounding off every explitive we could think of, we got ourselves organised and continued on our way. We still have no idea who the other vessel was, or why they seemed content to simply sail into us. However, it kept us on our toes for the rest of the night, and we're happy to report that nothing untoward came of our close encounter late in the night. Pea has continued on her way making great progress towards her destination."

Like they say, you can't make this stuff up!
 
#14 ·
Like they say, you can't make this stuff up!
Yes, we'll, I don't quite know what you mean by saying it. But it's not remarkable. Racing around the cans on a Saturday afternoon these occurrences happen all the time... Last race series I was in (Antigua race week) there was a protest in our division after EVERY race. And it was a cruising division! And each day about 20 protests over all.

Half the reason is that old wankers on these forums denigrate the new technology like AIS preferring paper, sextants and baring compasses. Quite obviously if both boats had AIS this situation would not have occurred.

But it's not extraordinary. All ships have it, all fishing vessels that go well off shore have it... It's only $500 for a transponder.... But it's the cruisers who are the last up takers of it!

If you don't have AIS buy one.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Half the reason is that old wankers on these forums denigrate the new technology like AIS preferring paper, sextants and baring compasses. Quite obviously if both boats had AIS this situation would not have occurred.

But it's not extraordinary. All ships have it, all fishing vessels that go well off shore have it... It's only $500 for a transponder.... But it's the cruisers who are the last up takers of it!

If you don't have AIS buy one.
I'd be interested to see if you can find any poster here who has "denigrated" AIS... I, for one, think it's one of the greatest things since sliced bread, particularly for a singlehanded sailor, offshore. And while running down the Chesapeake yesterday morning in heavy fog, I sure wish the boat I'd been on would have had it...

However, how would AIS resolved/avoided this particular situation? Seems from the account that the other boat, apparently not monitoring VHF, did not understand that they were the burdened vessel? A DSC call enabled by AIS apparently would have gone unanswered. What would AIS alone have done to make their responsibility understood to them? All it would have done, is make clear what was already obvious - that the two boats were on a collision course... I just fail to see how the technology of AIS in itself "quite obviously" would have prevented this close encounter from having occurred...

No more than your iPad's spellchecker prevents you from typing unintended words...

Frankly, I dread the day when every single boat on the water is equipped with an AIS transponder... The clutter in certain waters will be unimaginable, the alarm will be sounding continuously, and that's when the Big Boys in steel ships will likely begin in earnest to filter out us recreational sailors in our tiny plastic toys...

Clutter likely to become a significant distraction

Clearly as more and more leisure boaters invest in low cost AIS transponders, the problems of Class B clutter on navigation displays for those navigating large vessels is likely to be a significant distraction.

Under such circumstances, filtering of all AIS Class B targets and supressing alarms might be necessary to avoid distracting those on the bridge. It is a fact that the Class B AIS Update Rate is too slow and recreational craft frequently navigate too closely for Class B information to be useful to larger vessels in busy, congested and confined waters.

However, it is at these times that when the most pairs of eyes will be looking out of the bridge window!

AIS transmissions from small craft | Current Issues | Cruising | RYA

 
#15 ·
A question/comment about the log entry broke sailor posted. The watch person determined it was a sailing vessel because he saw no masthead light. I am guessing he was sailing on a starboard tack and the approaching vessel was to windward, and that he how he established he was the standon vessel. I don't think I would have relied on having the right of way as long as he did. I think I would have at least prepared to take actions a lot sooner....probably as soon as I realized I couldn't make radio contact with the boat and it wasn't altering course.
 
#31 ·
I'm with you on this one, Slayer. I used the fleet tracker to look back at who passed close to Little Pea (the UK boat who posted the log brokesailor referenced). The situation was as Slayer guessed. A Dutch boat, Lady Ann (LA), passed close to Little Pea (LP) twice that night. Once coming from the south of LP's track heading WNW and passing ahead of her about 5 miles and then again several hours later LA approached LP on a SWerly course from north (LP's starboard side). The winds at the time were on each boats quarter and both were obviously broad reaching / running. From the wind angles it appears that LP was leeward boat and on a starboard tack, LA on port. As downwind, starboard tack boat, LP had rights!

Whether either boat waited too long to make a move is a tough call. I've found that at night it's really hard to judge distance, especially when it's a single light you're seeing. Hard to tell if the light is 2 nm or 1/2 nm away. Radar will resolve this quickly, which is why I always have it on and in standby at night. If the target is two miles away I can ponder the situation, if it's 1/2 I will need to make a decision quick.

It's also hard at night to judge a constant bearing. I've noticed during the day that what seems like a constant bearing on a boat 1-2 miles away becomes a rapidly changing bearing once they're inside a 1/4 mile. In a big sea like that LA and LP were in, it's particularly hard to judge a constant bearing because the boat's moving around so much.

When I'm in a situation like that LP found herself in, I do as Slayer recommends and start to take action early. I might not change the rig or course immediately, but I will think about getting additional crew on deck (especially if it's night and they're asleep as they will need additional time to dress and get ready). I'll also start reviewing the steps to take, which in this case would be to first roll up the genoa (assuming you have roller furling). I rig the pole-out genoa so that I can leave the pole in place while rolling up the sail. This will slow you down a bit, and permit a quick tack if the need arises. (Yea, I know, rules say the stand on boat maintains course and speed). Next, I'll make sure the preventer is ready to be let go or slacked (I rig the preventer so it can be controlled from the cockpit) in case I need to tack or gybe. Then I'd do what LP did -- try to raise them on the radio and then with lights. I should note that shining a spot light on the bridge of another ship is not allowed in the rules, but flashing it on your sails or in their general direction is certainly OK -- and if that doesn't get a reaction, well......:cool: [The reason you shouldn't "embarass" (see Rule 36 Interntional) another boat is is could cause them to lose night vision and see nothing but spots for the next ten minutes. Not good if you're in a possible collision situation].

LP said they got a reaction from LA with the light but LA took no action. It could have been that LA was getting ready to take action, like I mentioned above, but was waiting until they got within a few hundred yards to see which way the crossing was going to happen. LP had no way of knowing whether this was happening or if LA was tracking them on radar, as they got no reply on VHF. I think that's were LA messed up -- how hard is it to get on the radio to call the boat that's "at Lat X, Long Y and just flashed a light at me"?

Finally, LP said in their log post they were concerned that backing a prevented main would break something. If your preventer might break when it suddenly goes aback, you need a stronger preventer -- because that's what it's supposed to do. Intentionally backing a prevented mainsail can be tricky in a situation like LPs because you may or may not have full control of the boat once the main's aback -- remember they had a 12-15 ft sea running at the time and 25-30 kts of wind. Backing the prevented main may put the boat across the swell, broaching with the main on the wrong side of the boat. Might be just a tad dangerous. Could produce a knock down and with the main on the wrong side of the boat, it's not good. :eek: It may have been a better move to do a controlled gybe and then continue away from LA before gybing back.

So there you are....see how easy it is, sitting in your warm den with keyboard at hand and with a glass of wine at easy reach, to second guess a skipper who's tired, sleepy and rudely awakened by a helmsman who's allowed another boat to get within a 1/2 mile on a collision course in a 15 ft sea and 30 knots of wind? :rolleyes:

All's well that ends well.
 
#17 ·
While we have a pretty realistic Eastern seaboard to Caribbean semi-retired cruising plan, our real bucket list journey is a two year sail across the pond to England, down to the Med for a year or so, back to the Caribbean with the ARC and then up the coast to home again. The only problem is, my wife does not think she can do two crossings. The rest sounds great to her. She wants me to find crew for the crossing and she'll fly and reconnect. In the end, I would do that before trying to talk her into it. Someday.......

Some big dogs in the ARC. I saw plenty of Oysters and Swans in the 60ft to 80ft range. Naturally at the front of the pack.
 
#18 ·
Mark of sealift: if you read the original post on this thread it is meant to share the good posts out of the ARC. I am not passing judgement, just copying it for others to read. It's hard to filter out of the hundreds of posts the really good ones. Then again some of the stories - you just could not make up even if you tried.
 
#19 ·
JOn...was that who passed us in the fog off of the Patapsco yesterday...I would have waved.

We were out with the Radar and AIS on. Have a new real time AIS Ap on the IPad I am trying out called Boat Beacon/ Was running it concurrently yesterday and today with my networked AIS ( Raymarine). First time I used it and the AP was spot on.

Not an endorsement yet, but at first glance worked well. Even showed time the AIS was updated. Longest one was 2 minutes on an anchored ship south of the Bay Bridge.

Dave
 
#20 ·
JOn...was that who passed us in the fog off of the Patapsco yesterday...I would have waved.
You would have had to be out there pretty early, I was in Annapolis by about 0900... REALLY dumb move stopping at Tolchester the night before, should have just kept going thru... But there was no mention of fog in the forecast, and I was a bit tired after leaving Cape May around 0400, so... However, I should have known better...

We were out with the Radar and AIS on. Have a new real time AIS Ap on the IPad I am trying out called Boat Beacon/ Was running it concurrently yesterday and today with my networked AIS ( Raymarine). First time I used it and the AP was spot on.

Not an endorsement yet, but at first glance worked well. Even showed time the AIS was updated. Longest one was 2 minutes on an anchored ship south of the Bay Bridge.

Dave
Gotta confess, I'm completely clueless about iPad apps, and their use aboard boats... But, how far offshore would such a thing work? It's dependent upon some sort of cellular or similar signal, no?

When it comes to AIS, I'd much prefer consistent, real-time info from a true AIS receiver... With manufacturers like Standard Horizon offering VHF with integrated AIS receive capability for $300, I'd much prefer going that route, without having to worry about a device like an iPad, that needs to be kept charged, or is dependent upon some 3rd party site/app, etc...
 
#23 ·
Jon, we didn't get out till 10.

My point about the I ad ap, and yes it's dependent on cell towers, I can usually get reception 5miles off shore, is not. O use it as the main check. We have integrated AIS on our Raymarine as well as our VHF. So TS king of a triple check. Also at anchor or at home when no connected to the Chartplotter I can look at vessels, kind of an interest thing.

To a person who is on Inland waters who can't afford the 300-800 for AIS this may be beneficial, but its accuracy should be checked.

Dave
 
#24 ·
I use the Ipad to check AIS occasionally. Particularly, since I have a buddy who transmits and its easier to see when we'll connect. At least half the time that I know he is underway, he doesn't appear on the app/website.

The web/app is a great tool, as long as one recognizes its weaknesses. It relies on land based and ship based receivers to pass along data to the website, so you must be within range of one and then the data must not be accidentally corrupted by the middle man or dropped. The most common error is the data can be very old. 15 to 20 minutes old seems minimum.
 
#25 ·
The web/app is a great tool, as long as one recognizes its weaknesses. It relies on land based and ship based receivers to pass along data to the website, so you must be within range of one and then the data must not be accidentally corrupted by the middle man or dropped. The most common error is the data can be very old. 15 to 20 minutes old seems minimum.Minniewaska
The new ap I am now using Boat Beacon and it doesnt rely on land based observers like Marine Traffic and the longest update is 2.5 minutes which I have seen. I took it out yesterday and ran it side by side with my inegrated AIS on the Raymarine systems and it was perfect.

Dave
 
#27 · (Edited)
If it does not rely on land based observers, where does it get the information?-Matundscotbruch
Here is my e mail with the designer of the product. While he doesnt specificall say where the data is from, I had my droid phone on Marine Traffic which is land based and the positions were remarkably different on Marine Traffic from the Raymarine AIS and Boat Beacon which matched all the time.

> Does it really do AIS in real time unlike Marine Traffic.

The majority of our feeds are direct in real time from the AIS Receivers (over 70%). Our servers are handling over 20MB/s of data arriving. For instance in the UK around the Isle of Wight we get updates from the fast ferries every 2s and their updates appear in Boat Beacon within a second of being received.

All the other data is accurately time stamped at source and collated over 1 minute. On average this is only 30s behind real time and is displayed with the corrected time (and interpolated position) in Boat Beacon. You also have to remember that AIS transmissions from ships are sent at varying intervals from once every 3 minutes to every 2s depending on their status and speed. So for example a ship at Anchor can show a status that is 3 to 4 minutes old. Also the transmissions are not guaranteed and can be easily blocked by passing ships, bridges and island's etc.
I answered an ad on and was one of the first three to so I gt a promo number to download the ap for free. He asked that all I do is evaluate and write about my evaluatuations positive or negative whatever my finding were.

I downloaded it last Thursday on my IPAD 2. It can be downloaded on I or droids. Yesterday was my last day out on the boat till next spring and I tested it for about 4 hours. I have a AIS class A transponder hooked thourgh our Raymarine Chartplotter to c heck the accuracy of the Boat Beacon app.

In the 4 hours I ran them concurently they were identical. The Boat Beacon app has in its data a defined line which tells how lkong since the previous update. The longest was 2.5 minutes while most were updated in 30 seconds.

So far it looks good. I wont be doing more boat tests for a while.

dave
 
#30 ·
Minnie I did that.. It is land based as on a 3g signal. I tried that yesterday. The ujpdate times were really good tough so they must have ad ifferent source than Marine Traffic as the longest time on updates was 2min30 sec.

It maintained a close course with my AIS on the Raymarine network. Marine traffic was noticeably different. Sometime taking 15-20 minutes to update. Not really very useful. I still would use it as my primary unless thats all I could afford and even then understand its limitations in terms of accuracy.
 
#39 ·
Don't forget that the racing division set sail two days before. Size by size the fast cats are ahead of monohulls as it was to be expected on a downwind sail "kind" of race.

Last year a XC 42 made a fantastic passage. This year we have a XC 50 doing the same. I guess that I am not being wrong into considering the X yacht cruising range as one of the best range of contemporary blue water boats;)

Check out its position, in the middle of the fastest performance boats, without being one. It is the magenta one with a crown. Next to it, also with a crown a light grey one, a Swann 48 is also making a great crossing.

Regards

Paulo
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top