Why I Have AIS and Cautionary Note

[Gail R]

Here's a cautionary note from an article about a trawler/sailboat collision off Oz:

It is also worth noting that dependence on an AIS system will not guard against collision with fishing vessels, which are not currently covered by AIS regulations. There are also some jurisdictions in the world under which it is not necessary for ships to carry an AIS transponder. For safe ocean travel by a yacht, it is advisable that a visual human watch should still be maintained at all times, using an AIS as supplementary aid.

Here's a link to the story:


http://www.sail-world.com/cruising/index.cfm?nid=59302&rid=11

 

[Rick D]

Fishing Boat Exemption

It is a little weird that fishing boats are exempt. You would think they would be one you would want to be transmitting. It's probably an expense thing coupled with good lobbying. However, I have seen AIS signals from fishing vessels, but I assume that is voluntary.

 

[Gail R]

It is a little weird that fishing boats are exempt. You would think they would be one you would want to be transmitting. It's probably an expense thing coupled with good lobbying. However, I have seen AIS signals from fishing vessels, but I assume that is voluntary.

What I think is weird is that a lot of people - commercial and recreational alike - seem to have forgotten the tried and true method of collision avoidance, which is keeping a watch on deck at all times.

But then some people think I'm weird!

 

[Stu Jackson]

Gail, I complety agree

I've been in a loooong debate on a couple other boards with some clown in the PAC NW who insists that since we do not have every gadget known to man (he calls them "systems") on our boat, that we are a "tragedy... waiting to happen."

The concept of averting his eyes from his instruments and actually looking at what's going on around him is completely foreign. It's amazing that we have survived for hundreds of years with relatively few mid-sea collisions considering we didn't have every toy in existance.

In 1973, higgs, who frequents this 'board, wrote an article that was published in Cruising World magazine.

It went like something this: "If you don't have radar..." I have a copy of it on my boat, because I admired it so much that I typed it up and printed it out. Imagine my surprise when I learned that higgs and the guy who wrote that article were one and the same! It was like meeting an old friend for the first time!

Some things never change.

The potential proliferation of the AIS outputs to recreational boaters will make the whole system in congested waters with commercial traffic a complete waste. IMHO, AIS for recreational boats should be banned except for offshore use. Defining "offshore" could be a bit of a wrangle...

Boyz with their toyz is nothing new.

 

[Tim R.]

How about rogue shipping containers...are they required to use AIS?

Let's face it, there is a lot of stuff out there and the only way to have a chance avoiding it is to be vigilant with your watches.

Does AIS help if used properly? Sure but I would take my radar over AIS any day.

 

[Ross]

On the Chesapeake Bay we have many rivers that deliver large trees after every flood these are a much greater hazard than the ships that I can see. I called up the live ship page and there are ships leaving Baltimore and The Delaware Bay/River but they hold no interest for me because they are far away. I sailed past Baltimore this year and was astonished at how big the water is and how small the ships are and by all of the room in between. If you don't want to be on deck watching the world go by then I don't know why you would be out there.

 

[Dan Johnson]

We don't get no stinkin' ships...

up here on the North East, Ross! :dance:

 

[sinnettc]

What is Open CPN and where do I find it? A google search doesn't seem to find anything marine related . . . 8^/

 

[Island Girl 34]

What is Open CPN and where do I find it? A google search doesn't seem to find anything marine related . . . 8^/

Here you go:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencpn/

Ken

 

[Gail R]

Speaking of being fixated on technology (sorry I can't help it):

I was in a store in downtown Freeport, Maine one day and overheard a conversation between a couple of locals, one of whom had been approached by a person from away who was looking for the Town Landing.

The conversation went something like this:

Person from away: Can you tell me where the Town Landing is? I know I'm close because my TomTom says Main Street is less than a tenth of a mile away, and the Town Landing is on Main Street.

Local: Um... the Town Landing is a few miles away in South Freeport. You've gotta go south on US Route 1, then turn left on Pine Street, go through South Freeport Village, and the landing is down hill from there.

Person from Away: That can't be right!! MY TomTom says I'm close to Main Street! The landing is on Main Street! Stop messing with me and tell me where the town landing is!

LMAO... the guy had put Main Street in Freeport in as his waypoint, when what he really needed was Main Street in SOUTH Freeport. Now, I'll never know how/why Freeport manages to keep two separate and distinct "Main Streets" within the town boundaries under the E-911 system, but this poor guy was absolutely positive he was within spitting distance of the town landing when he was actually several miles from it... all because his TomTom said so. If he had bothered to take his eyes off the TomTom and look around, he'd have realized he was not in the right place.

If he had approached me, it would have been all I could do to not take that damn TomTom and chuck it down the nearest storm drain!

Aw hell... I'd have taken the thing and re-set the waypoint on the condition that he empty his wallet before going back home.

 

[Stu Jackson]

And what happens when these guys use those things

out on the water is what many of us have begun to call the "Avoid The Buoys at the Risk of Your Life" Syndrome: the jerks with their (usually motor) boats in fog zooming buoy-to-buoy. While discussed last week in the "fog & courtesy" discussion, I found it to be a remarkably repeatable tendency of certain types of boaters to do just that.

I'm just waiting for a real story from someone saying and/or showing a pile of 'em stacked up like cord wood each coming from a different point of the compass and arriving pretty much at the same time. I've already seen altogether too many "next morning" pictures of boats up on jetties, but would not be surprised to see one of more than a few boats wracked up on a buoy because of their "navigational nightmares."

MS and others suggested offsets to be included in your own GPSs, but I'm using actual buoy locations for waypoints and offsetting my arrival position to avoid making navigational errors later.

Some of this iS ABSOLUTELY AVOIDABLE. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to remember the "good old days" of early computers GIGO - Garbage In Garbage Out. Same thing with TomToms and jerks.

Guess they (still) never got the message...

 

[bffatcat]

my 2c

Ive gotta agree with Gail; not on all things but on this topic
Ive have no AIS no loran, No radar NO Gps, What Ive got are charts a course plotter a compass and a horn. Suits me fine. Ive been sailing New England coastal waters for over 50 years. Ive never been in a colliision or been lost. Not yet anyway

 

[zeehag]

i want no stinkin ais--i have radar on my boat--not on the one on which i am currently sailing--and i have a loud horn--so does this sailboat--a bright spotlight for shining on my sails--and i have a really goood system--only one interconnected system here---my eyes connected to my brain--the best system going , i figger---there are idjits in dago bay running full speed in stinkpots with radar on and autohelm---running over kayakers at speed--i have watched as shrimpers aim at our sailboat trying to make us change course--yes we did!!!!--cannot see them if not looking--gotta be always on watch , not watching screens but taking bearings and watching out for stuff that will get your boat into trouble fast!!! having right of way does not mean take right of way---still in trouble if you insist on it--have to be flexible---and smart about what you are doing....ais isnt an answer--is a tracking mechanism--do we really want to be tracked anywhere we go??? i donot..especially the way our govt is headed......smooth sailing!!!!!