Set your watch back 20 years

[dlochner]

Why? What jumps out? A cruise from Florida to Nova Scotia via SLS is ambitious. My take is that it would be irresponsible NOT to be prepared with everything they have listed. A relatively wealthy couple on what is undoubtedly an expensive boat ... I can't think of any reason why they are not being perfectly reasonable. I'd assume that there are numerous luxuries on board not mentioned, all perfectly reasonable and to be expected.

What caught my eye was not so much what they have, except perhaps the fish finder and no Star Link, as the reporter's focus on the electronic gadgets. How many engines? What type? how many staterooms, or steering stations or any of the other features, like how many toilets or showers.

I know the Oswego area well, having sailed out of there for 30+ years and currently volunteer for the marine museum in town. The locals think all boats are fishing boats or go fast cigarette boats. It says something about the general public perception when a reporter writes about a couple visiting and their boat, only mentioning the electronic gadgets.

And fun fact, it is possible to travel by boat to Tulsa OK. It is a commercial port supporting barge traffic.

 

[capta]

Over the last 6 decades of gallivanting here and there by boat, many of the new"aids" to boaters have meant more sleep and relaxation time for me. For instance, on a really crummy day, a day or two before a landfall, trying to get a good fix with a sextant and stopwatch could take me six hours or more. Now, all I have to do is look at a 10" screen. No more conjuring up cross track error in my head; it is all right there on the screen, plain as day.
And yet I miss the smell of marline wafting up from the sail sewing bag, The pride one feels in a job well done, when your fix is spot on and the "A" buoy rises out of the sea dead ahead, or you've tucked a reef before things got hairy, even though you had no weather report.

 

[capta]

View attachment 226403

Well, I'm glad to see they had a fish finder installed. That's bound to get them out of any distress they may finds themselves in.

Yes dear. Very good dear.

The new "fish finders" have side scanning sonar as well as a much more detailed view of what you are about to drop your anchor on, like an old shipwreck that could cost you your anchor and rode. At the price they are selling a good fish finder for, it makes no sense buying a "depth finder" these days.

 

[Dalliance]

I think it’s better now, but when it comes to electronics, I am very much of the keep it simple mentality and don’t want to be dependent on a single integrated system. I like to have a Plan B. I sailed for decades with just a compass, analog knot meter, depth sensor and windex on my boat.

That said, four years ago, I added a RayMarine wind instrument, auto helm and tri-data through hull. An integrated plug and play system, but it seems like a comparatively simple one. The auto helm especially makes sailing easier because I single hand most of the time. The wind instrument puts numbers to what I am feeling and I find that having apparent wind on a display at eye level instead of looking up at the windex means less eye strain and fewer stiff necks. I quickly wondered why I didn’t add them years earlier, but they are conveniences that I know how to get by without. I kept the vintage analog knot meter and separate depth sensor for the classic aesthetics and redundancy.

Mostly just day sailing out of Chicago, the new technology that most enhances planning and safety is not on the boat, but in my pocket. My cell phone provides a near shore communication alternative to vhf radio and the instant access it gives me to multiple sources of real time weather, radar, sea state information and forecasts is priceless. I also have a simple chart plotter app on my phone that comes in handy now and then as well.

 

[shemandr]

I rejected the notion of a "God" technical system for a sailboat decades ago. By "God" I mean a centralized command center that runs all the instruments, lighting, media, diagnostic sensors, entertainment and whatever else. At the time I had no idea how comprehensive that list would become. I rejected it most probably because I'm too cheap. But also I realized that such a system is vulnerable to failure in oh so many ways. And then the user is left to his own wits, diminished by the dependence on the Gee Whiz technology.
I do think non-integrated technology deserves a second look. And judging by the number of folks who are using Navionics on their devices, others agree.

 

[Foswick]

I rejected the notion of a "God" technical system for a sailboat decades ago. [...] I realized that such a system is vulnerable to failure in oh so many ways. And then the user is left to his own wits, diminished by the dependence on the Gee Whiz technology.

Years ago, I was a relatively new airplane pilot and handheld GPS units were just becoming available. I considered myself a pretty competent navigator and the predominent method, at that time, was using VORTAC beacons to triangulate your position by tuning into two known beacons at the same time. Your direction to each beacon would allow you to plot your position on the chart (using a pencil and ruler).

Being a techie, I embraced my handheld GPS and used it for a long solo cross-country flight from Colorado Springs east across part of Kansas and Oklahoma. In other words - lots of pretty unrecognizable terrain. Having GPS was pretty nice in this featureless landscape ... until it died and I realized that I had not been plotting my position on the paper chart and, for a few uncomfortable minutes, I did not have a clear idea where I actually was.

I was able to fly the airplane and still sort out my position, but only because my nav skills were still fresh. I had only just started to dip my toe into GPS navigation. The experience taught me to do primary navigation the "hard" way and to use GPS for confirmation or periodic interim position checks.

Since then, GPS has become more reliable and it would be unusual not to have at least two GPS-capable devices at hand. But, the lesson stuck. I strongly avoid depending on any single system upon which my life depends. In other words - no single points of failure. This includes not having only one set of skills to accomplish a thing. I want to know at least two ways to do any critical task, using two sets of tools. Or better yet, no tools at all.

 

[Davidasailor26]

I’m too young to have known sailing before Loran, and I’m quite far on the technophile side of the spectrum. I’m happy to have an integrated chartplotter, autopilot, wind transducer, battery monitoring, etc. It’s not really necessary for the type of day and weekend sailing I do; if my plotter or NMEA bus went out I certainly still could get home. I suppose I miss out on the satisfaction of doing everything on my own, but I get different satisfaction from, for example, judging the wind strength by the waves and checking to see if I’m right according to the instruments. I think, if used properly, that kind of feedback can make you a better sailor, not some robot just blindly following the gauges. I can look at my polar speed projections and tell if I’ve really got the boat dialed in, rather than just guessing. Over time you still develop a feel for what’s the best trim; you just have the instruments to help develop that feel rather than two boat testing or time/distance split measurements.

 

[ShawnL]

The big one that gets me is the power boaters that have no idea about how to maneuver their boat. Last season I had 2 in the sam day cross directly in front of my bow (I was under sail) while pulling people on a tube. In both cases, if I hadn't done an emergency 90 / 120 deg tack, I'd have gone between the boat and the tube. That would have been bad for everyone involved. It's a big lake -- even in the bay we day-sail in, it's plenty big enough that the power boaters can leave us sailors alone. Yet they think it's more fun to buzz us.

 

[Foswick]

The big one that gets me is the power boaters that have no idea about how to maneuver their boat. Last season I had 2 in the sam day cross directly in front of my bow (I was under sail) while pulling people on a tube. In both cases, if I hadn't done an emergency 90 / 120 deg tack, I'd have gone between the boat and the tube. That would have been bad for everyone involved. It's a big lake -- even in the bay we day-sail in, it's plenty big enough that the power boaters can leave us sailors alone. Yet they think it's more fun to buzz us.

Don't get me started. Powerboaters are my #1 annoyance. I don't know if they do it intentionally or if they really aren't aware of the consequences of their actions, but yeah ... powerboaters.

 

[TimFromLI]

I don't know, I'm sure glad to have my AIS, radar and chart plotter when you are out east in pea soup or at night. Also the article about the poor couple run over by the ferry makes no mention of any autopilot malfunction but does mention that the captain was hearing impaired. An AIS CPA alarm would have alerted him well before the ferry was anywhere near or at the very least given him situational awareness. Even in hazy conditions when visibility is 3-4 miles I like that I can see boats well beyond that. There is a place for technology and it saves lives. I know of a club member who had a serious cardiac event while cruising. AIS and DSC saved his life. Emergency responders came to his aid and he handed off a line just as he passed out. Having serious heart issues myself, I upgraded my VHF to include AIS transmit for that very reason. Good luck to you all, I'll rely on insurance instead.

 

[dlochner]

Now here's a piece of tech we all need.

https://www.sailmagazine.com/gear/gear-smart-hatch?oly_enc_id=7798A5333867J5B

 

[kappykaplan]

indeed!

 

[WayneH]

Now here's a piece of tech we all need.

https://www.sailmagazine.com/gear/gear-smart-hatch?oly_enc_id=7798A5333867J5B

We had one of those on the travel trailer we bought in 2015. And LOL, the picture they show has a line laying in the hatch to prevent it from fully closing.

 

[thinwater]

I'm all in favor of creature comforts in the cabin. My cruising cat was nice that way--heat, AC, frig, flat screen etc-- and still fast.

I still see sailing as an anachronism. If I just wanted to get there efficiently I would sail a dinghy and then drive or fly, and stay in a hotel. To me, like mountaineering, it is having a feel for the water / mountain.

So the question is, if all of your electronics were to fail (depth sounder too--everything), would you ...

• Pull out a paper chart, hand bearing compass and binoculars, and consider it to be business as usual.
• Stay at the dock or abandon the cruise.
• Be nervous all day.

I've had failures on large boats. No big deal. Coastal piloting, DR plots, and navigating by the senses. And it was quietly rewarding that it was no big deal.