At the end of this month (31 May 2012), we’ll have a look at the photos of all boats on the Currently Cruising page. The best picture wins a prize ( a copy of Marilyn Graham’s “Coastal Cruising Companion“) and will be featured on our front page during June.

The rules are simple:

• The picture has to be uploaded to your page by 2000 hrs GMT on 31 May 2012.
• The picture needs to include your boat or part thereof ( not another boat of the same model)

And as they say, the decision of the jury is final!

Further offshore or on a cruise to the islands, the options narrow. While various companies offer dedicated internet access via Satellite Transceivers, their cost is a barrier to most of us, particularly for casual cruisers.

Thankfully, there have long been economical options for email at sea. Here, we’ll look at a two such solutions, using HF radio and Satellite telephones. And with the introduction of Skipr Plus, it is now possible to  report a position on the Skipr system with just email access.

Email via HF radio
Sailmail is a system which is well loved by round-the-world sailors and which has proven itself over many years. By adding special software and a modem to the boat’s HF radio, it is possible to send and receive emails. Base stations around the world “connect” emails to the Internet. To use it, you will need a subscription (US$250 pa) with the Sailmail Association, which funds software development and the installation of HF Radio base stations around the globe. In Australia, we have a base station run by the well known Penta Comstat crew, Derek and Janine Bernard. Apart from a HF radio and the sailmail subscription, you will need the Pactor modem, which costs around $1600.
Due to the substantial initial investment (including the installed HF radio, over $10,000),  this solution is probably most relevant to long-term offshore sailors. The high capital cost is offset by the lack of usage charges beyond the yearly Sailmail subscription, although there are some common sense limits to ensure equal access to all users of the service.

Email via Satellite phones
Satellite phones are widely available for sale or rent and therefore present a good option for shorter offshore cruises. Satellite phone don’t need a modem and can be directly connected to a computer, usually via the USB port. Unlike HF radio, email via satellite is charged by the minute, so it is essential to minimise transmission time. Furthermore, the transmission speed is pretty low by modern internet standards (remember 2400 baud modems?) and it is essential to use compression software. While Sailmail software may be used with satphones, many people use an alternative service, UUPlus, particularly as a subscription may be purchased on a monthly basis (from $35).
When selecting a satellite phone, you should be aware of its coverage area. Some phones are usable anywhere around the globe, others only when a satellite is in “sight” of a earth base station. Check the coverage area of any phone you’re planning to use.
A recent innovation by Iridium, one of the satellite operators, is a Wireless Access Point to connect their phones to computers. Think of it as a portable hotspot which operates with its companion software to compress and deliver emails from wherever you are.

So there you have it, no need to be without email access, even at sea…

Further information:

Sailmal: http://www.sailmail.com/
Penta Comstat http://web.mac.com/pentacomstat
UUPlus: http://www.uuplus.com/
Iridium Axcesspoint http://www.iridium.com/products/Iridium-AxcessPoint.aspx

In this Newsletter:

Skipr Plus
New Features
Boat Photo competition
Notable Tracks
Island Cruising

Skipr Plus
Requests for new Skipr features are always greater than we can implement. Skipr has been a labour of love rather than a business. But inevitably we would like to do more than our manpower and (laughably small) budget allows. So we’re taking what for us is a big step, asking for a contribution from users.

Of course we want to keep usage of Skipr.net free and without obligation. On the other hand, it seems a good idea to give Skipr users the opportunity to contribute to the continued development of the service. We’re also building some specialised features which we will only make available to contributors. So, if you’d like to help us grow Skipr.net, please donate and become a Skipr Plus member.

New Features
We’ve done a lot of work in the past year on new Skipr features:

Smart Phone – You can now update your boat’s position by phone – either iPhone or Android.

Control Panel – We’ve made it easier to upload and display a photo of your boat, there are also some changes to support Skipr Plus members such as setting your boat’s web address and email address.

Club pages – You’ll notice that we have some custom pages for clubs and events under the Whereis menu. Contact us if you’d like to see your club there.

Skipr Plus membership benefits – Get an easy to remember web address for your boat (skipr.net/MyBoat), discounts on cruising books and the ability to submit position reports via HF radio or Satellite phone. And more to come!

Boat Photo competition
We’ve recently made it easier to upload a photo to your boat page. We thought that would be a good excuse to run a competition for the best boat photo. We’ll cast our eyes over all the photos of boats which appear on the Currently Cruising page on 31 May 2012 and pick a winner. The winner will be featured on our front page during June and receive a copy of Marilyn Graham’s Coastal Cruising Companion. Further details soon on Skipr’s Notebook.

Notable Tracks
You will have noticed that we’ve started featuring a “boat of the month” on the Skipr.net front page. There are many great stories on the pages of Skipr, and we look forward to featuring a different boat every month.  Not just stories of circumnavigations, but also neat stories and boat photos.

Island Cruising
The Island Cruising Association is about to set off from Opua, New Zealand on their Western Pacific Cruise. After island hopping for a month or two, they will end up on the east Coast of Australia and eventually connect with the “van Diemensland Circumnavigation” in February next year. You can find out more on their website or download their April Newsletter and of course, follow participants on the ICA Skipr page.

Finally
We’re always happy to hear from you (email  address below) with any comments, criticisms or suggestions!

Happy Sailing,

Marius Coomans
email: skipper at skipr dot net
twitter: @skiprdotnet
snailmail: POBox 521 Blaxland NSW 2774 Australia

Skipr.net has been a ‘labour of love’ since 2005 and the plan is to continue to expand its reach and functionality. While we feature some advertising and sponsorships (thank you, Boat Books), we now need profesional assistance with the website, which is beyond what we can afford with only modest advertising income. So we’ve been considering various options for getting funds to invest in the further development of Skipr.net.

After much deliberation, we have decided to:

• Continue to offer use of Skipr.net for free, we want to be open to all comers.
• Implement a Skipr Plus programme with additional benefits for those who are willing to contribute to the continued operation of Skipr.net
• Offer special for-a-fee functionality for clubs who run special cruise events.

Cruising Guides are tricky, we expect them to be accurate, complete and compatible with our own level of experience. Marilyn Graham has taken the bit between her teeth and has written her Cruising Companion from the perspective of a novice cruiser.

In doing that, she has produced a terrific guide, worth having on any boat, novice or experienced.

The Companion includes information about the coast covered by Marilyn when she and her “Skipper” cruised between Hobart and Fraser Island in their Martzcraft 35 foot sloop. What the guide lacks in completeness (don’t expect it to cover every single coastal detail or anchorage), it makes up for with a fresh and easily digested format.

In addition to the expected information about ports and anchorages, marinas and bars, you’ll also find some excellent tips and hints in the “What we learnt along the way…” section.

The format of the Companion is concise and to the point, with excellent drawings and photographs to match the descriptions. Clearly her human companion, the “Skipper” is not a novice, so the descriptions of harbour entries and anchorages reflect genuine experience as well as the curiosity of the novice cruiser.

While it is no substitute for the Alan Lucas NSW guide, it provides a handy complementary source of information about NSW, while covering the coast all the way down to Hobart, for which there is no Lucas guide.

The loose leaf format of the guide suggests that it could be easily updated or even extended, something that Marilyn hints at on her website, http://www.coastalcruisingaustralia.com At $30 ($35 including shipping), it is well priced. Order it from her website. As they say: “Don’t leave home without it”.

Both EPIRBS and PLBs send a signal to overhead satellites to set off an alarm at the Rescue Authority, in Australia that is AMSA. While these beacons have a proven track record in saving hundreds of people in emergency situations, they still suffer from some limitations. For example, EPIRBs can only send an “all out” Mayday message, with no possibility of indicating the level of emergency, nor can rescue authorities acknowledge or establish return communications. PLBs will only send a mayday and position to the rescue authorities, rather than to those closest to the incident, usually surrounding vessels, who are in a position to provide immediate assistance.

A variety of alternative beacons and Man Overboard devices have come on the market and I thought it would be interesting to highlight two new types which overcome some of those limitations.

Satellite Emergency Notification Devices (SENDs) use commercial satellite systems to trigger an alarm. With these devices, an alarm to the rescue authority can be accompanied with more specific details, as well as making information about the rescue activity available back to the vessel in peril. What’s more, wherever they are, boats can also be notified about on-shore emergencies, for example sick relatives. The DeLorme inReach device (pictured) features two-way messaging and allows a Smartphone to send messages via the satellite connection. Additionally, on demand or continuous tracking can be enabled on a SEND, making the boat’s position available on an associated website.
While the purchase price of EPIRBs and SENDS will be similar, there is a cost to the convenience provided by SENDs, they will require a monthly subscription. Many expect that over the next few years, SENDs will replace conventional EPIRBs, or at least provide an alternative. The required standardisation is being done and the Australian Marine Safety Authority has systems in place to manage emergencies triggered by SENDs.

AIS is becoming common on yachts, particularly on those which need to cross busy shipping lanes. While AIS was designed to provide information about the position of other vessels in surrounding waters, its use has expanded to navigational aids and now personal AIS beacons. The pictured McMurdo S10 attaches to a life vest and uses the alarm feature of the AIS system. When the unit is activated, an alarm will go off on any AIS receiver in the vicinity and the Beacon is tracked on a boat’s AIS display or chart plotter until recovered. The Smartfind S10 is waterproof to 60 meters, will transmit continuously for a minimum of 24 hours and has a 5 year battery storage life. It also features a flashing indicator light, giving a localised visual fix and assisting in attracting attention after nightfall.

These are welcome developments. Mind you, none of us would hope to use these devices “in anger”.

Further information:

Doug Ritter’s blog
DeLorme inReach
MacMurdo Smartfind

On Australia’s East Coast, many cruising yachts now are on their way South after “wintering” in North Queensland. Many will decide to bypass NSW ports and make a 3 or 4 day passage direct to their home port.

When night sailing, sleep deprivation can be a safety issue unless managed thoughtfully . I liked this article from gCaptain, which  provides some useful information on the way we sleep and some interesting hints to manage micro-sleeps.

How do _you_ stay awake?

Some even propose that a new generation of satellite communicators may obsolete  EPIRBs.  No doubt there will be much debate before that is accepted! So, if you’re interested in communications technology and safety gadgetry, join us at Track & SEND. By the way, SEND stands for Satellite Emergency Notification Device !

It prompted me to reflect on the rapid evolution of navigation instruments on our boats, from handheld GPS and PC based chart displays to dedicated chart plotters, smart phones and iPads.

When I started doing coastal passages on our first boat, it was a matter of purely visual navigation (I never mastered the skill of using a sextant). That was among the reasons why we didn’t venture far from our home port. The nineties saw the rise of the handheld GPS, which gave us accurate positions to plot on traditional charts and the confidence to do longer passages.

GPS units soon gained plotting and charting capabilities. On our boat, we started using software at the chart table, using a laptop which was connected to our handheld GPS. Last year, before our cruise to the Whitsundays, we installed an 8 inch colour chart plotter near the steering station and thought that was the “ultimate solution”. But is it?

In recent times, we have seen the release of a multitude of low cost charting “apps” for the iPhone and now the iPad. Taking advantage of their built-in GPS, it turns them into quite competent chart plotters. But to be frank, I’ve been a sceptic. The lack of weather proofing and, in the case of the iPad, poor daylight screen brightness limits all-round use in navigation. I much prefer my permanently installed chart plotter at the wheel. I can read it in sunlight, it keeps working when rain or salt water intervenes. It connects to the auto pilot.

But hold on… It’s not so long ago that I sailed with nothing but charts and a simple hand held GPS. My iPhone or iPad does much more than just plot my position, it gives me access to the latest weather, currents and other useful information such as marina websites and skipr.net . Some charting “apps” even include other relevant information, such as magazine articles and the ability to annotate a chart (so called UGC, User Generated Content). What is more, they’re economical, nay CHEAP, typically $19.95 for a charting app for a phone you already own! And you can’t make phone calls or send emails with a dedicated chart plotter, can you?

So what is the answer? Well, it depends… I still like my dedicated chart plotter. It always keeps me company at the wheel. “She Who Must Be Obeyed” never uses it to email the kids. I can read its display in the midday sun as well as properly dimmed at night. It does not mind getting wet and I can’t accidentally drop it at a crucial moment. You might even say “my life depends on it”.

On the other hand, I always have my iPhone at hand. It is my trusty companion. I use it on our own boat or when sailing with a friend, where I might be unfamiliar with its on-board system. It is much more than just a GPS, I wouldn’t be without it. But rely on it as the sole method of navigation? No, not for us. In the future? Maybe. We will see marine quality, Internet connected chart plotters with iPhone/iPad-like capabilities, but it’s hard to see them for the price of a phone or mass-market tablet like the iPad.

For the time being, the ultimate solution for me is to have a standalone chart plotter AND an iPhone /iPad on board.

Marius Coomans
skipper@skipr.net

1. Distance from base station
2. Effectiveness of the antenna
3. The connection between the antenna and the set.

Let’s have a look at each of these factors in turn.

Distance

Mobile phone reception is essentially “line of sight”. Because of the curvature of the earth, the higher we position our antenna, the longer the distance that we can maintain our connection. It is not surprising therefore that the best place to install our antenna on the top of the mast. The actual coverage achieved depends on both the height of the base station antenna and the height above the waterline of the antenna on our boat. You can see the effect of antenna height and distance on the diagram below.

For those who enjoy a bit of maths, you can actually calculate the theoretical achievable distance.
Distance To Horizon

Yacht A (10m mast) : 11 km (6 NM)
Yacht B (20m mast) : 16 km (8.6 NM)
Tower (100m)           : 36 km (19.3NM)

In the example above, you can see that the achievable distance between Yacht B and the Shore Tower is 16 + 36 = 52 kilometres.

Antenna effectiveness

The quality of an antenna is determined by a number of factors. Antennas are characterised by their “gain”, or efficiency. In effect this is achieved by focusing the antenna’s radiation pattern. A high gain antenna will have a narrow, focused pattern, while a unity gain model will be less so. Of course, a narrow radiation pattern is a disadvantage on a heeling yacht if the resulting “beam” ends up pointing into the sea or toward the heavens!

Antennas are tuned to particular frequency bands, so make sure you select an antenna suitable for the operating frequency. Telstra NextG service runs at 850 Mhz in most places, and therefore needs a matching antenna . Mount the antenna away from metal surfaces and other antennas. On our yacht, Te Moana, the broadband antenna is mounted on a bracket off the top of the mast in order to provide the required space.

Low loss interconnection

Another important aspect of the performance of your system is the quality of the cable connecting the set with the antenna. All cable will cause a signal loss, the longer the cable more critical this becomes. Combined with the need to install the antenna as high as possible, this presents a compromise. The longer the cable distance, the higher the transmission loss, however we want to mount the antenna as high as possble! So only use high quality, low loss coax cable to connect the antenna (the type that’s as thick as your thumb).

A low cost alternative

Of course a well placed antenna and proper high quality cable pre-supposes a fixed mobile broadband modem such as the Ericsson units. For a nifty, low cost, alternative use one of the tiny mobile hot-spot modem units now available (see last month’s article). Put it in a sock and hoist it up to the top of the mast. It will give you antenna height without any cable losses – it works a treat, but not recommended while underway…

Marius

Reference: A good article on Marine Antenna Fundamentals: http://www.boat-project.com/tutorials/vhfant.htm