FROM BIANKA'S BOOK SHELF: ELDRIDGE TIDE AND PILOT BOOK

One of the things that signals the start of the sailing season for me is buying a nice fresh copy of the Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book 2013   .  If you are sailing through the waters anywhere from Maine to the Chesapeake this is the one book to have on board. Just make sure you have this years edition. By the end of the season my copy of this book will be well dog eared and beat up from the crisp pristine condition it is now in. That is because I use just about every time I leave the harbor. It is one of the items I bring into the cockpit before heading out along with items like binoculars, horn and the handheld VHF radio. I will refer to it a number of times on just about every sail trip I take. The Eldridge has most of the tide and current information you will ever need to transit the waters of the northeast coast of the U.S. and has been providing that information for well over 100 years. Yes, you can get some of the same information on many chart plotters and computer programs. But, the  Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book 2013 being a paper publication will always work and allows you to quickly find the information you need without going through a bunch of menu screens. It also contains various interesting articles concerning tides, currents, fishing, astronomy and seafaring history. I often bring it down to my cabin and peruse it when planning for the next days journey before nodding off to sleep. If you know of a northeast sailor or someone who will be sailing in the northeast U.S. waters who does not have a copy on board  it would make a great gift.

ON BIANKA'S BOOKSHELF: NAVIGATION RULES

                              

As a Licensed Captain I'm required to have a copy of the Navigation Rules on board. Even if you are not required to carry them it's good to have a copy on board. You can make sure your boat meets the requirements in terms of signals, lights etc... Plus it could be fun and very educational to identify the various tug and barge combinations you might see on the waters. You might even win some bets with other sailors.  I was reminded yesterday in my local Home Depot store by the Christmas Trees on display that yes the SEAson will soon be upon us. An up to date copy of the Navigation Rules would make a good Christmas gift for the sailors young or old that you know.

TO DO LIST: REMOVE LORAN

Even though the LORAN C signal in most areas was terminated back on February 8, 2010 I have yet to remove the Kings 8001 receiver and antenna off the boat. It is definitely on the to do list though.

I don't know why I have not done it. Nostalgia perhaps. It was on board when I bought the boat over 15 years ago. It was working right up to the end when the Coast Guard shutdown the Loran C stations. How do you shutdown a Loran station?:


And how do you make sure that it stays shutdown:

WHAT THE HELM?: Part 2

As I've mentioned I like to have as much control and information available to the helmsman as possible. Which since I do a lot of single handed sailing is usually me. So after I had the electric throttle secured and installed in it's housing at the helm. The question I asked myself is what other things could I add at that location.
The most obvious answer was my Standard Horizon CP180iGPS chartplotter. I never could understand those boats that had their chart plotters installed down below at "Nav" stations. I've always believed the information belonged at the helm and not relayed up from below. Some chartplotters are large and need to be permanently mounted.  Making it look like the person at the helm is speaking at a pulpit. But, the 180i is small enough to be removable and stored securely down below when one wants to. With an additional power cable one could also operate it down below say in anchor watch mode. This is something I plan to do in the future. So with just three additional screws I installed the stand for the 180i on top of the helm control enclosure.

This now provides the person at the helm with a lot of electronic navigation information including location, speed over ground and course information right at their fingertips. The180i also has a lot of other features that I will want to eventually take advantage of. But, to use some of these features I will need to use the connections into and out of the unit. Happily the helm enclosure allows me the room to interface all these signals in a convenient location as shown below:

Here you can see how I have arranged the various terminal strips for power and the interface for the chart plotter signals that I will need to hook up to the 180i unit in the future.  I'll be posting more about these signals and some other items I'll be adding to the helm enclosure in a future post.

 CLICK HERE TO SEE THE WHAT THE HELM?: Part 1 

A SENSE OF WHERE YOU ARE

For about thirty five years now I've made a career in building and repairing things electronic. In fact I have not been posting as much recently because I am currently working full time helping to build an new HD TV control room facility for one of the TV networks. The money I make will allow me spend more time on the boat this season while others will spend more time in their living rooms watching the images that pass through the facility. I think I get the better part of that deal. I also know that at some point many of the state of the art electronic boxes I am installing will fail and/or become obsolete. This is something I also keep in mind when on my boat. It's been a little over a month since the Coast Guard has shutdown most of the LORAN transmitters in the U.S. forcing mariners to rely on the remaining electronic systems more and more. Capt. Brucato has some interesting comments at his NYTUGMASTER site about relying too much on the electronic systems on board your boat for navigating. Here are some of the money quotes:

The idea of plodding ahead without keeping track of where I’ve been and where I expect to be has not entered the equation since detailed voyage planning has been made part of our operational procedures. Whether I put a mark on the chart or make a note, there is a record of where I’ve been within the last 30 minutes to refer to. Be it a landmark, bearing and distance, L.O.P., or radar range and bearing.

Sooner or later, something will stop working as it should, and even if every layer of “e-redundancy” fails, one can still have enough recent data to discern a decent estimated position when all of the e-toys fail.

I concur and always make sure I have a paper chart out nearby in the cockpit with me and also on the table down below. Since things can fall overboard quite easily too. I also keep an ELDRIDGE TIDE and PILOT BOOK in the cockpit when undeway in my home waters. I also carry a few books on repairing some of the electric components and systems on board. One of my favorites is Nigal Calder's BOAT OWNER'S MECHANICAL and ELECTRICAL MANUAL. Which I often refer to for some type of information here and there during every season. While electronics are helpful to have on board. They are useless when they fail. In terms of reliability paper always seems to work. Whether it is a nautical chart or a book. Something to keep in mind while on board. In short it's important to have a backup plan and a sense of where you are.

GOODNIGHT LORAN C

Some news you need to use:

"The Coast Guard strongly urges mariners currently using LORAN-C for navigation to shift to a GPS navigation system and become familiar with its operation as soon as possible. Mariners will not be able to rely upon LORAN-C for navigation as of Feb. 8, 2010."

"*** Special Notice Regarding LORAN Closure: *** In accordance with the DHS Appropriations Act, the U.S. Coast Guard will terminate the transmission of all U.S. LORAN-C signals effective 2000Z 08 Feb 2010. At that time, the U.S. LORAN-C signal will be unusable and permanently discontinued. This termination does not affect U.S. participation in the Russian American or Canadian LORAN-C chains. U.S. participation in these chains will continue temporarily in accordance with international agreements. You may read more and download pertinent documents via our LORAN-C page."

Todays the day when the Coast Guard shuts down most of the Loran transmitters around the country.

When I bought BIANKA in 1995 it had a KINGS 8001 Loran unit already installed.

It took a season or two for me to really appreciate it's usefulness. It was pretty reliable but, somehow occassionaly failed just when I needed it most. I viewed it as just another tool that I could use when sailing. But, it was so useful that I did feel the need to get a GPS unit for the boat until 2008. It's interesting to ponder how many lives were saved and how many safe passages were made thanks to all the people in the Coast Guard operating the Loran C stations that were often located hundreds of miles from the sea.

Then there are all the engineers and people who put the Loran units together in companies like King Radio. Started by an engineer named Ed King. He was a private pilot in the 1950's who thought the units he could by for his plane were too expensive and did not fit his needs. So he designed his own and started a company. Roger McGuinn yes that Roger McGuinn of the Byrds fame posted the story of Ed King and his company. This quote by Ed King I think shows why he was succesful:
"If you have highly innovative, reliable products at competitive prices, a lot of your marketing problems are solved."
I'd say that's good advice for anyone thinking about starting a business.

So it is the end of another era. The end of the history of a technology designed to help use sailors keep away from danger. But, it was not just the technology but, the unkown people behind it that kept those signals beaming out.

"COAST GUARD PERSONNEL HAVE STAFFED AND OPERATED LORAN SINCE 1943. SINCE THAT TIME, LORAN HAS GONE THROUGH SEVERAL CHANGES WITH INCREDIBLE ACCURACY AND WITH NEAR ZERO LOST TIME. THE LORAN SYSTEM SUPERBLY SUPPORTED NAVIGATION AND POSITIONING NEEDS FOR MANY YEARS, AND HAS BEEN A FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENT OF THE COAST GUARDS LONG AND PROUD HISTORY. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR CONTINUED PROFESSIONALISM AND DEDICATION TO THE LORAN PROGRAM AND THE COAST GUARD. -Master Chief Charles W. Bowen"


Good night Loran and thank you.