Captain's Log - Stardate - 03-07-13

Captain's Log … Stardate – 03-07-13

AIS.... or ... “where the hell did they go?”

I’m sure most of you have noticed that we appear and (mostly) disappear on marinetraffic.com.

The reason is that boats with AIS transmit their position information via VHF radio which has, under ideal conditions, a range of about 40 to 50 miles. This typically works fine for boat-to-boat communications as 40 to 50 miles is plenty of range to see what other boats are around you. For you to see us on marinetraffic.com our signal needs to be picked up by a land-based receiving station which, based on where we have been, appears that there aren’t very many. Each time we get close to a town like Port Hardy we typically reappear only to disappear as we head off into more remote areas.

Never fear we are still here.       

For those of you that might be interested in the more technical aspects of our trip here are some of the details.

The Boat

The boat has run flawlessly since we left. One of our bigger challenges when we first bought the boat was with the autopilot. It would go into alarm mode frequently, wouldn’t steer the boat in a straight line and occasionally would throw the boat into a full hard-rudder turn whenever it felt like it. After much detective work and assistance from a couple of great marine techs in Anacortes we have determined what the problems were and solved them. The autopilot system has worked perfectly the whole trip. Thank you Tom and Brian.

Before we left Anacortes we filled all the fuel tanks so the boat sits heavy in the water which, when the seas get rough, greatly adds to the stability of the boat and ride comfort. Watching our boat’s motion compared to the other two in our armada we move around a lot less.

Navigating

Typically before each days trip I enter our route into the chart plotter and then turn it on as we leave. This allows me (or Kim) to sit back and watch for wood or seaweed in the water and other boats. At each waypoint I simply acknowledge the required turn to the next waypoint and off we go on the next leg. Pretty easy.

Coming around the top of the island it was very foggy and the radar system was invaluable as there are a lot of small fishing boats out there with no AIS or, seemingly, even a VHF radio. As we came around Cape Scott the fog was so thick that we could only see approximately 150 feet which isn’t a big deal as the chart plotter and autopilot were keeping us on course. The excitement started when I picked up small boats moving at approximately 20 kn coming directly towards us in the thick fog. I started taking evasive action trying to figure out which way to turn to get out of their way while trying to raise them on the radio and honking the ships horn to let them know we were in front of them. It’s pretty freaky to see a small fish boat come thundering out of the fog at 20 kn a hundred feet away from you and see their surprise when they saw us.

That happened a couple of times and wasn’t a lot of fun. Without the radar we would not have even known they were out there.

There should be a minimum IQ test before letting people run a boat. Based on what I’ve seen a high percentage of them wouldn’t pass. 

Communications

Before we left I set up three different ways to communicate from the boat;

·        Wi-Fi

The boat has a Wi-Fi amplifier on board which allows us to connect to any available Wi-Fi sites even if we are a fair distance away. This has worked well when we’ve been in marinas (which hasn’t been all that often) but it is the cheapest way to communicate and access the Internet.

·        3G

I installed a 3G system on board which allows us to use Kim’s Telus Sim card and access cellular coverage if it is available. The system is connected to a large antenna on the top of the boat which gives us much better range than you would get simply with your cell phone. This system has worked very well through most of our trip but started to drop off as we left Port Hardy. We are currently in Winter Harbour which has no cell coverage at all.

·        Satellite Phone and Internet

I had this system installed before we left knowing that we would have no Wi-Fi or 3G coverage for major portions of our trip. The satellite phone and Internet system gives us full communications virtually anywhere and has worked perfectly. It’s not very fast (Internet) and can be expensive if you use it a lot but we are being careful with our Internet usage and phone calls are only $.49 per minute. The Internet usage has been primarily to check weather data.

So….. That’s probably more technical information than most people wanted but for those that are interested there you have it.

The weather forecast is for 30 to 40 kn Northwest winds off the west side of Vancouver island for the next few days and as we have to go around a particularly nasty stretch of coast called the Brooks Peninsula we are going to sit tight and wait until things have settled down.

Once the weather conditions are good we will give Brooks Peninsula a wide berth and jump down to the next sound which is Kyuquot Sound.

More to follow later.

Cam

(Kim here ….)  Now that all that we’ve got all that “technical chit chat ” out of the way, let’s get on with “ a day in the life …” J

So … Here’s an otter family that we woke up while blasting around the harbor in our dinghy ….. Winter Harbor is overrun with these adorable little critters … hence no crabbing nearby (according to the locals). 

 

 

Penny, Christopher and Diana went out fishing and caught a cod and a good sized salmon.  I chatted up one of the fishermen on the dock and, in exchange for a bottle of red wine, “caught” a good sized salmon also!!!  J  We had mine for dinner!!! 

Sharing a little champagne with Jon and Sue !!

 

Sunshine …. Fishing …. Walks …. Relaxing … Eating …. Drinking ….. Friends …. Boat rides ….

It’s what holidays are made of  J