Which AIS to Buy?

[conachair]

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

Why in the world would you want to turn your AIS off, unless your paranoid? Ok, the western Indian Ocean, I can see. but how many of you people are going to sail there?

Comes in handy when anchored or in a marina and you still want to keep an eye on what's going on out there without cluttering up everyone elses screens, and some places like the solent are so cluttered it's good manners to not add to the mess of targets. Never been into racing but imagine that lot might like to see without being seen as well.

[xymotic]

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

Why in the world would you want to turn your AIS off, unless your paranoid? Ok, the western Indian Ocean, I can see. but how many of you people are going to sail there?

A lot, and I mean "a lot a lot" of fishermen would not want to broadcast their position to the rest of the fleet, especially during a tournament or short commercial season.

[Cruisingscotts]

I work on a big commercial fishing boat and they most definitely turn there AIS off regularly. It is very common for bigger fishing boats to only have it on in transit. Something to always keep in mind, the guy running the 350' fishing boat is the same super competitive guy running the little limit seiner or panga. They only have one model fisherman but lots of model boats.

[hooligan6a]

I forgot catching fish is more important then being rundown or running down someone else.

[Jbaffoh]

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

I forgot catching fish is more important then being rundown or running down someone else.

It's not about running someone else down. But when catching fish in the very limited opportunity of a commercial season opening is your families', and your crew's families' livelihood for the entire year, there is almost nothing as important, short of death. Since commercial fishing boats are well lit when working round the clock, they do not need AIS to alert passing traffic of their presence. Nor do they need AIS to tip off competitors with the identity and location of your successful efforts. This is serious business, so get real.

[xymotic]

Large fishing boats are also specifically excluded from having to have AIS. AIS Frequently Asked Questions

In addition, while fishing they have right of way, AND a crew who is actually pretty well tuned to what's happening around them.

[Jbaffoh]

Originally Posted by xymotic

Large fishing boats are also specifically excluded from having to have AIS. AIS Frequently Asked Questions

In addition, while fishing they have right of way, AND a crew who is actually pretty well tuned to what's happening around them.

Exactly.

And forgive my crappy writing earlier. I shattered two toes yesterday and the pain pills have me passing out between sentences. Woe is me.

[Cruisingscotts]

Without getting off topic the spirit of the points above is that AIS is a navigation tool. A great one for small boats but non the less a tool that should only compliment the prudent mariner. A big trawler like the one I work on will be doing 3.7 knots when fishing and have very limited manueverabulity. Very hard to miss. It will always show proper lighting so you know what you are looking at. It should also be noted that even though they are not transmitting they are always recieving so if you have a AIS trans you will aid yourself in being seen. We maintain min 2 people on the bridge at all times and they are very nice guys who would have no problem chatting with a passing boat and informing them of any other traffic or hazards that may be unseem by the smaller boats. On a sailboat equipped with AIS and a masthead antenna you are essentially equal to any ship as far as AIS vis and coverage, it is a pretty awesome thing. In the Bering sea during the summer we can pic up boats 90 to 100 miles away, probably skips but still pretty cool.

[Jbaffoh]

Originally Posted by Cruisingscotts

Without getting off topic the spirit of the points above is that AIS is a navigation tool. A great one for small boats but non the less a tool that should only compliment the prudent mariner. A big trawler like the one I work on will be doing 3.7 knots when fishing and have very limited manueverabulity. Very hard to miss. It will always show proper lighting so you know what you are looking at. It should also be noted that even though they are not transmitting they are always recieving so if you have a AIS trans you will aid yourself in being seen. We maintain min 2 people on the bridge at all times and they are very nice guys who would have no problem chatting with a passing boat and informing them of any other traffic or hazards that may be unseem by the smaller boats. On a sailboat equipped with AIS and a masthead antenna you are essentially equal to any ship as far as AIS vis and coverage, it is a pretty awesome thing. In the Bering sea during the summer we can pic up boats 90 to 100 miles away, probably skips but still pretty cool.

Definitely skips.

I see you're on a 65' schooner--awesome. I fished a 65' halibut schooner in the Bering Sea. I used to dream about it being a sailing schooner, but the diesel fumes eventually wore off and I saw it for what it was through contact lenses of herring scales. We had no AIS then (bringing this back on point), but the boat was rammed and nearly cut in two during the early years of WWII (before my time). However, it was running and not fishing at the time.

[hooligan6a]

Having your fishing boat lit up at night does not mean you will not be run down and as far as having the right of way, you can scream that at the ship that sinks you, from the bottom of the sea, for all the good it will do. I was run down by a
600 ft bulk carrier in broad day light. I was sailing, so I had the right of way too.
By turning on your AIS how does that tell another fishing boat you are being successful? You are fooling yourself if you think lights will take the place of an AIS.

[Jbaffoh]

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

Having your fishing boat lit up at night does not mean you will not be run down and as far as having the right of way, you can scream that at the ship that sinks you, from the bottom of the sea, for all the good it will do. I was run down by a
600 ft bulk carrier in broad day light. I was sailing, so I had the right of way too.
By turning on your AIS how does that tell another fishing boat you are being successful? You are fooling yourself if you think lights will take the place of an AIS.

There are what we call highliners who are the few boats that always succeed, and there is the rest of the fleet who do everything they can to follow, hire ex crew, and struggle to keep up. There are certain boats that will attract followers like flies. When I fished 30-35 years ago, we were that boat everyone wanted to be.

Have you ever seen the giant vapor lights used on crab boats and longliners (we called them crab lights), or the full deck lighting? You can't miss them from miles away. No AIS triangle is as effective as a white flare across the bow--and a fully lit fishing boat in the Bering Sea is at least as noticeable as that flare.

Crew shares were more than $100k annually 35 years ago, and we did everything we could to protect them. Those were Jimmy Carter dollars--so imagine what they would be today. If we had AIS, we would NOT have broadcast our position.

[hooligan6a]

Well I am not a fisherman but I do know boats, ships and the sea. And after being run down once I consider the AIS a blessing and I will never turn mine off.

[Jbaffoh]

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

Well I am not a fisherman but I do know boats, ships and the sea. And after being run down once I consider the AIS a blessing and I will never turn mine off.

Wow, didn't realize you were run down. Can't blame you one bit. As a cruiser now many years after my fishing days, I would not turn mine off either.

When I started the fishing thing as a kid, it was the book , Ship Killer, that intrigued me about sailing. It's a story about one man's revenge against a tanker that rammed his sailboat and killed his wife. So if there were AIS back then, there would be no book, and I might never have started sailing. Irony.

I apologize for drifting off topic--I'm on serious painkillers and watching the day drift by while my bones heal. It shouldn't be your problem, but my id is out of control at the moment.

[hooligan6a]

I hope you feel better soon.

[Watermann]

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

I forgot catching fish is more important then being rundown or running down someone else.

Yes, it's a miracle that somehow people managed to survive up until the last 10 years or so when AIS started coming around and saved the day.


Relatively speaking from a pure numbers standpoint, there are more vessels without AIS out there than there are with it. Therefore, as a professional, I don't put all my faith on always having a nice little triangle on my screen. I especially don't expect to see fishing vessels with them and indeed very few of the ones off the WA and OR coast have it transmitting when "on station".