You High-Tech Folks... how engrossed are you in your devices?

[wsmac]

I'm thinking that when I get competent enough to bring my girlfriend and her kids onboard for sailing, I'll impose a limited smartphone policy! But I realize I may have to provide alternatives when the scenery isn't keeping their attention, the weather drives them below, etc, so I've got some planning to do!
Actually, the girls are outdoors kids at heart, but I have seen over the years how their phones (which aren't turned on for phone use yet... just internet and apps that don't need phone or wifi) can consume their attention.
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Funny thing... when my GF and I started dating... her company had her on a flip phone and I had migrated to an iPhone already.
She used to feel pretty good about herself living without a smartphone.
Later, her company made everyone take on a smartphone, and she can use it for personal stuff long as she keeps the texts and data usage down to a certain amount.
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Now... I'm back on a flip phone that has no data plan, and she's the one whipping out her rather large smartphone (not quite a phablet) to scroll through her FaceBook stuff whenever there's a lull in conversation.
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I WANT to learn to sail by feel, by observation, as much as I can before I slip into the tech side of navigation and weather.
But... whenever I feel a device will offer up a better level of safety, I'll move on it.
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I used to teach Wilderness Survival through the non-credit courses at the local Uni (Humboldt State University - Center Activities).
I ALWAYS made sure my lectures and field activities included compass navigation and map/compass nav!
I honestly don't know if I know of anyone anymore who carries a compass into the field besides me!
Sure... some of my traveling companions have their GPS device, maybe a digital compass on their digital watch... but an actual compass? I get a kick out of teaching people to read a topo map, plot their course, triangulate their position.
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Typing all that... I'm reminded that I am resisting buying a sextant!
I still appreciate 'old' tools and it just seems like one of those skills that could come in handy someday, but might just be fun to learn and use every now-and-then as well!
Knowing me... I won't be able to resist too much longer! The big downside of owning a sextant... here on the NorCal Coast... most nights... I CAN'T SEE ANY DAMN STARS at night! OH TO BE BACK IN WEST TEXAS! With those inky black skies FLOODED with stars and their constellations, milky way, planets, satellites...
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But I'm sure getting offshore will allow me to revisit the natural night sky!

[SV Sailfish]

I love having new high tech gadgets onboard.

My Sextant is less than a year old, my Lead Line has a brand new cord and I just got a new Stone Tablet and Chisel from Amazon for plotting my waypoints.

Love these new fangled gadgets.

[belizesailor]

In Belize it is a pretty common event for bare[ly]boaters to run aground on the very obvious shoal ahead of them while their eyes are glued to the chart plotter.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

In Belize it is a pretty common event for bare[ly]boaters to run aground on the very obvious shoal ahead of them while their eyes are glued to the chart plotter.

My father would say read the water. Great advice for shoals. That little ripple can mean a lot.

[TrentePieds]

Ohhh!! Maybe you guys can set me straight. For four years I've been trying to get my lead line plugged into my NMEA2K. Just how do you DO that ;-0)?

TP

[IdoraKeeper]

[QUOTE=TrentePieds;2369905]Ohhh!! Maybe you guys can set me straight. For four years I've been trying to get my lead line plugged into my NMEA2K. Just how do you DO that ;-0)?


No,no,no...you attach the lead line to the offending device using a double half hitch and lower it over the side. That will fix it for good.

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Ohhh!! Maybe you guys can set me straight. For four years I've been trying to get my lead line plugged into my NMEA2K. Just how do you DO that ;-0)?

TP

You buy the cable from me, I've been making them for years.....

US$250 + postage

[mausgras]

Although I am fast approaching my seventh decade I've always been an early adopter of technology.
I remember showing off my first electronic calculator to all my jealous friends. It had a tiny red display and could do all four mathematical operations. It had become affordable when it came under $300. Then there was my first HDD it held a whole gigabyte of data, was the size and weight of two housebricks and only cost $1000. Then there was the thrilling moment when I got a 56K modem. I forget how much that cost.
Fast forward some decades and I love to lie in my bunk when it is too hot/cold/wet or windy in the cockpit checking my anchor watch or the weather in a grib file I've just downloaded. Maybe I'm reviewing my course or plotting a new one using my phone's Navionics app.
My one regret is I used to also read real paper books a lot too but now I don't seem to have the time because I'm too busy watching sailing blogs on YouTube, chatting to distant friends and family on facebook or posting replies on Cruisers Forums.

[TooCoys]

I'm a gadget-holic. I love all of my Apple gadgets, and radios, and cameras.

But when it comes to my boat, its currently bare bones. There's a VHF radio, an AM/FM radio, a depth finder, and a knot meter.

I want to go 'balls to the wall' installing all the high tech gadgets that I can afford, but the sad fact is that I can't afford much. And more importantly, I DO NOT NEED much.

I have to keep reminding myself that NEED out weighs WANTS three fold.

[daletournier]

Im not a tech guy but I do love this smartphone tablet app age we are in when it comes to cruising. It keeps me connected, provides a degree of accuracy that was unheard of not so far back.
I'm currently getting a kick out of my new inreach with earthmate app as well as my vesper marine xb8000 that is blue tooth connected to my smartphone.
Sitting having coffee this morning at airlie beach using navionics on my phone to measure the distance to Port Douglas is also something I appreciate.
Communicating with friends in Thailand, Seychelles and Switzerland via whats app while sipping coffee is just cool, not to mention the cruisersforum entertainment :-)
I want to get more tech savy, it adds to my life.


Sent from my vivo Y35 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[buzzstar]

My opinion: Boaters who rely too much on electronics are related to automobile drivers who rely too much on radar detectors and the like; they encounter problems that those who mostly obey the rules and keep their eyes an ears open to other sources do not, and this removes a greater percentage of them from the game, sometimes for life.

[TooCoys]

Originally Posted by buzzstar

My opinion: Boaters who rely too much on electronics are related to automobile drivers who rely too much on radar detectors and the like; they encounter problems that those who mostly obey the rules and keep their eyes an ears open to other sources do not, and this removes a greater percentage of them from the game, sometimes for life.

I work in law enforcement and you have NO IDEA how many times we've had drivers going down the interstate in the WRONG LANE of traffic because the GPS told them to "turn right here". They seem to completely disregard the rules of divided highways....

[wsmac]

Originally Posted by SV Sailfish

I love having new high tech gadgets onboard.

My Sextant is less than a year old, my Lead Line has a brand new cord and I just got a new Stone Tablet and Chisel from Amazon for plotting my waypoints.

Love these new fangled gadgets.

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Okay so you need to provide a bit more information on your Plotter... what languages does it readout in? How many Bits does it use per waypoint? While you're chipping away at your sailing plan, is it always a two-handed operation? How loud is it... does it come with an optional soft chisel for use when the rest of the crew is sleeping?

[wsmac]

Originally Posted by TooCoys

I work in law enforcement and you have NO IDEA how many times we've had drivers going down the interstate in the WRONG LANE of traffic because the GPS told them to "turn right here". They seem to completely disregard the rules of divided highways....

Well that would NEVER happen on my boat! Principally because it doesn't have any wheels!
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Seriously and sadly... on our local Hwy 101... we have had our share of accidents due to people winding up driving down the wrong direction/lane... so much of it is now solid barrier in the worst areas now.

[IdoraKeeper]

Originally Posted by TooCoys

I work in law enforcement and you have NO IDEA how many times we've had drivers going down the interstate in the WRONG LANE of traffic because the GPS told them to "turn right here". They seem to completely disregard the rules of divided highways....

Huh? No way my GPS would tell me to violate traffic regs