SV Bella Dawn missing en route Boot Key to Bimini Bahamas

[smj]

Originally Posted by NYSail

Never at my slip but do keep it on at anchor. Fog rolls in and I want to be seen.

Greg

Not all have AIS? How did you anchor in the fog before AIS became available to recreational boaters?

[sv Grateful]

Originally Posted by smj

And there’s no excuse for leaving the damn thing on while at the dock or on anchor. Hated ours

Ours is on 24/7/365. Why not leave it on when docked? Does your target alarm bother you? Turn IT off.

What a pleasant surprise it is to pull into an anchorage and spot a long lost friend boat on AIS.

[smj]

Originally Posted by sv Grateful

Ours is on 24/7/365. Why not leave it on when docked? Does your target alarm bother you? Turn IT off.



What a pleasant surprise it is to pull into an anchorage and spot a long lost friend boat on AIS.

What a pleasant surprise it is to pull into an anchorage and spot a long lost friend boat with your eyes viewing your surroundings rather than glued to a screen. Maybe soon they will come out with an AIS that alerts people of a cocktail hour!

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by smj

What a pleasant surprise it is to pull into an anchorage and spot a long lost friend boat with your eyes viewing your surroundings rather than glued to a screen. Maybe soon they will come out with an AIS that alerts people of a cocktail hour!

Don't the latest AIS devices have a cocktail flag feature?

[NYSail]

Originally Posted by smj

Not all have AIS? How did you anchor in the fog before AIS became available to recreational boaters?

Nope not everybody does.... but there are a few places I anchor where there are a lot of large boats coming and going. I anchored just the same without.... but why not use it if available. Not hurting anybody?

[danstanford]

Originally Posted by smj

What a pleasant surprise it is to pull into an anchorage and spot a long lost friend boat with your eyes viewing your surroundings rather than glued to a screen. Maybe soon they will come out with an AIS that alerts people of a cocktail hour!

I find this kind of dismissive post aggravating, it reminds me of those racers who bellow "get your eyes out of the boat" whenever you mention technology.

Is it not possible to have your eyes out coming into the anchorage AND to have technology which makes you safer as part of your strategy?

[hpeer]

Well, he was not at anchor. So there is that.

Also many have a “listen only” AIS. I don’t get the point of that because I figure the biggest reason for an AIS is so that the other captain knows his insurance company will crucify him if he hits a blinker. It increases HIS liability.

In remote Quebec I was talking to some small boat fisherman about AIS, none if them use it, even while laying to overnight. Why? “So me buddy won’t know where I’m fishing, nor me Wife.”

Humanity generally fits a bell curve, some people will wear an AIS in a confessional, others will stab everyone they see. Loge ‘em or hare ‘em, people!, sheesh, go figure.

[smj]

Originally Posted by danstanford

I find this kind of dismissive post aggravating, it reminds me of those racers who bellow "get your eyes out of the boat" whenever you mention technology.



Is it not possible to have your eyes out coming into the anchorage AND to have technology which makes you safer as part of your strategy?

Do all boats in an anchorage have AIS on? If not why check your screen for AIS hits when you’re eyes would be doing a better job concentrating on your surroundings?
I think AIS has it place but not while docked or anchored.

[danstanford]

Originally Posted by smj

Do all boats in an anchorage have AIS on? If not why check your screen for AIS hits when you’re eyes would be doing a better job concentrating on your surroundings?
I think AIS has it place but not while docked or anchored.

You must greatly overestimate the time it takes to check the screen, there is lots of time to do both.

[smj]

Originally Posted by danstanford

You must greatly overestimate the time it takes to check the screen, there is lots of time to do both.

Then carry on

[GordMay]

Q: What do you call a journey south east planned out on a paper chart? A: Some good downright navigation.

[PippaB]

Way off topic, but I can think of one occasion when we saw a friend's AIS in an anchorage about 10 miles past where we had intended to stop. We decided to carry on and had a wonderful time catching up. Had they not had on their AIS at anchor we never would have known they were so close by, and would have passed as ships in the night. Not nearly the most important use of AIS, but a fun feature.

[Chotu]

AIS: The new Instagram/Facebook of boating?

Make a profile, see where your friends are, update your status, check in, leave a big electronic wake for all to see (no privacy).

Maybe we could add a few more features like finally adding video and pics to our AIS status. Maybe AIS groups so people in the anchorage who are into Mai Thais and puppies can get together to discuss, or at the very least, hit “like” when they see a pic of a good mai Thai and puppy.

The reason I go sailing is to get away from things like this. Ha ha

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

Because an anchorage is a navigable area. AIS is for identifying things on the water that are not on charts which could be a hazard to navigation. It also let's you know they're not moving into or out of your course. It's why you see cargo ships in AIS with their status set to "At Anchor".

If they're at the dock they're effectively part of the dock.

Agreed. For those mentioning that you should be looking around the anchorage as you come in, yes, you should. But if it's dark or visibility is bad, AIS (like radar) is just another tool in the bag for helping to make sure you don't miss anything that you'd rather not hit.

And you can look at it before starting to enter the anchorage to get the start of a picture of what you should be seeing on the way in and how crowded it might be (knowing that there will still be more boats not transmitting AIS). Heck, if AIS shows the anchorage to be pretty full, you'll know it's at least that full and might just move on before going in to take a look.

As far as AIS at the dock, it's definitely not needed, but at the same time, in most places there either aren't enough boats for it to matter much, or there are so many in a tight space that you're working visually anyway and probably ignoring the AIS as you come into the busy part of a harbor. That said, locally, most of the boats with AIS do turn it off at the dock.

[smj]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

Agreed. For those mentioning that you should be looking around the anchorage as you come in, yes, you should. But if it's dark or visibility is bad, AIS (like radar) is just another tool in the bag for helping to make sure you don't miss anything that you'd rather not hit.

And you can look at it before starting to enter the anchorage to get the start of a picture of what you should be seeing on the way in and how crowded it might be (knowing that there will still be more boats not transmitting AIS). Heck, if AIS shows the anchorage to be pretty full, you'll know it's at least that full and might just move on before going in to take a look.

As far as AIS at the dock, it's definitely not needed, but at the same time, in most places there either aren't enough boats for it to matter much, or there are so many in a tight space that you're working visually anyway and probably ignoring the AIS as you come into the busy part of a harbor. That said, locally, most of the boats with AIS do turn it off at the dock.

Or you could just look at the number of anchor lights there are to determine whether the anchorage is full. The AIS in this scenario is absolutely useless but the radar may be money well spent