How necessary is AIS?

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

Wearing my Devil's Advocate hat:

1) False sense of security -- not all hazards transmit AIS.
2) With AIS you stare at the screen when you should be keeping watch by looking out the window.
3) More electronics stuff to draw current and eventually fail.

All of these are actually reasonable concerns. However, they don't prevent me from finding AIS to be a valuable aid. This all takes practice.

They aren't valid concerns, the staring at the screen has already been addressed, if you drive by screens your a fool and natural selection will play out.

Current draw, these things draw very little, VERY little.

False sense of security, once again if the user is that stupid....

Sorry just don't get it.

There a single hander leaving here tomorrow as we are. No ais, by his own admission he's sleeps alot, he has a responsibility to be seen and keep a watch, a ais would at least address one of these.

I apologize for my stoic stance on this but for the money ais is a no branier and the arguments against have little to no merit based on my experience.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by hsi88

I did not notice it even though it was a very clear (but very dark) night. I was outside the shipping lane and so was he.

I wasn't there so I can only speculate. Why could you not see him? Light discipline is a hot button for me. Could your night adaptation have been diminished due to too much light in the cockpit from instruments, stern light reflection, a trip below for a head call or to make coffee with lights blazing?

Again I wasn't there. Only you can reflect on the reasons you couldn't see presumably legal navigation lights on a commercial platform. On a "very dark" night (your words) the nav lights of the tug should have been quite clear.

It's also very worth noting that tugs and tows are no more interested in tangling with large ships than we are. It is quite usual to encounter tugs and tows well outside deep channels - they run in water plenty deep enough for them without having to negotiate with ships. In my home grounds on the Chesapeake you can hear the tugs talking to each other on VHF channel 13 about running tug boat alley East and West.

Originally Posted by daletournier

https://www.tindie.com/products/astu...-ais-receiver/

$60!!!!!! So the arguments for not having are?

The value for money is pretty hard to argue with. $90US and $3.50 shipping for a dual channel AIS receiver. If I can't find a BNC in my junk box I'll have to lay out a couple of bucks for a good connector and build an antenna.

Originally Posted by StuM

There fixed it for you.

My experience sailing with very many people who crew for me as deliveries getting the watch to keep their head out of the boat is difficult. When I pop up for an update crew almost always turn to the plotter. The plotter is usually too bright.

Yes, it's a teachable moment. We can talk about dark adaptation. We can talk about how to pick out lights on the horizon. We can turn all the backlights down (and cap some displays that don't need to be visible) and I can come back in 45 minutes and we can review crew's ability to pick out targets by eye that were otherwise invisible.

Originally Posted by buzzstar

I cannot disagree that it is cheap, as in inexpensive, but it is not insurance of, for, or against anything, although it helps. It is not quite a second set of eyes, nor is it radar, but it is better to have than not to have, unless one becomes reliant on it or expects the other guy to do the proper thing because the vessel has it. Protect yourself at all times.

Ten or fifteen years ago I would say that radar was a very important technology and that AIS was only nice to have. Today I feel AIS is more important than radar, not because radar is less important but because AIS has become more important. Fifteen years ago you had a reasonable chance of getting a response from a commercial vessel that you called by description and location. Today you have no chance at all. The expectation of being called by name due to the ubiquity of AIS and reduced manning levels mean that if you don't have the name of a ship or tug you simply won't get an answer.

I'm an active delivery skipper. Moving from boat to boat I see and sail with a lot of differently outfit boats. A few years ago I started carrying my own back-up nav. Now I have a laptop with OpenCPN and GPS. I have an unlocked quad-band data stick with an external antenna. I have recently added a USB SDR for weather fax. I've now ordered an AIS receiver. For a "go-kit" I have size, weight, and power (SWAP) requirements not relevant to more permanent installations. You could duplicate my setup from scratch for $1500US. Take a new laptop out and you'll have a nice setup for $500.

Someday, I hope in the not too distant future, we'll see AIS transponder prices come way down and the regulatory reforms to make portable MMSIs useful for AIS. You'll find me near the front of the line for the kit to make that part of my go-kit.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

Sailorboy, have you actually seen this type of response here???

Absolutely!!!!!

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

.
I really don't understand your take on this discussion, and I wish you wouldn't mis-characterize the responses from AIS proponents.

Then you must have read a different thread.

[smj]

Pretty soon you'll be able to start your motor, raise the anchor and sails and steer a course to your next anchorage while sitting behind your computer at home. Some people would consider that progress, others not. What does this has to do with AIS? Probably nothing, but didn't people used to go sailing to have an adventure and get away from all the must haves?

[rwidman]

The former President (of the USA) considered a proposal to require all boats (including, presumably, uncle Bubba's duck boat) to be equipped with AIS transmitters, supposedly for homeland security reasons. Aren't we glad cooler heads prevailed on that one?


What is being left out of this discussion is, some of our boating is greatly enhanced by ASI while others of us would not benefit from AIS.


It's a choice we make based on where, when and how we boat. A person who claims he doesn't need AIS may be entirely correct. None of us is a better person for having AIS on his/her boat.

[SSgtPitt]

Lots of info and much appreciated and the normal CF 180 degree responces, which still helps.
I intend to purchase this Vesper XB-8000 so I can see and be seen and with a MOB device, the boat can be turned around to pick one of us up if we happen to leave the boat unintentionally. I don't want to be found with my fly open or my shorts around my ankles.......which apparently is how a lot of men are found after falling off the boat.
I've only crossed the Gulf of Mexico once, didn't have AIS, didn't feel like I needed it but it would have made Port Aransas, Port Arthur and the crew boats for the oil rigs easier to deal with.

"Your" - related to or belonging to ( your boat, your opinion )
"You're" - a contraction of "you are"
"Yer" - "Hey, ain't that yer boat driftin' away?"

[Snore]

Originally Posted by Sandero

You don't need AIS... except transiting crowded harbors with commercial shipping or being out in the ocean. There are times you "need" it but most times.... you don't.

Yup kind of like a seatbelt in the car

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by rwidman

The former President (of the USA) considered a proposal to require all boats (including, presumably, uncle Bubba's duck boat) to be equipped with AIS transmitters, supposedly for homeland security reasons. Aren't we glad cooler heads prevailed on that one?

This is one of the reasons I don’t transmit (NOT the the most important reason, but definitely one). Call me paranoid, but I don’t want to help “them” track my every move. If it becomes possible (politically, technologically), governments and other organizations WILL demand that we hand over more of our privacy by forcing us all to transmit our every move — all in the name of safety and security no doubt.

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

This is one of the reasons I don’t transmit (NOT the the most important reason, but definitely one). Call me paranoid, but I don’t want to help “them” track my every move. If it becomes possible (politically, technologically), governments and other organizations WILL demand that we hand over more of our privacy by forcing us all to transmit our every move — all in the name of safety and security no doubt.

Do you carry a cell phone?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

This is one of the reasons I don’t transmit (NOT the the most important reason, but definitely one). Call me paranoid, but I don’t want to help “them” track my every move. If it becomes possible (politically, technologically), governments and other organizations WILL demand that we hand over more of our privacy by forcing us all to transmit our every move — all in the name of safety and security no doubt.

Trust me on this one... you and me are not that important. The government couldn't care less about what we're doing, unless we're crossing international borders or approaching secure areas such as military installations.

If you transmit AIS it solves the mystery of who you are for government authorities and you won't be bothered. By not transmitting, you invite the shore response with guns a blazing and you will be bothered. The system works amazingly well here in the Mediterranean where we have yet to be inspected or questioned after five years, despite crossing EU borders often several times per month and even in and out of the EU. I welcome the authorities to track us, it saves time and trouble and erases all doubt regarding VAT issues.

If and when you eventually get down into US waters, you'd be saving yourself an unbelievable amount of trouble with DHS and imigration by transmitting an AIS signal. Otherwise, you can pretty much count on visits in every port or encounter with new authorities, possibly more than once per day.

Your choice.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by DotDun

Do you carry a cell phone?

No.

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Trust me on this one... you and me are not that important. The government couldn't care less about what we're doing, unless we're crossing international borders or approaching secure areas such as military installations.

That’s just what they want you to think… Since the Snowden revelations no one should believe that the gvt doesn’t care about everyone. Technology now makes it possible to vacuum up everything.

I’m not a luddite. I’m not hiding in cave. I know I’m on the radar. Heck, I’m on the Internet so my data is being vacuumed up. But resistance is never futile. I don’t have to make it too easy for ‘them.'

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by DotDun

Do you carry a cell phone?

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

No.

How do you access the Internet?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

No.



That’s just what they want you to think… Since the Snowden revelations no one should believe that the gvt doesn’t care about everyone. Technology now makes it possible to vacuum up everything.

I’m not a luddite. I’m not hiding in cave. I know I’m on the radar. Heck, I’m on the Internet so my data is being vacuumed up. But resistance is never futile. I don’t have to make it too easy for ‘them.'

Did you miss the entire second most important part of my post #116? You left it out of my quote.

Good luck after you begin crossing international borders especially the US with your Canadian flag... you'll need it without a transmitter.

Personally, we prefer to be left alone.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by DotDun

How do you access the Internet?

Some folks access the Internet with a computer.