Preparing for a departure south.

Over the past few weeks, I have been performing upgrades to Distant Horizon.

Most notably, would be a complete refit of the rigging, both running rigging and standing rigging. For non sailors, that means the mast and boom have been removed from the boat. This was done mostly for inspection and upgrades. All the wires that hold the mast up and keep it straight have been inspected... that's the standing rigging. The running rigging is all the ropes and associated hardware used to operate the sails. By the way, rope on a boat is called a line. All this work is being performed by a profession rigging service.

Also, I am completely updating the propane system. A new stove, hose, and regulator. There will also be a new gas monitoring alarm system to warn me of an inadvertent leak. The propane locker, which should be completely air-tight from the rest of the boat, had over a dozen old screw holes in it. So, I am cleaning, sanding, and fiberglassing the propane locker to make it truly safe.

I have replaced the old AIS transducer, as it was intermittent at best. AIS is the Automated Identification System. This is an automatic tracking system for ships and other vessels like my boat. A lot of information is broadcast over the short range radios; most notably the ships name, position, speed, and direction. Receiving this information is great for me. When at sea, I can call a ship directly... by its name... Since the international language for communications for aviation and the marine industry is English, the ships always answer back. You see, they have to log all their radio communications. So, an officer on watch who is originally from Indonesia, gets to practice his English and log the 20-40 minutes time. For me, I can ask for the latest 3-day weather forecast or latest position of named storms. Since I installed a transceiver, that means my information is also being broadcast. So, the ship has my boat's name, speed, direction, etc.

AIS is used for vessel traffic safety... kind of like an air traffic control for the sea.. or at least for approaching a port. I use it for collision avoidance. Knowing a ship's position, how fast it's moving and in what direction, I can quickly calculate whether we are on a collision course. In fact, the AIS system I installed will perform that calculation for me. The older system did not.

For all of you reading this, AIS is handy too. As long as I am close enough to a shore station, my information will be received and updated on the internet. Checkout http://www.marinetraffic.com. Once there, click on the magnifying glass on the left and type in “Distant Horizon”. If I have been received recently, my boat's information will come up and the map will zoom in to my last known position. As previously mentioned, the mast is being worked on. My VHF (short-range) radio antenna is at the top of the mast. So, there will not be any information on Distant Horizon at this time, but get familiar with the site and you will soon be able to track my movements. As this is an international system, you can track my position anywhere in the world when I am close enough to a receiving station.

Next, I added a NAVTXT receiver. This is another international system. This one provides navigational and meteorological warnings and forecasts, as well as urgent marine safety information. It works when I am within200-400 miles of a coast. That's another 3-days or more for Distant Horizon. Being that far away, I will be able to stay away and let a storm pass by before I call on the next port.

Finally, I have installed a wifi antenna on the boat. This will allow me to receive free wifi where it is available. In the U.S. that would be most marinas. Internationally, wifi is rarely free.