Technical stuff

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For most of you, this entry will only be of interest if you suffer from insomnia. But there are a few of you -- weird-os and geeks -- who have asked for this information. So here it is:

Computer-wise, we use MacIntosh. Period. For writing. For video and audio editing. For personal stuff. And for sailing. Up until fairly recently, there weren't any viable options for OSXers when it comes to on-board navigation, instrument integration and weather fax and satellite image downloads. For years, PC applications have dominated the marine navigation software market. And their cost is, well, PCish to the extreme.

But along came MacEnc ( http://www.macenc.com/ ) and changed all that. It's a fully functional, integrated navigation program that utilizes NOAA raster and vector electronic charts. Any of you with a charting GPS probably know that buying map and chart chips can really start to get expensive. BlueChart2 ($199 per tiny region) is definitely out to get your money on the way to getting you to your destination. But NOAA charts are free for the downloading. Free is a price that works for me. Free is just about perfect. (It's also something that you don't bump into very often in anything with the word "marine" attached to it. Damn it.)

MacEnc is typical of most Mac applications, with an intuitive interface that lets you hit the ground running. And it's plug & play quality makes interfacing with practically any GPS on the market quick and easy. (We're using 3 fixed mount GPS units and two portable units, so interconnectivity is pretty important. Although, we might be over doing it in the department of redundancy department.)

The fact that MacEnc can be downloaded for 140 bucks is a major selling point. That's a fraction of the cost of the leading PC apps. Combined with its ability to utilize free NOAA charts, this is one attractive program.

The other electronic aid that we will access via the Mac is NOAA weather charts, allowing us to view weather systems that are approaching and look at NOAA forecasts. You can download these weather charts for free from the NOAA site ( http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/ptreyes.shtml ) and they are broadcast on HF radio on a continual schedule throughout the day. We considered purchasing a dedicated weatherfax machine, but opted instead for the shareware program MultiMode ( http://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/multimode.html ). It's another OSX application that has been developed for the HF and MF radio user. It does lots of stuff that the serious Ham guys probably think makes you a woose if you do it on a laptop, but downloading weather charts and satellite images is what we use it for.

MultiMode will allow us to interface with our SSB and download charts showing current conditions and forecasts for up to 96 hours in the future. The chart broadcasts are comprehensive, with varying charts showing wind and wave conditions, sea state, surface conditions and temps, swell height and other meteorologically fascinating details. All it leaves out is the clever weatherman banter with the sports reporter before going to a commercial from a really loud guy selling cars.

For those of you who what to play along with the home-game of Sailing the Pacific Coast with Harry and Joy, there are a few, moderately odd web sites that can keep you abreast of what's happening out there.

The first is another NOAA service called Dial-A-Bouy. (I said it was odd.) It's a service where you can call up any number of ocean buoys and get real-time readings of all the pertinent sea conditions. Here's a link to the site ( http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ ) where you can just click on any buoy you'd like and get the low down immediately, complete with a very sexy picture of that particular buoy. And there are some hot ones, so maybe you shouldn't go looking for buoy porn at work.

Another site, again from those groovy folks at NOAA is the Marine Forecast by zone link (http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/west/westmz.htm) Click on the area of the map you're interested in and read the thrilling and suspenseful details of breezy breezes and wavy waves.

So there it is.

Hello?

Hello, hello?

Are you awake?

Oh. Well. Sweet dreams.

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Comments

[Mark]

What about fish counts?
Captain Harry, For someone who regularly tracks steelhead fish counts up the Columbia and the Snake River, the sites are fascinating. I fished off of Noyes Island in SE Alaska and it will be fun to see if I can track the weather off Cape Addison when it's really nasty. So, we are out here listening. Can you down load while you are sailing. Will you travel all night or pull in somewhere and anchor every day. Are you keeping a whale watch log? Video... can you upload video of those warm placid sailing days on the open ocean. Congratulations on the new boat. Mark

[SV Oh Joy II]

Technical Stuff
Mark, you're right, the weather info is pretty impressive and actually very useful. To answer your questions: We can download weather charts and sat photos via weather fax broadcasts on the SSB radio connected to the laptop. They have a regular schedule for broadcasting the various charts that are available on the NOAA web site. We'll be anchoring the first two nights, then we will sail through the night on 6 other nights. (We're leaving Newport, Oregon at 10 pm to catch the beginning of the ebb tide.) Shayla will be our official marine mammal tracker on this trip, and is planning to report in full as we progress. And we will be up-loading video and pics every few days during the trip.