Credit to the folks at gCaptain for this article.
And credit to the sailors who were out that night, for keeping level heads and dealing with the situation calmly.
Also posted a new article (link to an article) on my Yau Kung Mun blog.
A good 'Pirates' article
Pirates? And a busted head gasket…
Credit to the folks at gCaptain for this article.
And credit to the sailors who were out that night, for keeping level heads and dealing with the situation calmly.
Also posted a new article (link to an article) on my Yau Kung Mun blog.
Credit to the folks at gCaptain for this article.
And credit to the sailors who were out that night, for keeping level heads and dealing with the situation calmly.
Also posted a new article (link to an article) on my Yau Kung Mun blog.
Firearm Law Knowledge
In the October edition of The Triton, front page is a story of a yacht Captain arrested for possession of a handgun.
It pays to know the laws for weapons in the areas you are cruising. Here in the state of Florida, the book and website by Jon H. Gutmacher, Esq. (floridafirearmslaw.com) is a must read. He also provides references for many other parts of the country, and presents them in an easy to understand manner.
It pays to know the laws for weapons in the areas you are cruising. Here in the state of Florida, the book and website by Jon H. Gutmacher, Esq. (floridafirearmslaw.com) is a must read. He also provides references for many other parts of the country, and presents them in an easy to understand manner.
Low power USB display
I'm eagerly awaiting more news concerning the new USB version of Pixel Qi's outdoor viewable 10" LCD screen. At 1.5W at full power this sounds like the ideal solution that we have all been waiting for.
A German company named Display Solution AG is going to produce a combination of the well-known Displaylink USB video display technology combined with the aforementioned Pixel Qi display. I've tested Displaylink devices earlier, they are fast enough for a chart display and general 2D use. 3D or video is a bit of a challenge, but I don't think that's what most yachties are looking for.
Once this happens all that needs to happen is for someone to package this in a IP 67 case and we've got the perfect marine display!
A German company named Display Solution AG is going to produce a combination of the well-known Displaylink USB video display technology combined with the aforementioned Pixel Qi display. I've tested Displaylink devices earlier, they are fast enough for a chart display and general 2D use. 3D or video is a bit of a challenge, but I don't think that's what most yachties are looking for.
Once this happens all that needs to happen is for someone to package this in a IP 67 case and we've got the perfect marine display!
Moving from Menorca to Mallorca ..... Sept 2010
 |
| Privately owned Fort at Pollenca |
We stayed 6 nights in Mahon, completed all the boat jobs, did all the sightseeing, even had the chance to socialize with an Australian Catamaran Catouse, and American yacht So Bella. The mistral had died out in the Golf du Lyon (for the time being) so the swell had finally eased but our dilemma was now which way to go around the island. We decided to head north and motored in very light downwind conditions up the east coast and around the top to the sheltered harbour of Fornells. We had already visited by car so knew we could tuck up out of any existing swell and were ready for evening shore leave, something we didn't do in Mahon with the 20 minute dinghy ride!
We settled into the anchorage and headed ashore for happy hour and dinner. Well we enjoyed happy hour and were certainly enjoying the Spanish prices, drinking out had finally returned to an acceptable price (not that it had stopped us!!). We didn't make dinner, those regular big black evening clouds were looking very threatening so we headed on back to Balvenie, just in case. They skirted around us and didn't amount to anything, but we prefer to be cautious.
Next morning we were off as the sun rose, well it doesn't come up till 7.30am so it isn't too much of an effort . We were leaving Menorca and heading to Pollenca on the next island of Mallorca. It was a 50 mile run and we managed a comfortable downwind sail across for the first 30 miles, then the wind died right off so we charged the batteries and cooled the drinks for the remainder.
 |
| Cobbled lanes of Alcudia |
Our morning check of the weather was now routine. The changeable weather conditions were causing us some problems as another front was due to come through in the early hours of the following morning with a switch from strong southerlies to northwesterlies. The large bay was enclosed but a fetch could easily build, we were in only 3.5 metres of water, the mooring buoy was rated to 16knots of wind and the bottom very weedy and shallow for anchoring. We consulted the cruising guide and found a nearby small marina with enough depth for us (not easy in some of these places), made a phone call, secured a berth on the visitors dock and we were tied up within the hour, we could relax!!!!
We took a walk into the ancient fortified town of Pollentia founded in 123BC, nowadays called Alcudia. It was rich in history with some excellent old buildings and parts of the town wall in very good order, it was an enjoyable spot to while away a few hours. We finally got to have our first Spanish dinner out at the local restaurant, and enjoyed mixed Paella for 2 that would have happily fed 4. It was a bonus just to be able to step back onboard at the end of a great day.
 |
| Alcudia's wall is still complete in places |
The front came through; we were all secure and very happy we had chosen to marina Balvenie for a couple of nights. The clouds cleared away, we went for a long walk out towards the headland, the swell had set in again - it doesn’t seem to take much to get it going – and even in the marina we had a little surge coming in.
Our departure Saturday morning was delayed as the office did not open till 10.30am for us to retrieve our deposit. Again we were unsure of which coast to head down, because Mallorca lies on an angle the swell and winds seem to wrap around it. We headed back across to the north eastern tip in light winds but very rolly seas, and once we rounded the top sailed the remainder of the way in building tail winds to Porto Petro, we pulled in just before dark and picked up another free mooring buoy (these are just great), then opened the bar.
Next day was Sunday, the weather looked ok to stay longer so we went ashore to the tiny town, found a cafe with a big screen tv and settled down to an excellent lunch while watching the Formula One Grand Prix, what a lazy Sunday afternoon. There's not much at Porto Petro but that is part of its charm, we knew we would be seeing many high rise hotels and built up areas soon enough so we enjoyed the peace. Unfortunately that night the swell found us yet again, we were sitting beam on and had yet another rolly old night. We had planned to stay as Baracca were heading our way, but when the easterly sea breeze started coming in late morning we decided it was time to move on.
Cruising info for Fornells on Menorca and Pollenca, Marina de Bonaire and Porto Petro on Mallorca:-
Anchorages -
Fornells, Pollenca and Porto Petro - Mooring buoys are available for all three of these anchorages. We anchored at Fornells as we had 20knot bullets and could not pick up a buoy. To book these free buoys visit www.balearslifeposidonia.eu you need to register online, they must be booked before 6.30pm the day before and are normally a maximum of 2 nights. They seemed in good order, generally have an extra line with loop to put your line through and these should have a float on so you can pull it up with boat hook. In Fornells they didn't have floats and as it was our first stop we couldn't work out how to connect it!!!
Marina de Bonaire - 39 52.013N 03 08.614E 2.5m, side tied. phone +34 971 54 69 55 Visitors dock just inside the breakwater, will place you further in if they can. They are not happy to put boats on visitors dock in a strong north east wind because of the surge, we had a little surge (wore through our fender covers) but it was fine. 39E per night incl wifi, power and water. Shower/toilet blocks, Laundry 3E, bookswap, very helpful small marina.
Communications - Phones: GYMSIM and Vodafone Malta on roaming both working. Internet: WIFI at Marina (get code from office) and picked up unlocked signal in Porto Petro. Dongle worked well for rest.
Ashore -
Fornells - Tied dinghy to a floating pontoon. A few bars, cafes and restaurants for all budgets. A small supermarket (English papers) inland back from Port office and excellent bakery on street out supermarkets back door. Didn't see ATM but must be one as small touristy town
Pollenca - Long way from mooring buoys to town area, we didn't go ashore here
Marina de Bonaire - Fuel dock and 30 ton travelift. Paella great at restaurant by gate. Turn right at gate for short walk to minimarket and a couple of bars then follow road inland from there to Alcudia, about 25 minute flat walk. Well worth it. ATM's in Alcudia
Porto Petro - Either take dinghy to little dock/beach on right by beachfront cafe or into fishing boat harbour and tie to wall. Small supermarket one block back (English papers), several eateries, no ATM
Formalities - none. Marina checked our Boat papers but nothing else.
Code for converting a CAN message ID to ISO 11783 / NMEA 2000 fields
I've received a number of requests from people who are trying to get microcontrollers up & running that they want to attach to the N2K bus.
Apart from the logical content of the datafields for each PGN, one of the other things that you will end up doing is filtering out the priority, PGN, source address and destination address from the underlying CAN message.
NMEA 2000 messages are always CAN 2.0B messages with the "Extended Frame" format. It uses the ISO-11783 standard as the physical layer. That standard is where we get the "PGN" term from.
Once you get a ISO-11783 CAN message ID from your device, it will contain an encoding for the PGN number, the priority, the source ID and possibly a destination address. To save bits the PGNs that are not addressable imply a "broadcast" destination of 255. That format is called PDU2. Other PGNs are addressable, and contain an explicit 8 bit destination in the PS field. That format is called PDU1. If you want to know more, try googling for ISO11783 PDU1 for more information.
Once you've got the 32 bit CAN message ID (which you should be able to get from your hardware device pretty easily) you need to convert the message ID to priority, PGN, source and destination. Here is the source code that I came up with to do this:
Apart from the logical content of the datafields for each PGN, one of the other things that you will end up doing is filtering out the priority, PGN, source address and destination address from the underlying CAN message.
NMEA 2000 messages are always CAN 2.0B messages with the "Extended Frame" format. It uses the ISO-11783 standard as the physical layer. That standard is where we get the "PGN" term from.
Once you get a ISO-11783 CAN message ID from your device, it will contain an encoding for the PGN number, the priority, the source ID and possibly a destination address. To save bits the PGNs that are not addressable imply a "broadcast" destination of 255. That format is called PDU2. Other PGNs are addressable, and contain an explicit 8 bit destination in the PS field. That format is called PDU1. If you want to know more, try googling for ISO11783 PDU1 for more information.
Once you've got the 32 bit CAN message ID (which you should be able to get from your hardware device pretty easily) you need to convert the message ID to priority, PGN, source and destination. Here is the source code that I came up with to do this:
static void getISO11783BitsFromCanId(unsigned int id, unsigned int * prio, unsigned int * pgn, unsigned int * src, unsigned int * dst)
{
unsigned char PF = (unsigned char) (id >> 16);
unsigned char PS = (unsigned char) (id >> 8);
unsigned char DP = (unsigned char) (id >> 24) & 1;
if (src)
{
*src = (unsigned char) id >> 0;
}
if (prio)
{
*prio = (unsigned char) ((id >> 26) & 0x7);
}
if (PF < 240)
{
/* PDU1 format, the PS contains the destination address */
if (dst)
{
*dst = PS;
}
if (pgn)
{
*pgn = (DP << 16) + (PF << 8);
}
}
else
{
/* PDU2 format, the destination is implied global and the PGN is extended */
if (dst)
{
*dst = 0xff;
}
if (pgn)
{
*pgn = (DP << 16) + (PF << 8) + PS;
}
}
}
TV Raffle Winner!
Keith Gemell was the deserving winner of the 42" Toshiba LCD TV raffled recently at the club. We hope he has great fun with this and it looks good in his Miura! Well done Keith!
Seal - Superyachts
For any of the readers intending a voyage to SE Asia, stop by Seal-Superyachts. They have consolidated a lot of useful information onto their cruising guides pages. Useful for smaller yachts and sailing vessels, not just the 'super yacht' crowd.
Thanks go to to ADAM FROST of SEAL SUPERYACHTS (wwww.seal-superyachts.com) for allowing me to use their site as a resource.
All Hands on Deck!
OPENING CRUISE Saturday 9 October!- Boats launch at 1pm
- Sailpast (Salute) at 2pm, Cannons to be fired
- Merriment on the water!
- Evening party is OKTOBERFEST with OOMPAH BAND, DRAFT BEER and GOOD FOOD!
WE WANT EVERY POSSIBLE BOAT ON THE WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND EVERY MEMBER PRESENT!!!!!!!!!!!
HBYC hasn't had an opening cruise for years so don't miss it!
CLUB CHAMPS Sat and Sun 16-17 October!
Saturday Racing at 13:00- Saturday Night Party and Prizegiving
- Sunday Racing at 11:00
More details to follow . . . .
Greyman site
Came across this site - Death Valley Mag - from the cursory glance tonite, it looks to have relevant information. The articles on being the 'Greyman' are in line with what we teach - lower your profile, blend in, be aware.
Tampa Bay Maritime Security
Tampa Bay Bodyguards
From the last post (a bit of levity), to a more serious subject - boat theft.
Over the last two months there have been at least three 38' - 52' yachts stolen in the Tampa Bay area - in addition to other reports of electronics and other equipment theft.
The thefts have occurred from private slips, residences, and other places people would think their property is safe.
As the economy is still waiting to recover (and the gap between the perceived 'haves' and 'have-nots' increases) - these events will occur more frequently.
Contact me here for more information on protecting your vessel. Or visit a new partner to Maritime Vital Asset Protection, Lionfish Protection & Investigation Group.
From the last post (a bit of levity), to a more serious subject - boat theft.
Over the last two months there have been at least three 38' - 52' yachts stolen in the Tampa Bay area - in addition to other reports of electronics and other equipment theft.
The thefts have occurred from private slips, residences, and other places people would think their property is safe.
As the economy is still waiting to recover (and the gap between the perceived 'haves' and 'have-nots' increases) - these events will occur more frequently.
Contact me here for more information on protecting your vessel. Or visit a new partner to Maritime Vital Asset Protection, Lionfish Protection & Investigation Group.
Catalina Island Jazz Festival by Yacht
OCEAN PEARL, a 115-foot Christensen motoryacht, is offering a 4 day/3 night all-inclusive special for the Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival off the coast of California, USA!
She has four cabins and can accommodate up to 11 guests!
Dates of the festival are over 3 weekends:
See details about the Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival
View Ocean Pearl's online brochure
Contact Paradise Connections
This is a fantastic deal for families and couples wanting a special weekend away!
She has four cabins and can accommodate up to 11 guests!
Dates of the festival are over 3 weekends:
- Septemer 30 - October 3, 2010
- October 7 - 10, 2010
- October 14 - 17, 2010
See details about the Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival
View Ocean Pearl's online brochure
Contact Paradise Connections
This is a fantastic deal for families and couples wanting a special weekend away!
Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to book OCEAN PEARL
View Ocean Pearl's online brochure
For more yachts, visit our website: www.ParadiseConnections.com
View Ocean Pearl's online brochure
For more yachts, visit our website: www.ParadiseConnections.com
Wanderbird Steamer Cruise: Maine to New York City
Captain Rick wrote to us recently to let us know of Wanderbird's special cruise offering...
Captain Rick expects Wanderbird's Steamer Cruise to book up quickly so contact us ASAP for your bunk to adventure!
Wanderbird will be chartering in the Caribbean this winter out of Culebra, Spanish Virgin Islands.
The Tariff (all inclusive shipboard) $999/person
Join us on an old fashioned "Steamer Cruise" November 8-15, 2010
Eight days starting Monday, November 8th through Tuesday, November 15th
This is a tentative schedule, weather permitting:
- DAY 1: Depart Belfast, Maine to Boothbay Harbor, Maine
- DAY 2: To Gloucester, Maine
- DAY 3: To Provincetown, Maine
- DAY 4: To Cape Cod Canal and Newport, Rhode Island
- DAY 5: To Block Island, Rhode Island
- DAY 6: To Greenport, Long Island NY
- DAY 7: To New York City, NY
- DAY 8: To New York City, Dockside
What a wonderful way to cruise the Coast of New England. The WANDERBIRD is well suited for this coastal cruise with heated cabins and toasty heated mattress pads along with our coach house woodstove to keep the Fall Chills outside where they belong! This coastal voyage calls at many famous New England villages AND crosses Stellwen Bank for a good opportunity whale and pelagic seabird sightings!! The air is clear and cool and the scenery never ends on this coastal voyage! We will also offer coastal navigation and watchkeeping lessons to those who are interested.
Captain Rick expects Wanderbird's Steamer Cruise to book up quickly so contact us ASAP for your bunk to adventure!
Wanderbird will be chartering in the Caribbean this winter out of Culebra, Spanish Virgin Islands.
Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to book WANDERBIRD
View Wanderbird's online brochure
For more yachts, visit our website: www.ParadiseConnections.com
View Wanderbird's online brochure
For more yachts, visit our website: www.ParadiseConnections.com
HBYC Golf Day!
Some PICS from HBYC Golf Day. Thanks to Jeremy!
Da BoyZ!
Birthday Girl at Golf day!
Rigging Up
Heading for Battle
The Loot
CANBoat Design part III - Choosing the server hardware
The server that CANBoat runs on was always designed to run 24 by 7. This means that it must be reliable and use little power. Power usage adds up over longer periods. Something that uses 3W will use 6 Ah @ 12 V per day. So every Watt counts!
For a long while I thought that I would end up with some form of embedded ARM board running Linux. I bought a number of ARM based systems to run field tests.
However as I started to develop software it soon turned out that the criteria list contained three items, not two:
I was surprised to find that in practice a small x86 server based on the AMD Geode ran with almost as little power as an ARM board. Unlike the ARM boards it had all the I/O that I wanted. Furthermore it was cheap and reliable to procure. You can get cheap ARM boards based on commercial items such as routers but these usually have a very short lifetime as manufacturers continuously drive down prices by bringing out new hardware. Embedded systems are usually a lot more expensive.
The clincher was that most ARM board manufacturers have a hard time keeping up with the Linux distributions, so they usually run out-of-date kernels and weak distributions. Support for FTDI serial converters was not a given, and these are used in many devices such as the Actisense NGT-1. I had to backport many fixes for the FTDI serial converters to the older Linux kernels to get reliable serial USB connections. Not Good.
So in the end I decided on low power x86. The PC Engines ALIX 2d.13 has exactly the interfaces I needed, but is available in a range of different systems. They run about € 100 / $ 140 which is still very reasonable. It runs a very nice mini Debian release named Voyage Linux with a kernel that is new enough to run stuff like the FTDI interfaces reliably. As it is just a pruned Debian release getting an additional package is just an apt-get away. The processor is a 500 MHz AMD LX800 which is plenty fast for Linux server needs.
For a long while I thought that I would end up with some form of embedded ARM board running Linux. I bought a number of ARM based systems to run field tests.
However as I started to develop software it soon turned out that the criteria list contained three items, not two:
- Power usage - as low as possible IN REAL LIFE.
- Connectivity - USB 2.0 Host, Ethernet, Wifi.
- Up-to-date Linux kernel with distribution that provides lots of packages.
I was surprised to find that in practice a small x86 server based on the AMD Geode ran with almost as little power as an ARM board. Unlike the ARM boards it had all the I/O that I wanted. Furthermore it was cheap and reliable to procure. You can get cheap ARM boards based on commercial items such as routers but these usually have a very short lifetime as manufacturers continuously drive down prices by bringing out new hardware. Embedded systems are usually a lot more expensive.
The clincher was that most ARM board manufacturers have a hard time keeping up with the Linux distributions, so they usually run out-of-date kernels and weak distributions. Support for FTDI serial converters was not a given, and these are used in many devices such as the Actisense NGT-1. I had to backport many fixes for the FTDI serial converters to the older Linux kernels to get reliable serial USB connections. Not Good.
So in the end I decided on low power x86. The PC Engines ALIX 2d.13 has exactly the interfaces I needed, but is available in a range of different systems. They run about € 100 / $ 140 which is still very reasonable. It runs a very nice mini Debian release named Voyage Linux with a kernel that is new enough to run stuff like the FTDI interfaces reliably. As it is just a pruned Debian release getting an additional package is just an apt-get away. The processor is a 500 MHz AMD LX800 which is plenty fast for Linux server needs.
CANBoat Design Part II - why a website, and why TCP and JSON
One of the first things that people ask me when I show them my app on the iPhone or iPad is where they can download it from in the App Store. My answer is simple: you can't. Nor do you need to. It would be bad design if you had to!
The idea is that all devices on board that have a decent web-browser can access the CANBoat data. This means I save development effort, as I don't need to write custom apps for Blackberry, Android, iPhone, Windows Mobile, etc. All I need to do is make sure the webpage renders nicely in modern browsers. I did make a decision that I'm not going to cater to Internet Explorer, not unless it is IE 9 that is.
The choice for a webserver hosted on a permanently running small (Linux) server and clients running a web browser has two other very big benefits.
First of all, since there is no need to install anything the client hardware becomes expendable. If you lose one (for instance it gets soaked) then you just get a new one. For use in the cockpit you'll still be using some protection, but that's true of your phone itself anyway. Yesteryear's iPod touch that your kids no longer want because it is 2 generations behind will serve as an excellent client. And it gives you an excuse to get a bigger screen -- as in an iPad which you suddenly have a "very good reason to buy" for.
Secondly, because all state is carried in the server you can switch off the client for as long as you like. When you start it again the page refreshes or you restart the 'web app', and all data is there as the server knows what the system state is. All logging etc. does NOT require a permanently running iPhone app. Even the anchor alarm (once I get around to implementing it) will work this way!
The beauty of modern browsers is that they can accomplish a lot in just a little Javascript. For instance, the following gauges are all rendered client-side in a few hundred lines of Javascript code:
Also, the server side examines the browser capabilities so that the page is tuned to the capabilities of the device. At the moment I change the tab bar to a drop down list if I detect a small screen. Various Apple Webkit items are sent to make it possible to run the application without a page header on iOS devices.
As browsers are not capable of receiving UDP packets yet, they need to get their data in a different way. The only capability that they have is creating TCP connections to refresh their data. That technique is called AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), but instead of XML I use JSON format. JSON is ideal for Javascript as it is translated easily into real Javascript object data.
The JSON that would be sent for the above three dials is something like this:
The idea is that all devices on board that have a decent web-browser can access the CANBoat data. This means I save development effort, as I don't need to write custom apps for Blackberry, Android, iPhone, Windows Mobile, etc. All I need to do is make sure the webpage renders nicely in modern browsers. I did make a decision that I'm not going to cater to Internet Explorer, not unless it is IE 9 that is.
The choice for a webserver hosted on a permanently running small (Linux) server and clients running a web browser has two other very big benefits.
First of all, since there is no need to install anything the client hardware becomes expendable. If you lose one (for instance it gets soaked) then you just get a new one. For use in the cockpit you'll still be using some protection, but that's true of your phone itself anyway. Yesteryear's iPod touch that your kids no longer want because it is 2 generations behind will serve as an excellent client. And it gives you an excuse to get a bigger screen -- as in an iPad which you suddenly have a "very good reason to buy" for.
Secondly, because all state is carried in the server you can switch off the client for as long as you like. When you start it again the page refreshes or you restart the 'web app', and all data is there as the server knows what the system state is. All logging etc. does NOT require a permanently running iPhone app. Even the anchor alarm (once I get around to implementing it) will work this way!
The webpages
The beauty of modern browsers is that they can accomplish a lot in just a little Javascript. For instance, the following gauges are all rendered client-side in a few hundred lines of Javascript code:
Also, the server side examines the browser capabilities so that the page is tuned to the capabilities of the device. At the moment I change the tab bar to a drop down list if I detect a small screen. Various Apple Webkit items are sent to make it possible to run the application without a page header on iOS devices.
Refreshing the on-screen data
As browsers are not capable of receiving UDP packets yet, they need to get their data in a different way. The only capability that they have is creating TCP connections to refresh their data. That technique is called AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), but instead of XML I use JSON format. JSON is ideal for Javascript as it is translated easily into real Javascript object data.
The JSON that would be sent for the above three dials is something like this:
[
{"name":"Heading","units":"°","value":357.7},
{"name":"Batt Voltage","units":"V","value":"27.06"},
{"name":"NMEA Voltage","units":"V","value":"12.65"}
]
CANBoat Design part I - A simple data viewer and boat remote control
Today I'd like to tell you a little more about the hardware/software stack that I have developed to control and navigate a small to medium pleasure boat. The basic idea is to re-use the mobile devices that most boaters will have, such as their smart phones, tablets, laptops or computers.0
If you've ever stumbled across Panbo then you may have realised that there are many folks that want open access to environmental and navigation data. There are plenty of mobile navigation software programs that show a chart, but there aren't so many that show instrument or actually sensor data on mobile devices.
My own boat has a PC running Nobeltec and, since recently, Expedition navigation software with CMap charts as well as a Lowrance HDS chartplotter with Lowrance and Navionics charts. I also have the Navionics Mobile charts on my iPhone. That means that charts are very well covered, thank you.
What I did not have was:
So I built my own solution to cover this.
CANBoat is a software solution running on a 'standard' Linux system and consists of the following software:
As you can see I have some work to do still on improving the layout -- optimizing font sizes etc.
In the next part I'll show some details of the implementation.
If you've ever stumbled across Panbo then you may have realised that there are many folks that want open access to environmental and navigation data. There are plenty of mobile navigation software programs that show a chart, but there aren't so many that show instrument or actually sensor data on mobile devices.
My own boat has a PC running Nobeltec and, since recently, Expedition navigation software with CMap charts as well as a Lowrance HDS chartplotter with Lowrance and Navionics charts. I also have the Navionics Mobile charts on my iPhone. That means that charts are very well covered, thank you.
What I did not have was:
- Remote control over heating. We have under floor heating, so switching this on a few hours before we actually leave for the boat is very welcome in winter.
- A way to control the power circuits from other locations than the central switchboard.
- A way to monitor the boat's systems from home or from my bunk.
So I built my own solution to cover this.
CANBoat is a software solution running on a 'standard' Linux system and consists of the following software:
- A cellular modem stack to provide as-reliable-as-possible data connection over cellular, as well as a SMS service interface.
- A NMEA 2000 'reader' interface that receives all NMEA system data. The data is logged to rrd database and provided to Ethernet clients.
- An interface to the PLC (made by Wago) to control power circuits and measure tank levels. The PLC is running software by me as well, which provides the same Ethernet interface as the NMEA and temperature subsystems.
- A temperature subsystem that uses the Maxim 1-Wire network to measure temperature in various locations in the boat. The data is logged and provided to Ethernet clients.
- A webpage that integrates the above live data in a format that is usable on the small screen of a mobile device.
As you can see I have some work to do still on improving the layout -- optimizing font sizes etc.
In the next part I'll show some details of the implementation.
Bahamas Sailing Vacation for the Holidays
Charter catamaran SOLSTICE for your sailing vacation this holiday season with no additional holiday supplement/premium. Solstice has a 5-night minimum and does not have any date restrictions. If you'd like to charter December 25 - January 1, for example, that's OK!
The charter catamaran SOLSTICE, a 47-foot Lagoon, is owned and operated by Liz & Cliff who are entering their 7th season of full-time chartering in the Bahamas. Solstice is fully air conditioned and accommodates up to 6 guests in 3 double cabins with ensuite head/shower. There is also a single berth available in the center of the starboard hull. Solstice has an 11-foot dinghy with 15HP motor, 2-person kayak, snorkel equipment, fishing gear, floating mats, satellite radio, flat screen TV/DVD, internet where available, etc. Cliff is a dive instructor and diving is available for certified and non-certified divers. Diving is dependent on conditions, typically 2-4 times per week for up to 4 divers, and only one or two dives/week for 5 or 6 divers.
See Rates page for details.
Let us know if you'd like to hop over to the Bahamas for your next sailing vacation and we'll be happy to help!
Catamaran Solstice - Yacht charters in the Bahamas
See Rates page for details.
RATES: Full Week (7 nights)
- 2 guests: $10,000
- 4 guests: $13,000
- 6 guests: $16,000
RATES: 5-nights
- 2 guests: $7,857
- 4 guests: $10,214
- 6 guests: $12,571
Let us know if you'd like to hop over to the Bahamas for your next sailing vacation and we'll be happy to help!
Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to book SOLSTICE
View Solstice's online brochure
For more yachts, visit our website: www.ParadiseConnections.com
View Solstice's online brochure
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That was France - next stop Balearics ..... Sept 2010
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| Remote anchorage at Cala Taulera, Mahon |
Just when we were almost getting used to saying 'si vous plait' and 'merci' instead of 'per favore' and 'grazie' we were moving on, another country - another language, at least with the advent of the euro it wasn't another currency too!!!!
We left our final French anchorage of Anse de Gau at 1.45am (not really a favourite time of day to be getting up to go sailing). We had 220 miles to cover to Mahon on the Spanish Balearic Island of Menorca. We raised sails and headed south, the first 5 miles were lovely, we were still in flat water behind the headland, with 15knots just behind the beam, great conditions but we knew it wasn't likely to last. Sadly we were right. Once we cleared land we hit the swell that had been so tiresome all along the coast when the mistral was blowing. Still, we had wind and we roared away into the night making 8 knots some of the time. The swell was just horrible, for the first time ever on passage Mark rolled out of his sea berth and went crashing, along with the squab, onto the cabin floor. Sensibly the floor is where we rested while not on watch for the rest of the 37 hour journey.
We sailed all day making good time, but as expected the wind was easing and at dusk we reefed the main right down, rolled in the headsail and started burning diesel. If the seas had been flat we could have sailed on but we hadn't escaped the swell, although it was calming. It was an uneventful night, thousands of stars sparkling above, and just a couple of ships on the horizon - we motored on till dawn, the seas started to flatten but there was now no wind at all, we pulled into the harbour of Mahon mid afternoon, anchored in the very protected and flat water anchorage at Cala Taulera , welcomed ourselves to Spain, and in true Spanish fashion we had an afternoon siesta!
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| a small 'cala' under heavy cloud cover |
This anchorage is rather an unusual spot, it is the only place in Mahon harbour where cruising boats our size are permitted to anchor without charge, but it is very remote. There is nothing ashore except for an impressive old walled fort high up on the headland, no signs of life in any direction and this is the capital of Menorca! We spent our first couple of days in Mahon doing boat jobs. We had broken several slugs that attach the mainsail to the mast on our passage south and only had three spares, we had also developed quite a vibration in our propeller and on close underwater inspection Mark discovered that our prop anode had come loose and needed replacing. We also needed to do the dreaded "dongle" for internet access, another country - another provider - all in another language! So we headed up the harbour in the dinghy, its a long way - we really should have commissioned the 8hp outboard for the job but ole faithful 2.5 Mary Mariner took a while to get there but she made it in the end, it's the longest dinghy trip ever but in sheltered enclosed harbour waters it was ok. We hit town with a list and after a fair amount of leg work successfully purchased everything for a busy day of maintenance the following day.
We got the chores out of the way, 5 broken slugs removed and new ones sewn in was my major task, while Mark changed the anode, normally about a 15 minutes job for him underwater. Except this time our new Maxprop anode (made in Spain, not Canada as our previous ones) just did not quite align properly. 90 minutes later, exhausted from all the deep breaths and purple from being in the water so long, he admitted defeat for the day and reattached the old one, deciding it was better to leave it than force the screws into the threads in the prop. The next morning he decided to drill bigger holes in the anode, and after two more attempts to fit it finally got it seated and screwed in - maybe having a dive tank or hooker onboard would really be a good idea!! For those of you totally unfamiliar with anodes (99.9% I imagine) they are pieces of zinc, made into different shapes and sizes for attaching to different boat body parts. Zinc is one of the softest metals and their purpose is sacrificial - to be "eaten" by any electrolysis in the water, then the metal bits we need on the boat don't get eaten, so they need changing regularly. (Any zinc experts out there will think this is a very basic explanation but that's what I understand them to be for).
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| our first tapas - we might put on weight! |
Mahon is quite a small place, there is a long waterfront full to the brim with all manner of boats, from small local fishing boats, yachts and runabouts, large motor cruisers, inter-island ferries to cruise ships and naval vessels. This is a very large protected harbour with a long maritime history - everyone that ever invaded anywhere else in the Med had certainly been to Mahon too, and left their mark!!! The old town is set above the harbour, accessed by a fair amount of steps. It wasn't quite as cute as many of the old towns have been, but it was well laid out, had some attractive old buildings, a reasonable fish, meat and produce market inaugurated in 1927 and set in the old cloister of Sant Francesc church. Although quite touristy the big hotels are out at all the beaches so it still retained the feeling of a functional working town.
With most of the jobs out of the way, and some rather inclement weather around, we stayed a few more days. Although the weather had warmed up again we were getting nasty big black clouds, every day, a heavy downpour of rain in each one but generally very little wind. One day we hired a car and 'did' Menorca. It's not a very big island so we saw most of it. We travelled north up to the port of Fornells, a pleasant sleepy little place with just a few tourists around, ruins of an old fort, a watchtower on the headland and a good stop for morning coffee. We have moved on from our Cafe lattes in Italy to Cafe au lait in France, now it is Cafe con leche in Spain - and we have learnt very quickly to ask for grande ones! Next we headed inland to the highest point El Toro, at only 357m it wasn't too remarkable and somewhat spoiled but all the communications equipment up there but I guess they have to put it somewhere. There was a small monastery and chapel and a good view but the clouds were closing in, it looked like rain may well spoil our afternoon.
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| from La Mola looking into the anchorage |
Back down onto the main road we headed west to the picturesque port town of Citudella. With a very narrow but long harbour, large open plazas, tiny alleys set in maze like fashion, grand old stone buildings, a mosque from the 1300's, an even older cathedral. Then there's an obelisk built in the 1500's in commemoration of the year 1558 when the Turks sacked the city - Citudella certainly has a real blend of architecture and history. We enjoyed a Menorcan lunch, sitting outside in a tiny lane and soaked all the surroundings in. Unfortunately there is no real anchorage here so we wouldn't be able to return and have more time to explore.
The rain had started, but we tried not to let it stop play! We called into Navetta des Tudons one of the oldest structures on the European continent, it had closed at 3pm - sadly we were saved from getting wet in the name of history!!! We carried on and took a couple of side roads down to 'calas' on the south coast. A cala is a bay or indentation in the coastline and the Balearics have hundreds of them, most very tiny and many have steep to cliffs, the larger ones have high rise hotels and buoyed off swimming areas, greatly reducing the anchoring possibilities for us yachties. We looked at the swell coming in, the few yachts at anchor rolling from gunnell to gunnell - maybe we will head around the north coast instead! The rain continued so we headed back to Mahon, dropped off the car then had a very wet walk to the dinghy and an even wetter dinghy ride back to Balvenie.
Cruising info for Mahon, Balearic Islands:-
Anchorage - Cala Taulera, Mahon 39 52.695N 04 18.487E 4.8m mud. The guide book suggests this anchorage could hold up to 30 boats we thought maybe 15 would be tight. All round cover, could get a little swell in strong southerlies
Communications - Phones: Both GYMSIM and Vodafone Malta on Roaming switched over to Spanish Movistar without any problem. Internet Dongle: We found a phone shop a couple of doors before the Tourist Information Centre on the waterfront close by the Ferry/Cruise Ship terminal. The one staff member was helpful, spoke perfect English (as did everyone in Menorca) but was extremely busy. She took all our details (need photo ID) and asked us to come back in 30 minutes, we did then waited over 30 more, then couldn't use until she phoned us much later in the day confirming it had been processed. We purchased a Vodafone sim and 1GB credit that stays live for 3 months (works Balearics, Spain and Canaries), total cost was 85E think sim was 25E and 1GB 60E. (Update from 05 May 2011, if Sim not kept active either with credit on it or topped up it expires after 6 months, I know cos I've just bought a new one!!!, currently 15€ for sim, still 60€ for 1GB but €12 discount) - I couldn't get it to work in my NZ Vodafone Dongle but it works in my Italian Wind Dongle. Baracca reports the Vodafone data sim does not work in Italian TIM dongles. Signal in Cala Taulera was very poor but has been excellent elsewhere.
Ashore - We took our dinghy nearby to the AGIP fueldock which is just left of the new marina. Diesel was 1.16E p/l. There is a small supermarket right there also. Follow waterfront road around to car hire on left, then phone shop, tourist office on right (15min walk) then there are stairs opposite up to old town. Binipreu supermarket is underground in central market place by the church. Plenty ATM's. English newspapers.
Sightseeing - Hired car from Autos Mahon Rent phone +34 971 36 56 66 Renault Megane 40E day, there was a smaller cheaper one but not available. Used 10E petrol or the day.
Formalities - none
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