I would second the thoughts of Sonaia Maryon-Davis on AIS. If we had had this watch standing in crowded places would have been much easier. We had 90% response rate from ships--the exceptions were boats which seemed to have hostile intent--playing with us--as two liberian freighters did in the Med--or if there was no-one awake on the bridge--as seemed to happen on two occasions. The question we had in converging course situations, was were we seen? I would always ask a merchant or fishing vessel, what course change they wanted me to make. Being able to positively ID them is essential. If I was currently boating in crowded waters, I would have AIS on the boat. Even a reciever only I think is essential--in fact it doesn't even have to be interphased with the chart plotter (better if it is). I think we will see NMEA 2000 plug and play AIS units within the year and that the price will become affordiable--and it will play as much a role in anticollision as Radar. Bob Austin

Bob, This is Chris, Sonaia's other half and Captain and Navigator of Goleen, our Nordhavn 57. I wrote the words on the AIS to which you responded. I agree with your comments and I would urge everyone to have at least the simple AIS on board but the complete unit with interface is the best solution. We have had issues with fishing boats who don't seem to care at all for anything else sharing the sea, be it recreational boaters or commercial ships. We listened to one commercial officer have an irate conversation off Sicily with a fishing boat that very nearly led to a collision. The ship altered course several times and then had no sea room. I would require every vessel of 40ft and over to have AIS of some kind, including fishing boats. Ships without anyone on watch do still exist and are the most dangerous. Others that just refuse to respond to any VHF calls and head on a collision course with yachts are an absolute menace. The law requires them all to have AIS and that means that we know who they are and they know we know who they are. In an accident report, their officers will be reprimanded and can easily lose their licence and their insurers will refuse cover. At last AIS forces them to respond or risk the consequences. AIS is the most important new aid that has come along for a long time and protects all users of the seas. Of course, it is not perfect but it is a good start. But beware naval vessels. They don't have AIS or if they do they don't send their information out. Chris On 12/13/06, bob Austin <thataway4@cox.net> wrote: > I would second the thoughts of Sonaia Maryon-Davis on AIS. If we had had this > watch standing in crowded places would have been much easier. We had 90% > response rate from ships--the exceptions were boats which seemed to have > hostile intent--playing with us--as two liberian freighters did in the Med--or > if there was no-one awake on the bridge--as seemed to happen on two occasions. > > The question we had in converging course situations, was were we seen? I > would always ask a merchant or fishing vessel, what course change they wanted > me to make. Being able to positively ID them is essential. > > If I was currently boating in crowded waters, I would have AIS on the boat. > Even a reciever only I think is essential--in fact it doesn't even have to be > interphased with the chart plotter (better if it is). > > I think we will see NMEA 2000 plug and play AIS units within the year and that > the price will become affordiable--and it will play as much a role in > anticollision as Radar. > > Bob Austin > _______________________________________________ > > Passagemaking Under Power and PUP are trademarks of Water World Productions, formerly known as Trawler World Productions. > > To be removed from the PUP list send an email with the > subject "unsubscribe" (no quotes) to the link below: > > mailto:passagemaking-under-power@lists.samurai.com > > Passagemaking-Under-Power Mailing List

> We have had issues with fishing boats who don't > seem to care at all for anything else sharing > the sea, I was aboard Patrick Gerety's Willard 40 recently on the Baja-Ha-Ha from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. We had two nighttime encounters with fishing boats where they would aim straight for us and 'herd' us away from their nets in a maneuver we affectionaly called "The Mexican J" due to the GPS path it left on the chartplotter. VHF contact was futile. And it took a few minutes to figure out what was going on the first time it happened. We were 20 or so miles offshore, 100 miles south of San Diego, and steering a course to avoid this boat. The scenario developed slowly over the course of an hour, culminating with the fishing vessel 100-yards off the port beam protecting their net. Suddenly, the boat would turn hardover and retreat at full throttle, our only indication that it was time to resume course (thus the "Mexican J" on the chartplotter). I have no doubt they would risk a collision rather than endanger their nets (and livlihood). Given the construction/condition of their boats, I have little doubt who would be the worse for the collision.... Patrick can give full trip details, but I have to say I was very impressed with the overall performance of his 4-year old Willard 40 (Deere 4-cylinder 135hp turbo). We AVERAGED just under 7.5 knots, and burned slightly below 1.5gph. Obviously strong figures, especially in open water (granted, mostly good weather). Peter www.SeaSkills.com