In Praise of AIS

There are plenty of penny pinching yachties that either do not have AIS equipment or opt for ‘receive-only’ systems. Some even imagine that internet based ship tracking Apps such as Marine Traffic and Shipfinder are free equivalents.

The bloke indicates a cargo vessel in nearby shipping lane

For the uninitiated, AIS is short for Automatic Identification System. In essence, all commercial vessels are required to emit a signal that not only uniquely identifies their vessel by name, callsign and direct radio calling channel, it also gives details of vessel size, origin and destination, speed over ground (SOG) and their heading. The system also responds to nearby vessels calculating closest distance of approach and estimating the to time this potential event. In instances where courses are calculated to intersect, a collision alert is generated. It is an enourmous help to situational awareness and safety. Many, but not all coastal and off-shore sailing vessels also use Class B AIS. Most new marine VHF radios are now equipped with both DSC (Direct Selective Call) and AIS receivers. These do not however emit a signal rendering the vessel visible only to the Class A Eyeball.  Extra equipment is needed for an 'emitting' AIS and in the 10 years we have had ours, prices have dropped dramatically, yet still the AIS emitting yatch list is not comprehensive.

Class A Eyeball detects vessel bearing down 

Given that we ourselves have spent $1,000’s on ‘Safety’ equipment that we hope never to use; think life raft, EPIRB’s, flares, life rings, drogues, dan-buoys, life-jackets, etc... there might be a case of spending fatigue on this category of paraphernalia. However, this is actually one bit of kit that you actually get to use all the time; and is a huge help, even outside of an emergency!

Class A Eyeball notes nearness of cargo vessel followed by yet another.

As mentioned, some folk imagine that internet based Apps that display AIS information are adequate and being FREE are a cheeky alternative. This is a classic case of ‘you get what you pay for’. If you are beyond a shore based VHF receiving station or not within range of a vessel that acts as a beacon, these Apps will be blind to the actual existence of  vessels in ones vicinity or their location information is old and not in ‘real time’ - which of course is the whole point- accurate situational awareness. 

AIS display - 0.6nm can become 0.0 with the next wave or puff of wind. 2.0nm is far more acceptable.

Let’s set aside for now the fact that commercial fishing vessels only transmit their location to State Fishery authorities. It is in their commercial interest to act covertly from their competitors. Fishermen do ‘see’ our Class B AIS recreational signal though and we have on occasion been radio’d by name and asked to watch out for their nets. This is no easy thing since it’s generally nighttime. For instance, trawlers with limited maneuverability have requested a course change from us. We’re always happy to oblige since they are working mariners and we also value our propeller, rudder and keel!

Much too close for comfort

Sailing recently, back towards the mainland coast from Lady Musgrave Island, it was necessary to cross a very busy shipping lane taking, primarily coal and gas, cargo ships into and out of Gladstone Harbour. It was a drifter and sailing in 5kts breezes from the stern, we were goose-winged with even our inner headie set for good measure. We had all day to cross the 30nm and 2-3kts of speed was all we could manage without assistance from our motor. Crossing the shipping lane took what felt like 'forever'.

We can hear the thump of the propellers from about 1nm.

Our AIS came into its own. We made radio contact with the vessel that was bearing down on us to confirm that we were monitoring their movements (speed, course and relativity to our own) and we were very pleased to have it confirmed that they were aware of and monitoring us too! From the height of a ships bridge deck there is a visual ‘black spot’ and small craft like ours are obscured by the ships bow, on-deck super structures or container stacks. A fibreglass boat does not reflect radar signals very well either. In the end, this vessel not only made course adjustments but also speed adjustments; slowing down and speeding up - we just couldn’t seem shake the 0.0nm closest point of contact. The vessel behind it heard our communications over Channel 16 and did the same without needing to be contacted. We were quite prepared to change course, stop or fire up the engine, but it wasn’t required in the end. When they were abeam of us we radio’d to acknowledge their courtesy.

MV Gaslog Geneva steaming away

Obviously, boats have been avoiding each other for centuries but waterways are becoming more congested and the AIS kit is a worthwhile safety spend that you will definitely use - and well outside circumstances of a critical emergency. 

Yacht sandwich 

Time for sundowners after a safe and pleasant day.

Winner, winner- sausage roll dinner!

Lucky Days at Lady Musgrave

With various distractions in the earlier part of the year we knew we weren’t going to get far north this year and embracing the ‘slow movement', we’ve spent quite a big of time everywhere we’ve been. We hadn’t imagined that this would extend to a long Lady Musgrave visit but we were gifted 6 beautiful days with big moons at night and even one day of a complete glass-off.

 

Gin-clear water allowed us to watch the sea life below - turtles, stingrays, fish and even a shark. Each day at around lunch time a very large muscular fish visited - we ended up giving him a name - Dave the fish.

There are public moorings in the Lady Musgrave lagoon but they were all occupied when we arrived and although boats moved off, we were quite happy with our anchored spot. We’d quite luckily found a spot between some coral bombies which then prevented newcomers from anchoring near us. 

 

We were treated to lovely sunsets filtered through smoke haze from fires on the mainland. 

A full moon rose above the fringing reef just as the sun was setting. 

 

We went ashore for 45minute walks around Lady Musgrave Island. There was not yet any evidence of turtles coming ashore for egg laying. We were a month too early. There were plenty of turtles pairing up however. Their embrace lasting hours and hours as they drifted past anchored boats and in some instances, leaving themselves high and dry and immobilized on the reef as the tide receded.

What looks like a rocky outcrop is actually a crumbly sedimentary pile of corals. The island has risen out of the sea built on this.

 

One Saturday evening at sunset, a Great Barrier Reef Marine Parks Authority vessel called over to all the vessels in the anchorage to deliver an info pack. Very professional, friendly and proactive. They are taking the policing of Green Zones very seriously. Fines for fishing in Green Zones or even looking like you might, are a brutal AU$2,000 + ! You can’t trail a line or even show fishing equipment unless it is in designated holders. For instance, what the Bloke calls fishing Ninja’s, have rods and rod holders festooning their vessels. That’s permissible. However anything dangling over the side is not and if it gets photographed by surveillance planes, the bill arrives in the mail. It’s quite brutal but the successful regeneration of fish stocks and corals in Green Zones point to this being a worthwhile strategy.

 

We were very lucky that during our stay there were very few power boats and we’d avoided the Riviera Rally. A force of 30 vessels was expected in Bundaberg and destined for Lady Musgrave a week or so later. Last year an armada of 25 arrived during our 5 days with family on board. We prayed we’d not have a re-run and this time we got lucky. No ‘Rivvies’ and 6 gorgeous calm days in paradise.

Two-Way Headset Hack

Alas our Marriage Saver two-way headsets only lasted as long as an average marriage, so for the last couple of years we’ve managed all our communications between bow and helm when anchoring, with hand signals. It’s been OK obviously, as we haven’t grounded or got divorced over miscommunications, but it has to be said that voice calls between bow and helm station are seldom effective. Sadly it is a fact that even “I love you” when yelled across 12.9m, in open and often windy conditions at a bit of a stressy time, will actually sound more like “F@#ck you” at the receiving end! We’ve been looking for a replacement solution that would cost less than $450 (the price of a new set) so that we could resume anchoring manoeuvres in a quieter and more conversational style.

FYI: Two-way radios are not the answer as they are not hands-free nor duplex. 

Our on-line reading had pointed to motorbike helmet blue-tooth intercom sets being a cost effective way to go. We were delighted to discover that Aldi were about to do one of their promotional sales with a motorbike theme that included bluetooth two-way headsets. I’m  an 'Aldi tragic' and love the ‘stuff’ in the centre ‘promotions’ aisles and am confident that quality is good and the price is better than allright!

Our timing to be ashore and in range of an Aldi store just happened to be perfect. The ballet tickets gifted to son and daughter-in-law for their birthdays necessarily came with babysitting provided (we had been informed by them).  So of course the babysitting was indeed offered, Zofia put into Scarborough Marina for the weekend and proximity to an Aldi store thus assured. Win-win. 

Components in packaging

Contents

 

Headset with ear padding removed

 

Headsets deconstructed  

   

Original headphone elements removed 

 

Inserting the new blue tooth microphone and speaker into the headphones

 

Reconstructing the ear fittings required notches to be cut to accommodate the wires

 

Attaching the controller and heat-shrinking the cabling across the headband

Helpful hints from our electronic maestro son and use of some of his finer screw drivers and files are acknowledged.

Project requirements: $130

2 x El-cheepo headphones $10 each

2 x Motorcycle blue-tooth kits $55 each

Optional - length of electrical shrinkwrap tube and 1 X  $5 zip-up shoe bag from Daiso for storage.

A fun father-and-son Fathers Day project - PRICELESS!

What a Gas Time!

It’s been over 2 years since we’ve used our large gas burner on our Eno marine stove. By increments it began misbehaving. At first it had rather a yellow flame. Then it would occasionally make a pop sound before commencing a more gushy sound of gas delivery. Eventually, it was leaving a lot of carbon on the base of pans and not generally burning as hot as could be expected.

The old gas regulator and hoses.

Of course we read up on all the problems and solutions others had reported for similar stoves. Perhaps cleaning the jets or a couple of replacement parts might be the solution. While in Noumea 2 years ago, we discovered the local chandler was the South Pacific agent for Eno - the brand of our stove. It was French and was not New Caledonia but France in the Pacific?! A couple of new jets and thermocouples were purchased. We attempted a repair, failed to tighten a nut somewhere and set fire to the glass fibre insulation between the hot plate and the oven when igniting the ring. Pulling out the fire blanket was no dress rehearsal and the gas valves were rapidly shut off. The culprit nut was tightened and safety restored but after that little 'excitement' we considered the ‘gas’ job outside our pay scale.

Welcome sign on a jetty in the new part of The Boatworks marina.

Roll on 2 years and many dinner party productions involving 3 different curries plus rice and you might say we’d adapted to the use of the lamentable single small gas ring, cooking in batches and keeping things hot in the Billy-Boil heat pot. Breakfast tea and toast has been juggled daily by the Bloke without real complaint. However, enough is enough; we saw an opportunity seeing as we’d reached the Gold Coast, to pull into The Boatworks and tackle this long overdue repair.

The gas locker is now less crowded and bottles easier to insert and lift out.

Two days morphed into 6 while an engine service, topside polishing job, Olympic-medal-in-laundry were undertaken while being available to the ‘Gas Man’. The gas regulator is apparently only expected to last 5 years. Ours was already 12. Testing of gas pressure confirmed it was past it’s prime plus the metal mesh on the hoses was starting to fray. The latter caused by the tight squeeze getting the gas bottles in and out of the gas locker. Happily, the regulator was replaced with a smaller one and it’s position adjusted sufficiently to permanently improve the gas bottle access. The thermocouple on the big gas ring now works and with a bit more tweaking we’ll soon be able to boil water and make toast at the same time. The Bloke will be pretty happy despite having shed the inevitable 1/2 ‘boat unit$’ to achieve it!

Sausage Roll Table of Fame - Sorry Day

The Bloke here,

It is a sad day because two entries on the table of fame have had to be removed. One at the request of the creator of the little delights and the other because of the close of the cafe involved. It was the Orford Cafe and the owner died. His family have decided not to continue with the business so it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to the Orford Cafe and their great sausage rolls.

RIP

Sausage Roll Table of Fame - Update

To quote the great Banjo Patterson, "There was movement at the station for the word had passed around ..." and what a move. Jackman and McRoss have moved down to number 5 from number 1. Their latest offering lacks the flavour and moisture of their earlier offering. We feel that success has brought about the inevitable complacency, their once GREAT sausage roll needs some attention.

The real mover, however, has been Cottage Point Cafe. What an outstanding result. Described as having potential 4 years ago this sausage roll has come of age. Jumping from number 17 to number 2 on the Table of Fame. What a performer! A handsome offering it is, large and moist with bundles of flavour. Trent and Ange have done a fabulous job. This sausage roll is not to be missed. So if you are up the creeks in Pittwater this is a must sample sausage roll.

Cottage Point Cafe - Sausage roll, a great performer

To conclude, let me reassure my avid following that I have not been asleep at the wheel. I have been sampling sausage rolls at ever opportunity. Alas it is difficult to find a sausage roll worthy of mention and indeed I have on many occasions failed to completely consume some offering, choosing to save the calories for other dinning opportunities.

Well that is all from me as I need to rest up in anticipation of a return to Perth and the home of the best sausage roll in Australia. No sausage roll can ever take the place of those that my MUM makes.

Locked Behind Bars

We arrived in Laurieton crossing the Camden Haven bar at the appropriate time. The forecasters had done a great job and the swell height had indeed dropped to 1m making our entry an easy one.

Since our last visit, 2 public moorings have been installed off the Laurieton United Services Club. Luckily, one was unused and available to us. We grabbed it enthusiastically since we are still mentally scarred from our wind-against-tide experience that ended up in ‘keel wrap’ on our last visit. Although it was really a 24hr courtesy mooring we finished up hanging from it for 10 days.  A particularly high High pressure system of 1040hP sat in the Tasman Sea and pushed up a big swell out in the ocean. Sitting in a calm river was very much the place to be. 

Our view of 'Big Brother'

  

Fellow imprisoned sailors became happy companions sharing walks, trips to the legendary Art Deco Laurieton Cinema, bus trips to Lake Macquarie and pub food at the Laurieton United Services Club.

  

Swells and surf everywhere and more especially across the bar, and so locking us in.

Although the days were short, the sunsets were sensational.