New Sails!

180% Drifter 

Two new sails are being added to Distant Horizon's inventory. First, a storm jib. This is a very small sail flown ahead of the mast in gale or storm conditions. The leading edge of the sail, the luff, will be a flourescent orange color to help with visibility.

The other sail being added is for exactly the opposite end of the spectrum... very, very, very calm weather. All the other sails are made of Dacron. This sail, the Drifter, is made of nylon. Actually, very light nylon and has many other technical qualities built into the sail for light wind sailing.

Since these sails can be made with colored material, a fair amount of thought went into the color scheme. I finally went with the red and blue on a white sail for visibility. A flourescent yellow is the most visible color, but I couldn't find a complementary color that I liked. I think the red and blue will stand out during the day. At times of poor visibility, like twilight and fog, the darker blue will help but turning on the decklights to backlight the sail will help the most. For this reason, I tried to maximize the white color.

Self Steering!

Hydrovane... 

For Distant Horizon to be completely ready for her trip to Bermuda, there are still some items needed. The first item, is the self steering system.  This is effectively an autopilot that does not need batteries. I chose Hydrovane for several reasons:

• it can be used as an emergency rudder
• it is does not connect to the main rudder; reducing overall wear to the steering system. 
• I can still turn the wheel in an emergency
• it can be used in conjunction with the existing autopilot system

The Hydrovane was ordered with the optional 3nm LED stern light. Having an AIS to know what ships are in the area is one thing, but having those ships see us better... priceless!

Once Distant Horizon is balanced, she will sail straight for a considerable distance without me making corrections with the wheel. This is due to the modified fin keel. Eventually, she slowly turns toward the wind and I have to make a course correction with the wheel. With the self steering system, the windvane will fly straight while the boat is on course. Then, when Distant Horizon turns slightly, the windvane will be deflected by the wind change. That deflection will, in turn, cause its own rudder to move; turning Distant Horizon back on course with the windvane flying straight again.

The order has been placed for the Hydrovane. It is scheduled to arrive in mid-March; leaving me plenty of time for the installation.

I mentioned the Automatic Identification System (AIS) in the previous post. The system was originally devised for collision avoidance by continuously transmitting vessel information on VHF Radio frequencies. This information includes the vessel's identification, position, speed, and course, along with other relevant information. Other vessel's and land-based stations can monitor this information. AIS worked so well, its use was made mandatory world-wide in 2002 for all passenger ferries and by all ships exceeding 300 gross tons.

Standing in the cockpit of Distant Horizon, the visible horizon is about 3.5 miles away. When a ship is spotted, it will take about 20 minutes for that ship to overtake Distant Horizon. That leaves a few precious moments to ensure we are not on a collision course and, if we are... then, to take evasive actions.

VHF radio waves travel in a straight line from antenna to antenna. My VHF antenna is at the top of the mast; just over 50 feet above the water. Typically with VHF the range would be 25-30 miles or so. Using AIS, gives a ships direction and speed at nearly eight times the distance as compared to visual means. This extends the safety zone around Distant Horizon. Additionally, in heavy rain, fog, or haze, the AIS can still "see" ships at a safe distance.

Standard Horizon GX2150 AIS Matrix+

Rather than installing a seperate AIS receiver, I chose to purchase an integrated system using the Standard Horizon Matrix AIS+ VHF radio. With the remote mic in the cockpit, all the AIS information is right there. AIS doesn't replace keeping a good watch. It provides additional information to those on watch; making each voyage safer.

Another use of AIS, which I have found extremely useful is obtaining a current weather forecast.  Since I know the ship's name, I can hale them on the radio. When requesting the latest weather forecast from a ship, they will respond with their current three day forecast; allowing us to have a current weather forecast available at most times.

I have heard people say that ships won't answer such a radio call. In my experience, that has happened exactly once... and that ship had no markings. So, I assumed it was a military ship.Even before AIS, I have never failed to communicate with a commercial shipping vessel at sea. It's not luck. The international language for commercial communications is English. This is true for maritime shipping as well as aviation. Most ships have crews from countries where English is a second, possibly third, language. They are required to log their radio communications. So, given the opportunity to speak English, the person on watch always does respond.