Boat Plans Wooden | Time change confusion

Boat Plans Wooden

ISN’T IT TIME we stopped messing with the time?  Every time we are forced to comply with daylight savings time by putting the clocks an hour ahead, my inner clock goes woozy. I wake up at all hours of the night to check the clocks. Then I worry that I didn’t change the clocks before I went to bed, so is it 4 a.m. or 5 a.m.? Did I change just some of the clocks?  If so, which ones?

It’s even worse in the morning. Did I spring forward or fall back? Did I get it right this time? Am I the only one who has sprung back and fallen forward?

Why, oh why, do we have to go through this silly business twice a year? And how do you avoid changing the batteries in the smoke alarms twice a year, instead of just once, because you can never remember which time change concides with the battery time change?

The cats in the kitchen and the birds clustered around the feeder get really suspicious when their food comes an hour early. But it’s worse later in the year, when the clocks go back. You can’t explain to them that their supper is going to be an hour late because the government insists upon daylight savings time coming to an end. They just think the government hates them, and they hate you even more for kow-towing to the government.

Usually I forget to change the time on my wrist watch. I don’t like to mess with it because it’s also an old-fashioned self-winding chronometer. Three times it has guided small yachts across oceans with the help of a sextant, but now it’s a poor little orphan. No sailor needs a mechanical chronometer any more. Everywhere we look there are chronometers. Time is all over the place, accurate to the second. Quartz movements are on cell phones, computers, TV sets, radios, stoves, microwave ovens, car dashboards, GPS receivers, and lord knows where all else. They’re even in cheap clocks and watches. They’re all darned chronometers now.

Yet despite this plethora of fine, accurate time, easily accessible to everyone for next to nothing, we have to keep messing with the clocks. All except Arizona, that is, where they have more sense and stick to Mountain Standard Time all year round. It must be nice to live in Arizona and only change the smoke-alarm batteries once a year.

I just don’t understand this strange compulsion to keep putting clocks back and forward. I mean, if you want to start work or school earlier, why not just go ahead? Start work earlier. See if I care.  Why drag the whole country into it? It makes too many of us severely crotchety. 

Today’s Thought

Last week we passed a birth-control bill. Now we are trying to pass a law to put the people to bed an hour earlier.

— Frank L. Gill, State Senator, Colorado

Tailpiece

 “Let’s stop here. This looks like an ideal place for a picnic.”

“It must be. Fifty million mosquitoes can’t be wrong.”

(Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday — a new Mainly about Boats column.)

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Dinghy Boat Plans | No more paper charts time to move to electronics

Dinghy Boat Plans

There is something incredibly satisfying about a paper chart. Pawing over them on the long winter evenings as we plan our next summer holidays and dream of the warm winds and sunshine that are  absolutely guaranteed. Half erased pencil marks, tea stains, blobs of sea spray and the odd spec of vomit all describe adventures from previous years that are all the better remembered from the comfort of a nice warm living room.

So, we love paper charts but  my goodness theyre expensive. So last year we went chartless, well almost chartless .. we couldnt quite go all the way .. its quite frightening .. but this year we plan to finish the journey.

Heres where we have got to on the good ship B. Down below at the no-longer-a-chart-table table we have a Standard Horizon Chart Plotter and then as a second system I use my Ipad Mini mounted in a waterproof, drop-proof Lifeproof Cover . I have set up two brackets, one to house the Ipad out in the cockpit when were sailing and the other at the back of the not-a-chart-table table. The Ipad sits in both in its waterproof cover so no need to fiddle around taking it out. In fact mine lives in the cover all the time whether on the boat or at home.

Just below is a little video of the good ship approaching Kristiansund. Half way through the clip you can see the set up with the Ipad. WARNING: there is a rude word at the beginning!

Does my iPad have a proper GPS?

One of the big questions I had when I started to move to iPad was around the GPS in Ipads. Its all a bit confusing but I get it now.

Every iPad has both WiFi and Bluetooth. Cellular Ipads (ie those that can take a Sim Card) also have a built-in GPS receiver; Apple calls it “assisted GPS”. So, at this point we all start panicking because assisted GPS doesnt sound very good .. we want ... no we need, full blown, all singing and dancing GPS and definitely not a GPS that needs help! But the words are misleading so dont worry!

When Apple say assisted GPS they dont mean the GPS requires assistance it means it is a
stand-alone GPS that is itself further assisted to enhance its speed. The GPS receiver in the iPad uses nearby mobile telephone masts to provide a faster position lock. So, instead of starting up cold and searching for satellites, the iPad can get a GPS fix much quicker because it knows roughly where it is .. hence assisted. From a boat perspective this is not massively relevant but you can understand why it would matter if you were mooching round London trying to get quick directions to the nearest Costalotta.

So, you dont need a cellular connection for the GPS to work or indeed a SIM card. I sailed from Norway to Shetland Islands and had a fix the whole way .. there were no radio masts in sight. So “assisted GPS” is just the ticket.

Which App and electronic Charts?

So, you then need an App and some charts. Yachting Monthly have done a really good review on Navigation Apps. Theres plenty to choose from. I use Navionics which is their recommendation but Im sure some of the others are great as well.

In terms of charts, you purchase a region such as UK and Holland. You then download areas as you require; its quick, easy and intuitive. The purchase price includes free updates for a year. You can then either keep the charts, but they wont be updated, or alternatively pay at half price and continue to get, real time upgrades. Prices vary but the whole of the UK and Holland is a tad over £40 compared to thousands for charts! A bargain.

Waterproof and ruggedness

Obviously having your Ipad outside in the wet is not ideal so I use a Lifeproof Nuud protective case and a screen cover. Which means the iPad is waterproof to 2m and drop proof from 4ft. The mounting bracket I use holds the iPad in its case so no need to fiddle around taking it in and out,  it just slots in to the bracket. So my iPad lives in its waterproof case all the time on the boat and at home.  I have a spare bracket below for it so when its not in use it has a home out if the way at the back of the not-a-chart-table.

Total Cost

The whole thing does get quite pricey if you have to buy an iPad specially. But if you use an iPad anyway its great value because most of the stuff you buy you would buy anyway .. Even the charts.

Who this arrangement might suit?

If you have a small boat, youre an iPad owner and you do a fair bit if sailing then I think its perfect. But there are variations on a theme to suit android and iPhone owners.

The advantage is you have your weather, navigation, tidal, information all available in the cockpit as well as next to you at home when you have that sudden urge to passage plan.

Power consumption

On the basis that an iPad should be good for well over 10 hours with no charge and in any case you could always top up charge down below for a bit I dont think this is a big issue. If you need to charge out on deck you can do but you have to open the waterproof port.

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Boat Plans Uk | Time to start planning next summer

Boat Plans Uk

As the year comes to an end its time to start thinking about next years adventures and to stick a few dates in the diary.

So here we go:

Easter Holidays (25th March - 5th April): Prepare the good ship and sail through the Caledonian Canal towards Oban. Probably Selma ad I but all a bit messy because kids are at rowing camp! So if you interested then shout.

Scottish Islands Peak Race (18th May - 23rd May): Oban to Troon with some running in between. 5 of us for trip, so currently Rob, Simon, John, Alasdair. Fell runner and/or yachtsperson required

June break (sometime mid to late June for a week to suit crew): Troon to Dublin via Belfast and other Guiness selling towns. Crew of two required, any takers?

July break Week 1 (17th July to 24th July): Dublin to Isles of Scilly via other nice places. Rob and Tom signed up.

July break Week 2 (24th July to 31st July): Isles of Scilly to Falmouth, Plymouth and beyond, John, Selma, Jack and Ella

Thats the plan!




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