Captain Richard Rodriguez over at BitterEnd will be moving his boat Saturday, and it’s a good opportunity to test the capabilities of the new InstaMapper service. Read what he says about it:

InstaMapper is a free service that allows you to track a person or vehicle online in real time using a GPS-enabled cell phone.

Diligence (Sea Horse Marine)

On Saturday I’ll be moving Diligence from Bellingham to Friday Harbor. I have a new Blackberry 8900 will be be testing the InstaMapper product on. We plan on getting underway in the vicinity of 09:00 PDT and will be en route about five hours.

Feel free to follow me. Remember you’ll need to refresh the page.

Reader Ron Heinze recently posted a comment on a Navagear item entitled MMSI Confusion: Group MMSI Numbers?. Here are Ron’s questions, along with my responses:

Can you program both your individual MMSI number AND the group MMSI number into your VHF?

Yes, absolutely. Group MMSI numbers are treated like an optional feature, whereas each vessel’s unique, individual MMSI number is critical to DSC functionality. None of the DSC functions work until you’ve programmed this number in, and many radios prevent you from changing it, or limit the number of times you can change it. Group MMSI numbers are much more flexible.

My Raymarine radios, for example, allow me to be enter up to three Group MMSI numbers. If you’re a member of more than three groups, you’ll have to switch those MMSI numbers in and out of the available slots. Luckily, unlike your vessel’s unique MMSI number, there are no constraints on the number of times you can replace Group MMSI numbers.

Can the group number be used to locate other boats in your group on your GPS chartplotter? How can that work? Does it locate every other boat with the group MMSI number?

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Yet another example of the sort of story I used to feature here on Navagear. Nowadays, you can find this kind of story over at Puget Sound Maritime.

First, you can read about the Last voyage for lumber schooner Wawona. Then check out the Wawona photo gallery, including several archival photographs from the Northwest Seaport, like this one:

[Hobie unveiled the new Mirage Pro Angler at the Bassmaster Classic in Shreveport, LA last weekend. It's a new boat designed around the innovative Hobie Mirage Drive. There is a video to help introduce the boat, but I can't embed it here, so you'll have to click this link to see it.

Regular readers will recall that Navagear has long been fascinated by the Mirage drive system, and the boats designed for it. Perhaps you remember such classic Navagear posts as
And One Roto-Molded Kayak to Rule Them All and Hobie’s Inflatable Mirage-Drive Kayaks. The rest of the content below comes from Hobie. —Tim]

Oceanside, California – Long known for their expertise in building watercraft, Hobie Cat® introduces the Hobie Mirage Pro Angler fishing boat. Hobie has taken the defining feature used in their kayak line, the patented MirageDrive™ pedal system, and combined it with their proven boat-designing capabilities to build a first-in-class, no-gas required, 100-percent fishing machine… all at the affordable price of $2199, suggested retail. “The Pro Angler is small enough to let you access your favorite skinny water with unbelievable stability,” commented Hobie spokesperson and legendary bass fisherman, Hank Parker, “plus… it is large enough to provide plenty of room for multiple rods and tackle.”

The 13’ 8” Pro Angler is designed to facilitate the fishing experience for those who want the amenities of a large boat including stability and spacious storage combined with the user-friendly benefits of a smaller fishing boat such as light weight, maneuverability, and economic advantage. Anglers will be comfortable in all bodies of water, from narrow inland waterways to ocean coastlines. It also offers an affordable, human-powered, environmentally-friendly alternative to fishing from the shore. The Pro Angler boasts a weight capacity of over 600 pounds despite weighing in at only 138 pounds, fully rigged. The high quality, ergonomically-designed Cool Ride seat is wide, ventilated, and easily adjustable. The boat is both wide enough to allow ample freedom of movement and stable enough for anglers to stand up and cast, giving them the advantage of a better view of the water.

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[Information provided by the manufacturer. I'd love to see some side-viewing sonar in action. Anybody in Puget Sound with any brand of side-viewing sonar installed, let me know if you'd let me come aboard and take a look. —Tim]

Innovative HDS Multifunction Displays to Offer Advanced Fishfinding Technology

Tulsa, Okla. – Lowrance, a world-leading brand in marine electronics since 1957 and GPS navigational systems since 1992, announced today, at the Bassmaster Classic in Shreveport, Louisiana, its introduction of a new side-viewing sonar technology option for its powerful line of HDS (High Definition System) multifunction displays. Available in 2009, the Lowrance side-viewing sonar technology depicts the underwater world of bottom and structure in photo-like presentations.

Presenting an advanced new dimension in bottom and structure viewing, Lowrance side-viewing sonar delivers the same legendary total-sonar performance that anglers have come to expect from Lowrance. In addition, the side-viewing sonar works in tandem with existing high-definition 2D sonar displays – powered by the built-in HDS Broadband Sounder.

A simple, cost-efficient add-on module, the new side-viewing technology is easily networked using Lowrance Ethernet connections, allowing anglers to enjoy the Lowrance sonar advantage on all HDS displays mounted on their boat.

Designed by the leader in recreational fishfinder innovation, the new Lowrance side-viewing sonar option is welcome news for serious and pro anglers, as well as those involved in underwater search and recovery, marine archeology and marine ecology sciences.

Full details, pricing and a projected 2009 availability date for the new Lowrance side-viewing supplemental HDS sonar technology option is expected to be released at the American Sportfishing Association’s ICAST trade show in Orlando, Florida in July.

Here’s another recent Puget Sound Maritime post I feel some Navagear readers might find interesting. Heck, some might find it offensive, one way or another. I normally avoid expressing opinions, particularly off-topic. But the more I learn about this, the more I fear we are literally “loving the whales to death.”

Mark Anderson is chairman of Orca Relief, and was founding executive director of The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor. He had something to say in Sunday’s Seattle Times:

Most people know it is illegal to harass marine mammals, but I would guess that readers may not know the simple pursuit of our local whales violates federal law. Both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act specifically state that pursuit is illegal.

This makes sense. Can you imagine an endangered wolf population, being chased all day every day by tourists on all-terrain vehicles? The situation with our orca is not much different.

I agree. It’s not much different. I saw some orca while out on Two Lucky Fish last summer. How did I find them? Um, it was incredibly easy, because every whale-tour boat in sight was racing to the scene, and you couldn’t mistake the two lines of slow-moving boats, bracketing the whales between them.

My guests, visitors from Europe, were thrilled. So was I. But I was also a little bit sickened. These creatures have to put up with this all day long, every single day?!?

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[Here's the kind of story Navagear readers are now missing out on, because I don't run these here! I run them over at my new blog, Puget Sound Maritime. Anyway, I figure some of you maritime geeks would find this interesting nonetheless. —Tim]

The U.S. Navy wants to use Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions in Puget Sound to protect against terrorists along Naval Base Kitsap at Bangor on Hood Canal. The Navy-trained dolphins would find threatening divers, then make way for deep-diving California sea lions to clamp a cuff around the intruder’s ankle.

Michelle Ma has the story in the Seattle Times. With Navy-supplied video!

I’ve learned a teensy weensy little bit about the new radar technologies under development. If they work as advertised, we’re all going to look at current radomes about the same way we look at old CRT-based radar displays: “Wow, that thing’s huge! And it draws a lot of power. And it seems kind of clunky.” Only this time we’re going to say of the soon-to-be old tech “Wow, that thing’s dangerous, shooting all that radiation around! And it draws a lot of power. And it seems kind of clunky.”

Anyway, congrats to Simrad for the win. Here’s the press release:

Nashua, N.H. – Navico, the market leader in marine electronics for the recreational boating segment, announced today its innovative Simrad BR24 Broadband Radar was awarded the 2009 National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and Boating Writers International (BWI) Innovation Award for the Consumer Electronics category at this year’s Miami International Boat Show. As stated by the NMMA, the Innovation Awards program, organized by NMMA and judged by BWI, recognizes those products that best meet the following criteria: innovative distinction from other products currently being manufactured; benefit to the marine industry and/or consumer; practicality; and cost-effectiveness.

The world’s first recreational marine Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radome, the Simrad BR24 represents the next generation of radar safety, affordability and ease of use. Combining straightforward installation, flexible antenna placement options, a 24-NM range and low power draw, Broadband Radar is the clear choice for coastal and in-shore navigation. In a statement during the award ceremony, the judges referred to the Broadband Radar as the most significant advancement in radar technology since World War II.

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I recently received an email from Kieran Breheny, managing director of Navigate-us.com. It looks like it could be a very valuable site, a tremendous resource for consumers.

Like Panbo and Navagear, Navigate-us should help reinforce the idea, sometimes slow to sink in with manufacturers, that “markets are conversations”.

Here’s some background on Navigate-us, from the site:

Navigate-us is the world’s largest marine electronics navigation comparison website. It is unbiased and is built on integrity using world class boating knowledge and extensive experience in the marine electronics industry.

The guidance section, outlining the most important aspects of marine electronics, will help you with your purchasing decision and ensure you buy products best suited to your type of boating.

The website does not supply prices directly as this varies depending on installation requirements and changing product costs. The guidance section covers an explanation of the price brackets (Low-Medium-High) for each of the product groups. You can search for products that fit your budget.

The dealer links will provide you with the most up-to-date market pricing and ensure you have everything required for a successful installation.

About us- the Founders

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[Information provided by the manufacturer. Is there something wrong with me that I both (a) embrace ecologically friendly products and (b) resent the many "green" marketing campaigns now underway, which feel vaguely Machiavellian somehow? By the way, this isn't about Pettit, in particular. I just had Two Lucky Fish's bottom painted with Pettit Vivid, and I couldn't be happier with it. —Tim]

Green products are all the rage right now, and with good reason.  However, Pettit Marine Paint was developing its clean formulas long before anyone was talking about global warming or climate change.  The company has made a long-term commitment to the research and development of the highest quality, most environmentally gentle marine paints and coatings.

“Pettit has developed additives and formulations that leave greatly reduced chemical footprints, some with nearly zero trace,” said Pettit general manager John Ludgate.  “Riding the wave of the future with breakthrough technologies, Pettit will continually introduce innovative new products for a cleaner tomorrow.”

For example, with Pettit’s composite copper technology, the traditional cuprous oxide is replaced with silica, reducing the copper content by up to 40%.  The result is a copper antifouling that provides superior protection and is made from materials naturally found in the ocean.

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