meetings

An update on latest solutions for AIS, VHF/DSC and mobile connectivity

Most PSCC boaters are familiar with Automatic Identification System (AIS), VHF radios with Digital Selective Calling and using phones and mobile hotspots to connect to the Internet. But a lot of new developments have happened in these three areas over the last year including some unique areas of convergence.

Doug Miller, from Milltech Marine, will talk about these three areas, what’s changed over the last year and what’s available for boaters now and in the near future. These topics will include:

• New AIS solutions such as the Vesper Cortex system which also includes VHF and vessel monitoring,
• The basics of using Digital Selective Calling on modern VHF radios and why a VHF radio with AIS capabilities makes a lot of sense,
• The latest developments in high performance LTE and 5G routers and antennas for near shore mobile connectivity for both “work from boat” scenarios and keeping you connected to the Internet.

Doug Miller is president of Milltech Marine, a Port Orchard-based provider of Automatic Identification System (AIS) and marine communications solutions for the marine market. Doug founded Milltech Marine in 2005 in response to a keen interest in the emerging AIS standard and the need for solutions for recreational boaters. Over the last 15 years, Milltech Marine has sold thousands of AIS solutions to recreational, commercial and military customers. Doug is a NMEA certified Advanced Marine Electronics Installer, NMEA 2000 Installer and a Peplink Certified Sales Specialist. Doug and his wife Karin use “Naiad”, their Hunter Passage 420 sailboat, as a test bed for many of the products that are featured on Milltech Marine’s website www.milltechmarine.com.

• When: Friday May 21 at 6pm PST
• Join Zoom Meeting
• Meeting ID: 899 0738 2755, Passcode: 143734

In July of 2016, S/V Cool Change and her crew set a course Southeast from the island of Grenada to the muddy river waters of Suriname. The forgotten and former Dutch Colony most people think is somewhere in Africa. This would be the start of their 16 month exploration of the great Amazon Basin. In these months they would sail over 700 miles of river systems and come to know the lands of Suriname, French Guyana and Brazil.

This untamable region is still by definition the wild west. The jungle is littered with illegal gold mines ran by armed outlaw renegades searching for their fortune at the cost of the locals and more importantly their fragile ecosystem. The nature is equally wild and unforgiving. It may be full of predators and poisonous creatures but it also holds a chance to taste the magic of the mystic jungles and the cultures living within.

The crew of Cool Change was more than up to the task. They dedicated nearly a year and a half to explore and create a deep understanding with the Amazon region. The ultimate goal of their expedition would be to enter the “River Ocean” or better known as, “The Amazon River.” Doing so from the North is a huge feat in its own right due to the relentless Northwest setting Guyana Current. Culminating in a circumnavigation of Ilha De Marajó resting between the Río Amazonas to the north and Río Pará to the south. The Island of Marajó is roughly the size of Switzerland and holds a tangled web of rivers, tributaries and marshlands seemingly infinite.

The boys never saw another sailing vessel while navigating the Amazon River. The locals and authorities all warned them that they were sailing at their own risk. No one could protect them or rescue them from the ever-so-evident pirate threat. In a way it was just what they had been searching for, an untamed wilderness and where frontiersmen still lived. A place that was only fringed by their fears. If they could over come the lingering fear of the unknown, they would be awarded with a gift that is granted to few sailors But all they heard from the sailors in their wake was a plead, “Please don’t go!!”

The story of Peter Blake rang out in conversation between them and their fellow navigators as they prepared for the mighty Amazon River. But something stronger, something magnetic drew these searchers further into the darkness. The ships captain, Brandon Savory, and the ships jack-of-all-trades, Scott Gallyon, speak of their firsthand experiences and what they learned about navigation and survival on these rivers of doubt.

• When: April 16, 2021 06:00 PM Pacific Time
• Join Zoom Meeting
• Meeting ID: 857 7197 2300, Passcode: 399443

PSCC’s March meeting on Zoom will be by Barbara + Jim Cole, PSCC members who are currently cruising the world and crossed the Red Sea last year.

The Red Sea Passage is the route from Southeast Asia to the Med that runs across the northern Indian Ocean and through the Red Sea. For years, the risk of Somali Piracy was so severe that most boats chose to go from Southeast Asia to South Africa. During the almost two-year refit of their boat in Malaysia, Jim and Barbara closely followed the experiences of boats crossing the Indian Ocean and laid in plans for both of the two major routes. The plan was to decide which route closer to departure time.

In the end they chose the Red Sea Passage because of a desire to cruise in the Mediterranean Sea. The presentation will be about SV Complexity’s 2020 Red Sea Passage including preparations and events along the way. It will include stops in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Djibouti and Egypt. Their passage was complicated by countries closing their borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic while Complexity was at sea. Jim and Barbara were “stranded at sea” for 78 days. They transited the Red Sea with friends on other boats who were for aboard 130 days due to the pandemic.

• When: March 19, 2021 06:00 PM Pacific Time
• Watch the Zoom Recording (passcode: jfV=68@O)

Tony Gibb and Connie McCann of Victoria, BC, circumnavigated the Pacific Ocean via the Aleutian Islands from 1983-1990 in a home built Vancouver 27, Hejira of Victoria, with a sextant, one battery, no refrigeration and no head. They departed again in 2010 in Sage, a Wauquiez 38, with a sextant, numerous GPS’, a Lavac head, refrigeration and no AIS.

The British sailor Pete Goss said Tony and Connie had bridged two different cruising worlds. The world of the Hiscock’s and sextants and the Delos social media world and AIS.

• When: February 19, 2021 06:00 PM Pacific Time
• Watch the Zoom recording here, passcode: %63@Q@Va