Category : Navigation

Articles related to maritime navigation

When Katia meets La Louise

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Thierry Dubois and his teammates, dont Jacques Vermeulen experimenting its Iridium connection with its new MacBook Air, must not be laughing at the time I post this short post.

La Louise, conveying from Newfoundland to La Trinité, is being caught up in Hurricane Katia, ex-tropical cyclone, which is due to reach the coast of the British Isles next night. Based on last position and estimated speed, La Louise should be in the west of the weather area "Romeo", either in the southeast of the center of the Low, its intended position on the Navimail map below the location of the red boat at 18h UTC : Read more …

ADS-B, aviator's AIS

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As I already wrote, in the word “aeronautics” there is “nautical”. This is no coincidence. So much so that for several years the world of aviation has been developing a concept similar to maritime AIS : ADS-B. I also would not be able to say which of the two is the first , it doesn't matter !

As the news that concerns us is a little flat these days – normal in July – I became interested in air navigation when I discovered an iPad application, which I will talk about a little further down.

 

ADS-B, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, which can be translated as “Diffusion Dependent Automatic Surveillance” is generally based on the same principle as AIS. Only the technical means differ. Read more …

A test onboard with Navigation Mac

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During a somewhat sad weekend in January, we joined the port of L'Herbaudière, Isle of Noirmoutier, via the picturesque Gois passage at low tide.

We, that is to say, a boating journalist, my wife and myself.

Welcomed by two “naturals” of the country, Henri and Jean-Etienne. The latter putting his superb Océanis at our disposal 347 for the first on-board test, In France, navigation applications on Mac, iPad and iPhone. A great first, somehow. Read more …

The voice of marine weather

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Marine weather, or rather I should write : Marine Weather, with capital letters, is for modern mariners as ancient gods was for our oldest ancestors : a permanent reference to the conduct of our life.

The Long Waves

Not so long ago, this divinity was speaking to us, sailors to trade, fishermen or boaters, by a celestial voice carried by the waves. Our high priestess, Marie-Pierre Planchon, informing us twice a day of the destinies, happy or terrible, that we risked experiencing by venturing out on the waves. In those days the weather had a name and a voice, recognizable at a glance. Read more …

About alignments and sextant

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This holiday season, during which we happily return for a few days to the traditions, inspires me to rethink the traditions of an activity that is dear to us : navigation.
Not that of our illustrious predecessors, royal navies, discoverers of distant lands, corsairs, pirates or honest merchants, isn't it. I want to talk about the one that has concerned us for more than half a century : yachting. Especially to the attention of our friends who are sailors born in 70-80, who discovered navigation from the years 90, period of the appearance of GPS on board our pleasure boats.
I, who is constantly adding a website and a blog on the intricacies of computing onboard, of all these tools which bring us our position a few meters away, what the weather will be like in eight days, the height of water under the keel, the time at which it will be necessary to tack to take advantage of the favorable wind shift, and how much additional information is available in three mouse clicks, I don’t forget how I learned to sail.

This holiday season, during which we happily return for a few days to the traditions, inspires me to rethink the traditions of an activity that is dear to us : navigation.

Not that of our illustrious predecessors, royal navies, discoverers of distant lands, corsairs, pirates or honest merchants, isn't it. I want to talk about the one that has concerned us for more than half a century : yachting. Especially to the attention of our friends who are sailors born in 1970-80, who discovered navigation from the years 1990, period of the appearance of GPS on board our pleasure boats. Read more …