German company Bad Elf offered for sale since 28 October, on Amazon and on eBay, the first external GPS approved by Apple. The Bad Elf GPS is adapted for the Apple devices dock connector, which have no built-in GPS, to provide all navigation applications, sea or land, mobile position.
Reading : "D'Entrecasteaux in search of La Perouse" by Jean-Pierre Ledru
Jean-François de Galaup de La Pérouse
Antoine de Bruni d'Entrecasteaux
We know well, today, The fate of the expedition of the captain of the ship Jean-François de La Pérouse, lost with all hands in the Solomon Islands in 1788. What we know much less well, on the other hand, This is the story of the Admiral Antoine de Bruni d'Entrecasteaux gone for his search in 1791 at the request of Louis XVI, and whose fate was scarcely more enviable.
It is about this unknown expedition Jean-Pierre Ledru wrote, in the pictorial language of the sailors of the time, Through the eyes of a Norman "pilotin" embarked for better or for worse (¹). Read more …
Receive AIS data wirelessly with iNavX
I explained, in a recent post, how to receive NMEA data from on-board instruments without using a Mac (or a PC) on board. It is now possible to do the same thing for receiving AIS data with an iPad or iPhone.
Digital Yacht has developed a new AIS receiver for use with Apple mobile devices. iAIS, is its name, transmits navigation data received from ships via WiFi to dedicated applications on iPhone or iPad via the TCP/IP protocol. Featured with AIS dual-channel A and B receiver, it also allows compatible applications access to NMEA data from on-board instruments. Read more …
GRIB files with iNavX
With the versions 3.1.6 and 3.1.7, iNavX improved GRIB files request by proposing a new window settings.
As for MacENC, can now choose several settings for required files, in order to optimize the file size according to the navigation area. Read more …
Navionics Mobile and Community Sharing
Once will not hurt, I relayed the information in French from Blog Panbo which have interest for Apple mobile devices users.
Community Sharing
- User Generated Content (User-generated content)
- Social Mapping or Social Charting (Social Mapping)
- Crowd Sourcing (Crowd sourcing)
All these english words mean the same principle : sharing to the community all maritime information collected by each charting software user. In other words, each boater can use its navigation application to share all information on any changes observed over charts. This can concern the markup, the erection of a new quay or the appearance of new catways in a harbour, practical information on new harbourt services, incorrect positioning of a rock or the appearance of an uncharted shoal, aso. Read more …
Connect GPSNavX/MacENC with an AIS
It is more and more common to see an AIS receiver, Automatic Identification System (*), receiver above yacht's chart tables. Although only merchant vessels of over 300 tons and passenger ships are required to fit onboard an AIS Class A transponder, small commercial vessels are increasingly fitted with cheaper standard AIS Class B transponders. Read more …
GRIB files in GPSNavX and MacENC
The menu Weather report in these two applications allows you to request a GRIB weather forecast file and then view it on the open map. The function Request GRIB send a request to the server Saildocs.com returning to the mailbox file requested. You can then get the file in attachment and store it to the location of your choice (²).
The function Show GRIB will then allow you to view the file on the map and scroll through the forecasts. You can usefully refer to MacENC Video Tutorial No. 3 on the website.
Here is a short technical summary of the weather module integrated in these two apps. Read more …
Reading : "The castaways on Tromelin Island" by Irene Frain
At the end of summer, I let the sea novel thriller to tell you about a novel, Published in 2009 published by Michel LAFON, Based on recently updated historical facts (*).This book recounts the tragic journey of the French ship "L'Utile", a 800 barrels carrying a clandestine cargo of Malagasy slaves bound for the Ile de France, today Mauritius. The boat ran aground in 1761 on a tiny block of coral lost in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Devastated by storms : the island of Tromelin. Some 160 Slaves abandoned on this desert island by the white crew, 8 survivors were only discovered, 15 years after the shipwreck, by the corvette "La Dauphine" commanded by Ensign De Tromelin (whose name was given to the island). Read more …
Marine weather on iPhone
In a previous post about my favorites apps for iPhone, I cited two weather apps : La Chaine Météo, very good general weather application from Meteo Consult, and iSailing Weather that offers maps of sea-based weather GRIB files from British origin.
Weather France has finally added its own free app, offering its full range of forecasts, including marine weather reports in text format. Read more …
AyeTides – World tides with iPad
AyeTides XL
, tides prediction application of Hahn Software LLC, is available since 2 nd August on AppStore. Issue of the software AyeTides for Mac and AyeTides for iPhone, the iPad version offers a completely new user interface to take advantage of the size and definition of the screen.
With more than 12.500 tides and currents stations around the world, dont 160 stations in France, the app presents times and heights of tide level based on the US public software XTide (*) using harmonic data and tidal predictions from the National Ocean Service (NOAA). Numerous corrections have been made in order to obtain predictions with an average of less than 3% deviation from the predictions of official bodies, like the SHOM for France, and database updates are frequent and always free.