All i plan to (for now)do mostly with it is cruising icw mosquito lagoon fishing and maybe some king and tarpon fishing just slightly offshore at beaches at cape canaveral
I am right "next door" meteorologically speaking on Lake Monroe and the St. Johns. One safety tip I would like to offer that I have found invaluable is an app for my phone that gives real time location of lightning strikes. You can find it if you google "lightning app NOAA". I think if is helpful in those situations when you are making the decision about whether to go out, or if out, if you need to be thinking about heading in. Welcome aboard. If you are out and hear "S/V American Spirit" asking for a radio check, give me a shout. That's me.
I took a Thunderstorms class in Annapolis last weekend and the sailor/meterologist that taught the class said the best thing you can do it buy a digital barometer. Digital not classic Weems and Plath. He said you don't need to know what the pressure is when you are looking at it, but you need to review the historical data to see the trend and drop in pressure to see a storm coming at you.
We are on an Adirondack lake. We don't get weather on the VHF radio. I don't even think the mom and pop marinas have it on. We are huge tourist area for hiking and camping and the two big fishing tournaments, but not for visiting sail or power boaters. We either have slips at marinas or trailer from home. We don't have cell service in the middle of the lake.
And we can get hit with nasty storms that you can't see coming due to the mountains.
Here, the national weather service is a joke. VHF weather forecasts are good for long range only. Since most of our T-Storms pop up out of nowhere, local weather radar is the best tool. There are several great weather apps on the smartphone for this. Our mountains block sight of coming storms so we keep a watchful eye on weather radar.
Anyone looking for a digital barometer and or a handheld GPS Garmin makes a few handheld models with it built in. Gives a more accurate elevation than using GPS as well you can track barometric pressure over time. Handy when in the mountains where storms can sweep in quick. I carry mine as backup on longer trips and set the anchor drag alarm and keep it in the V berth with me. Just in case I don’t hear the chart plotter.
I hear the skepticism about the NOAA app for lightening. I have no idea how helpful it would be in areas of the country with which I am unfamiliar, but in Central Florida (lightening capital of the world) it appears to be spot on; I am under the impression it is the same data available to pilots. Maybe some pilots on the board could compare their flying resources and offer an opinion. It is a free app. If anyone gives it a shot and has some experience with it, I would enjoy some additional discussion based on your experience over time. I just think it great to be able to see where on the map there was a lightening strike within the last few minutes. It helps with judging the intensity of the storms and the distance away when you don't really have anything to see in your field of vision, or you are in transit to the area you want to boat in.
I think eventually when i hit the lottery i will get a chart plotter with either the sirius or xm weather...for now ill have to stick pretty close to the dock and rely on smart phone apps
And erik i was looking at your list of mods very very impressive. I especially like the idea of a weighted keel ...maybe in time i will attemlt a mod like that...seems difficult but worth it
It has a digital barometer with a log-roll graph and you can see the weather drop off like a hockey stick and even keep that screen on front. It's got a thermometer. It's got tides on the front screen, which I wind up checking all the time in my tidally affected bay. It has a solid digital compass you can use to find your way home in an emergency. It's solar, so it never needs a battery, ever. Mine is titanium and waterproof to 200M. It's got world-time radio receivers so it's always correct.
It has features that are also great for camping, like altitude sensor and moon phases. I use it a lot for astronomy since you need to know what the moon is doing and where north is to setup a good dark-sky telescope.
It has a digital barometer with a log-roll graph and you can see the weather drop off like a hockey stick and even keep that screen on front. It's got a thermometer. It's got tides on the front screen, which I wind up checking all the time in my tidally affected bay. It has a solid digital compass you can use to find your way home in an emergency. It's solar, so it never needs a battery, ever. Mine is titanium and waterproof to 200M. It's got world-time radio receivers so it's always correct.
It has features that are also great for camping, like altitude sensor and moon phases. I use it a lot for astronomy since you need to know what the moon is doing and where north is to setup a good dark-sky telescope.
Some dude from the International Meridian Conference, in Greenwich, UK.
"What time do YOU have?"
Every freakin' day.
And really early in the morning, too.
I was all "Geezus, do you KNOW what time it is?" the first couple of times they woke me up, until I realized that... they didn't.
"GMT is an absolute time reference" my *ss.
My wrist is apparently the "absolute time reference" now.
Which is a lot of power for one person to wield.
And I AM only human, even when I'm wearing the watch.
I was feeling lazy the other morning, and didn't feel like rushing out of the house, and I confess I abused the power.
So when they called, I told them it was actually 17 minutes, 28 seconds EARLIER than it really was.
Messed things up, but good, for the rest of the planet (sorry!), but i got to finish the paper and have a second cup of coffee, and didn't get docked for being late when I got to the office.
Well update I've managed to get caught out in some pretty nasty stuff here sailing on the space coast ...haven't yet been offshore as I still feel I need a few more safety preparedness items.... So far got a good handheld vhf with the GPS distress (hope I never need that) went overboard on anchors 35lb mantus and also a 13lb mantus anchors and picked up a 10ft walker bay that I'm soon getting the inflatable tube for.... Sea anchor epirb and some bigger balls lol and I may try the dry tortugas later this year if anyone else is also going
lol and I may try the dry tortugas later this year if anyone else is also going
