Apart from 3 hr watches, intense lookout every 15 minutes, radar on
standby we use AIS. For no more than 200 euro's I bought an
AIS-receiver, a dedicated vhf-antenna and I plugged it in a serial
port on my 1 amp computer. Now the lcd-screen in my cockpit displays
the position and course (and more) of all broadcasting commercial
vessels over 300 tonnes in the cockpit.

I'm not saying it's all you need and when used improperly it's even
unsafe I guess but I am very glad to have it.
Of every transmitting vessel in a range of 30 miles I see position,
course, speed, name and MMSI-number so I won't have to call for "the
freighter on my starboard about two mile distance" but I use the
right name or even dsc to the right number.
I will keep looking out for fishermen, other yachts etc though...

When you want to see it work: www.aislive.com
Go to the public site, register for free and see the situation one
hour old.

Len
S/v Present


On 17 Oct 2005 11:57:15 -0700, "~^ beancounter ~^"
wrote:

What are some opinions and methods sailors are
utilizing these days, in open ocean/offshore
anti collision measures? Are folks/sailors using
good radar systems with alarms (if so what brands)
or just post and conduct regular watches, utilize
radar reflectors, etc? ... Ween i say "open ocean/off
shore" i mean crossing oceans, 20-30 days of straight
sailing, etc...


thanx...