On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 15:00:21 +1000, Cappys master Cappy kneels for
Ozzies wrote:


T'was a nice boat too, Hick 31, a rocketship.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...244562366.html


Yeah, saw that article. What happens when you rely on electronics and
cut things a bit fine I guess. I've seen one of our GPS go offline for
a while, in fact there are occasions where one brand will be getting
(apparently) good fixes and another one, 1m away, won't.

Peter Wiley

On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 16:08:54 +1000, Cappys master Cappy kneels for
Ozzies wrote:

On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 05:48:08 GMT, (Peter
Wiley) wrote:

On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 15:00:21 +1000, Cappys master Cappy kneels for
Ozzies wrote:


T'was a nice boat too, Hick 31, a rocketship.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...244562366.html


Yeah, saw that article. What happens when you rely on electronics and
cut things a bit fine I guess. I've seen one of our GPS go offline for
a while, in fact there are occasions where one brand will be getting
(apparently) good fixes and another one, 1m away, won't.

Peter Wiley

Yep, they would have an onboard system and they lose satellites easily
if the antenna is badly positioned.

Anyway what I don't understand is flying thru there, planing with a
kite up, without many hands on the lookout. It really is a treacherous
piece of water.
I get the heebies just pulling out the chart,
http://www.waterways.nsw.gov.au/docs/cofcoast_front.pdf
It's scary in daylight and at night, well, bloody frightening
particularly when you're flat out.

Too many people displaying a touching faith in technology. I work on
the principle that, the more complex it is, the sooner it'll fail. The
less I understand it, the more likely it'll fail. Then add Murphy's
Law into the mix of when the failure will occur.

They had a guy on the helm. It was a big rock. Even if it was flat
calm, I would have thought he'd have seen it further away than he did.
Forward vision blocked by sails, maybe?

I recall reading about a cruising boat that went aground in the Red
Sea because they were using GPS, electronic charts and autopilot.
Nobody on watch. Nothing wrong with the gear, IIRC, just a sandbar had
moved (or a reef extended further out). They cut it too fine and.....
bang. No more boat. If you're cruising, why cut it that fine? I can
understand racers doing it, sort of, trying to minimise time.

Peter Wiley

I suppose I have to ask: Was the compass covered?

"Cappys master" Cappy kneels for Ozzies wrote in message
...

T'was a nice boat too, Hick 31, a rocketship.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...244562366.html


Oz1...of the 3 twins.
I welcome you to crackerbox palace,We've been expecting you.

On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 17:29:46 +1000, Cappys master Cappy kneels for
Ozzies wrote:

On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 07:02:57 GMT, (Peter
Wiley) wrote:


http://www.waterways.nsw.gov.au/docs/cofcoast_front.pdf

Too many people displaying a touching faith in technology. I work on
the principle that, the more complex it is, the sooner it'll fail. The
less I understand it, the more likely it'll fail. Then add Murphy's
Law into the mix of when the failure will occur.

Yep, lost a GPS going thru that area in a race multi.
Flat strap with the kite up at dusk. Everyone on deck scanning the
water while another took bearings to confirm our position. Nav stayed
below and plotted constantly. Skirted Jefferey's, gybed off the beach
and headed out past Groper. A nice safe course.
Idiot that did the install had cut the coax from the antenna and used
a pushfit connector as a joiner. Hid it away where no-one could see it
and two years later corrosion did its job.

Ah, I know that song. Last year, half way to Antarctica, one of our
GPS units stopped working. Turned out the idiots who were water
blasting the aft gantry area prior to painting had also blasted
through the cable sheath, then just painted over the top of it. Water
ingress. I took digital photos & emailed them back; we made them pay
for replacing all the cable runs when we returned and this time ran
the cables inside steel pipe so it couldn't happen again (something
else will happen instead).

Of course it was the 3D-GPS not one of the other ones and we didn't
have pitch/roll data to feed into other instruments that use it to
calculate current velocities through the water column (ADCP). No way
of claiming for lost data unfortunately.

Problem with dealing with idiots is that they are so creative. One of
my contract employee colleagues makes a lot of money working on
pleasure boat electrical systems because he can get it right the first
time.

Peter Wiley