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The Boat Story Continues – Boatyard, Name, Moving

For about a month, after we delivered our new boat from the Bahamas to Beaufort, North Carolina, we were sitting in a boatyard called Jarrett Bay. They are the best facility in North Carolina for hauling out catamarans because they have a huge (wide) lift. As is typical with boat ownership, what starts out as a basic maintenance visit to the boatyard turned into a much bigger than planned visit. Although our St. Francis 50 catamaran is ostensibly brand new – it was a demonstration boat for the builder and has been in the water for a year. We needed to do some basic maintenance like oil changes, props cleaned, and have the bottom re-painted. Not only that, but during the Bahamas passage we had two unexpected issues: 1) the batteries were not holding a charge as expected – although the builder had alerted us that there were issues with the inverter; and 2) the starboard engine had a problem with a water seal on the outboard drive. Several other mostly cosmetic things needed to be dealt with as well. Most of the issues were covered by warranty (including replacing the inverter), but there were delays in getting parts, labor, and getting the work completed. And to really complicate matters, there was tropical storm Hanna. About the time we were going to finish the work, Hanna was headed right for the Beaufort area – so we wisely chose to stay in the yard. But, this caused further delays especially when we wanted to get back in the water. There were many boats put in the boatyard, for protection from Hanna, that had to be put back so we could get out.
Here are a few photos from the adventurous few days described after the fold:

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Update on Using GPS for Tracking in Google Earth

Many people have found ways to tie their GPS with Google Earth to show their position in real-time. In fact, Google released built-in features for real-time GPS to the premium Plus/Pro/Enterprise versions of Google Earth starting with a beta version of GE 4 in December 2006. However, Google’s real-time GPS support has never been particularly fancy. The best real-time interface I’ve seen so far has been from Goops Technologies. I really like Goops because they support features supporting all types of travel including planes and boats. However, I wish they had a Mac version too. Thanks to Google Earth working even without an Internet connection, you can have a powerful 3D mapping applications wherever you go.
Navigator GPS tracking application in Google EarthRecently, Valery Hronusov (who has built many useful Google Earth files and applications) has released a new free real-time GPS tracking application he is calling Navigator. It also only works on Windows, but it has some nice looking features. I tried it with my Garmin 60Cx and it works quite well. It automatically logs your track to a KML file and you can control your zoom level while it tracks. His support for USB interface works very nicely, and they claim it will work with multiple GPSes. He is just getting started, so it doesn’t have the polish of Goops. But, Valery has a reputation of implementing lots of innovative features, so maybe Navigator will add some new stuff in the coming weeks or months.
So, if you want real-time GPS tracking with Google Earth. You have yet another method – without resorting to buying the premium versions of Google Earth. At least for personal use. If you need to use Google Earth for commercial applications, you should still buy a Google Earth Pro license.

WikiLoc Now A Google Earth Layer

WikiLoc layer in Google EarthWikiLoc is a free site which lets you upload and share GPS tracks. As mentioned last February, they have particularly good Google Maps and Google Earth support. Well, today, Google has announced that WikiLoc has its own layer under the Google Earth Gallery layer folder! Once you turn it on, you’ll have to zoom in to locations to see if WikiLoc placemark icons appear for user data uploaded for that area. I’m glad to see Google adding another GPS layer with broader user-generated data. Previously Google had shared GPS data for select locations/sites like Tracks4Africa which was focused on southeastern Africa (which was recently “demoted” from the Gallery to the More layer folder in Google Earth). The immediate effect will be that WikiLoc is likely to get a ton of new traffic and more people uploading GPS data. When Panoramio was first added as a Google Earth layer their user generated data skyrocketed many orders of magnitude. They ultimately were acquired by Google due to its popularity. Hopefully Jordi Ramot, WikiLoc’s creator, will be prepared for the onslaught.
(By the way, I’ve hiked the trail in the screenshot myself!)
There are many other GPS data web sites out there which include Google Earth support. Here are just a few GEB has covered before with different slants on the type of data they support:

Sailing Passage From Exuma to North Carolina

On August 13, we picked up our new sailboat in Exuma, Bahamas and sailed it to North Carolina – just a few days ahead of what was soon to be Hurricane Fay. Helping me crew were my long-time friend Fred Burke, and my daughter Trisha. We had just enough time the evening before to put fuel and provisions on the boat. Fortunately, the boat came with pretty much everything you need to conduct a blue water passage. You can download this KML file to see GPS tracks (colorized by speed) with placemarks identifying significant events (such as raising sails, fishing, being boarded by the US Coast Guard, etc.). Read on after checking out some photos and video clips (these pics are also geo-tagged in the KML file):


The winds were forecasted to be light most of the anticipated 4 day passage. The calm before the storm. This proved to be mostly true, although we did manage to sail a fair bit and used the sails to enhance our motoring speeds for most of the trip. A catamaran has two engines, but you only need to use one engine to maintain a good rate of speed – a little over 8 knots on our new boat. With light tail winds, it was very hot the first day. We trolled a fishing line in the water and actually caught a couple of barracuda – but, no fish we could eat (barracuda can cause ciguatera illness).
The second day we considered stopping in the Abacos for fuel, but the dock did not answer our hail by radio. So, we decided to cross over to Grand Bahamas and get fuel by the end of the day. We decided to rent a yacht charters in Miami with charterlux.com. We had a great afternoon sail – our first real sail of the passage. We got in to Grand Bahamas Yacht Club just one hour before they closed at 7 PM – got fuel and some quick provisions, and left within an hour. We saw very little boat traffic both days in the Bahamas. The fuel dock told us that business has been very slow due to the high fuel prices. At $6.22 per gallon for diesel, I could see why! That evening, we continued around Grand Bahamas and headed out to the Gulf Stream where we hoped to catch the current for faster speeds northward.
At 1:30 in the morning, just outside the Bahamas waters, Fred noticed a radar signal of a boat – but, could not see any lights. He was looking for it with binoculars when suddenly he was blinded by a floodlight. The radio burst on with “This is the US Coast Guard“. They asked us some basic questions (name, origin, destination, type of vessel, how many on board, etc.). Normally that suffices, but it was a calm night with a full moon. They “suggested” they would like to board our vessel to check for “safety compliance”. They both checked our papers, and thoroughly searched the vessel (I’m guessing in case we had “extra” visitors or “goods” on board). Very nice and professional guys – even if they were carrying weapons (and lots of ammo). They gave us a certificate that we met all safety regulations, and let us continue our way (by the way, they let us maintain speed and course the entire time). It essentially kept us from having a boring night of motoring with no wind – and kept us awake of course.
We did manage to catch the Gulf Stream for a good solid day which added nearly 35% more speed to our boat for a good 24 hours. But, we lost the current when it turned to the east – earlier than expected. We had a few sightings of cargo vessels along the way, and even had a couple of visits from dolphins (see the video in the slideshow). We got to fly the spinnaker for a couple of hours, and we had stronger winds at the very end – unfortunately, on our nose. We tacked our way for a few hours towards Beaufort, but ultimately motored the last hour or two into the harbor entrance. As a final touch, the tide was going out, so we had 3 knots current against us on the way in. Each night we had calm winds, so we had pretty straightforward night watches. The full moon made it easier to see the horizon and water surface – but, also spoiled what would have been some great starry nights. We had no storms or squalls cross us the entire way.
We arrived after 4.3 days and 862 nautical miles at the Beaufort Docks. Look at the KML file above for lots of details. I used GPSVisualizer to colorize the track according to speed. The photos were geotagged using Google Earth. If there were more photos, I would have used some other tools. Turn on the “Waypoints” folder to see all of the placemarks.
Special thanks to Virgil of EarthNC, who provided me with electronic charts I could use in Google Earth to help provide perspective as we went along. I cached imagery for our intended route so I could use Google Earth off-line. Virgil also shared some Bahamas charts he’s been working on. Which came in handy when we did the approach for fuel in Grand Bahamas. EarthNC has some great tools and data for boaters turning Google Earth into a rich chart plotter.

Circumnavigation: The Boat – Part I

Last week I announced the plan to begin a 5 year trip to circumnavigate the Earth by sailboat – and to make use of Google Earth in many ways. There are a lot of details behind this trip, so I’m sharing elements of the plan over the next few weeks in posts here at Google Earth Blog. I’m looking forward to telling you about some of the cool ways I will be using Google Earth to share our trip – but, now is a good time to introduce you to our new home and mode of transportation. Since the trip is for five years, we will be selling our house and our boat will be our main home starting sometime next year. We had previously owned a nice sailing catamaran and found it to be the ideal boat type for cruising and blue water travel. I should point out that sailing is an incredibly “green” mode of transportation. The primary means of movement is wind – you can’t get much greener than that!
We attended each of the Miami and Annapolis Boat Shows, did a lot of reading, and communicated with many boat owners during the last 4 years looking for the right boat. We ultimately settled on a St. Francis 50, by St. Francis Marine built in South Africa. South Africa has a reputation of building some of the best catamarans in the world. Our last boat was also built in South Africa. This boat has 4 queen-sized staterooms with a private head (bathroom) for each room (we plan to have friends and family visit along the way). There is a nice galley in one of the hulls; between the hulls there is a large salon area with a dining table suitable for up to eight people , a navigation station (and large desk area), and a TV entertainment center. There’s also an outside dining area suitable for eight, and the helm station with instruments all protected by a large “roof” area (called a bimini) giving protection from the sun and ocean spray – and there are solar panels on top (another important “green” element). The boat has two engines for times when you can’t sail, or while maneuvering in a harbor. And, it has a generator for charging the battery systems when solar power can’t keep up. See specifications including floor plans.
The boat we’ve just purchased was used by the builder at the Cape Town Boat Show last fall, and then at the Miami Boat Show in February (where I first saw it). Then, it was taken to the St. Francis Resort in the Bahamas where their sales representative lives (which is why we went to the Bahamas back in June). Here is a Google Earth file which shows where the boat was built, and the approximate route it took to get to the Bahamas along with the two boat shows. The boat had nearly 8000 nautical miles on it when we picked it up as a “new” boat. But, that’s often the case when a US citizen buys a South African boat. These boats are designed for long-distance travel. Here are some pictures of a St. Francis 50 from their web site (no, it doesn’t come with the cheerleaders). And, here are some pictures of it under sail.
The next part of this series will talk about going to pick up the boat and delivering it from the Bahamas to North Carolina where it will be kept part of the time while we are preparing the boat for the trip. Included will be GPS tracks, how Google Earth was used, pictures, and some other details about what happened during the trip.