The blog-archive, epirb to marine-battery with latest news on boat electrics

The blog-archive, epirb to marine-battery with latest news on boat electrics

BLOG ARCHIVE - Accidents and Incidents

Just how big are these waves?

Some info from earlier in the year that I thought I would share. European satellites have been used to verify just how many freak 10 storey size waves there are out there.

The term rogue waves has been used to account for many vessel sinkings of vessels as large as container ships and supertankers over the past 20 years. They used 2 earth-scanning satellites, ERS-1 and ERS-2, to monitor the oceans with their radar.

These radars make "imagettes" which are rectangular 10km x 5 km snap shot of the sea surface on project MaxWave. Here is the scary outcome! The satellites identified more than 10 individual giant waves around the planet that measured more than 25m in height.

US Coast Guard Fatality Statistics

This make sad and sorry reading! The U.S. Coast Guard in the latest annual boating fatality statistics record 710 boaters drowned in 2003. The Coast Guard also stated that some 86 per cent of those who drowned were not wearing life jackets, and alcohol was a contributing factor in approximately one third of the cases. They also stated that the leading contributing factors in boating accidents are operator inattention, carelessness/reckless operation, operator inexperience, and excessive speed. Also startling is that 80% of those who died were onboard boats whose operators had not received boating safety instruction. BE SAFE! GO LEARN ABOUT BOATS and the WATER! What more can one say!

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EPIRB ASSISTED RESCUE

An Australian man spent several hours bailing water from a sinking yacht as his New Zealand sailing crew was debilitated with sea sickness. The yacht was on a passage from Australia to the Bay of Islands in New Zealand and were rescued from the capsized vessel about 210km south-west of Lord Howe Island, more than 14 hours after the 9.4m yacht began taking on water. The yacht began taking on water after losing its mast, and the hull was breached and taking on water. The weather was 40 to 50 knot winds and the rough seas that go with that. The value of a properly registered EPIRB saved the men when they activated it. How about yours? It could save your life!

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Australian Navy Problems

The Australian Navy ship HMAS Ballarat has run aground at Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean. Familar territory as my old merchant shipping company lost a ship here, not easy navigation, but the navy again? The ship's rudder and propeller have been damaged but no one was injured. An investigation into what caused the ship to run aground. Sigh! well now I don't feel so bad having gone aground myself a few times

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SUB AGROUND! OOPS!

It happens to us all, but they are blaming outdated charts! Well as we all know that’s maybe valid excuse however the sea is changing the bottom around all the time, the recent earthquake and Tsunami have altered the position of islands some 100 feet plus let alone the seabed and depths. It is a cautionary tale for all sailors, use the charts, but also use seamanship and caution.

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US SUB AGROUND! SO IS THE SKIPPER!

As expected the unfortunate submarine skipper who ran aground was “re-assigned” not a good day at the office for this guy. Meanwhile did you hear all about the school of giant squid that were washed ashore in the US, strange stuff!

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SINGAPORE BOAT TRACKING and SECURITY

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) will require all licensed harbour and pleasure/recreational craft to carry transponders so that they and security agencies can identify and track their movements. The Harbour Craft Transponder System (HARTS) has been specially developed for small vessels which are not required to carry the Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders mandated by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code.

The key features of HARTS include: a 'Panic Button' to alert the shore-based authorities in the event of a security threat, Security features ensuring that each transponder unit will only work on the authorised craft, Ability to transmit craft identity, position, course and speed to shore-based authorities, Use of existing telecommunications infrastructure (GPRS network) for transmission of data from the transponder unit to the shore-based control centres.

They cost less than S$1,000 per unit, the HARTS transponder will be available at a much lower cost than AIS transponder at S$7,000-10,000 per unit. The Singaporean government says it will bear the cost of fitting HARTS transponders on all affected vessels. WHY AND WHEN CAN THIS SYSTEM BE USED IN MANY PLACES IS THE QUESTION? It’s affordable and security can only gain!

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Pirates activity again!

The hijacking and kidnap of two crew from an Indonesian tanker by heavily armed pirates in the Malacca Strait this ship was hijacked by 35 pirates armed with machine guns and rocket launchers in the Malacca Strait on Saturday

From the commercial shipping world, Lloyds List reports that heavily-armed pirates have returned to the Malacca Strait after a two month period of inactivity following the Asian tsunami. Some may be aware of the yachtsman who has been recently on trial in Asia for gun possession and this whole issue is a vexed one indeed, to carry a gun or not?

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Piracy Continues

Right now a tsunami aid ship has been hijacked off Somalia, lots more coming on piracy activities. Last week 4 incidents in Ghana, Bangladesh, Indonesia and boarders were repelled with fire hoses in Singapore Straits

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By strange coincidence this was at the same time 2 rogue wave incidents occurred when the 2 cruise liners the Bremen and the Caledonian Star, had their bridge windows smashed by 30m waves in the South Atlantic.

The Bremen was subsequently left drifting without navigation or propulsion for two hours after the hit. In 1995, the cruise liner Queen Elizabeth II encountered a 29m wave during a hurricane in the North Atlantic. The research continues to determine how these waves are generated, whether by ocean eddies and currents or by the collision of weather fronts, and which regions of the seas are high risk.

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Canadian Ferry Smashes up Yacht marina!

A ferry ploughed out of control into a marina this week near Vancouver, ripping into 24 moored boats, mostly sail and dive charter. One poor guy and ex Tug skipper was just finishing 5 year charter yacht project ready to go. Good news is no one was hurt, lucky indeed

The blog-archive, epirb to marine-battery with latest news on boat electrics

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