Login confirmation & Password reset

We note that about 25% of our users who asked to login never completed the process.

If you aren't received an email with the subject 'GeoGarage Marine account activation', please follow these steps:

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4. still haven't received the email? If you haven't received a verification email within 24 hours, please click the contact us link. We'll be happy to assist you further.

Reset password procedure :

if you don't recall your initial password, you can also click on the following link to reset it and enter a new one :

http://marine.geogarage.com/ask_reset_password

Explore Marine Protected Areas

http://www.protectedplanet.net

WDPA-Marine is dedicated to provide the most comprehensive set of marine protected areas (MPAs) data available.

With less than one percent of the oceans under legal protection, it is essential to maintain a dataset that focuses on MPAs and representation of the diverse species and habitats found in the marine environment.

see also :

• locations of MPAs with Google Earth kml file (courtesy of IUCN)
• Protect Planet Ocean : 1% is not enough!
• petition to create the world's largest MPA around the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean
  

Online Vessel Navigation Interactive Guide

http://www.maritime.nsw.gov.au/vessel_navigation_tool/nav_home.html

You're the skipper, you're responsible !

Every year there are many preventable accidents and incidents which occur on our waterways.
Many of these incidents occur simply because of a lack of understanding of basic marine navigation techniques and water-traffic rules.

This online module has been designed by New South Wales Government (NSW Maritime) with the assistance of Britain's Royal National Lifeboat Institution to reinforce the boating safety knowledge that you already have as a navigator and hopefully prevent future accident from occuring.

Using animation, boaters can choose to view navigation buoys and marks from a variety of angles and views and then adjust the visibility to see these marks in both daylight and at night.

So, let's gain a better understanding of the various colors and configurations of lights by responding to a series of different scenarios in interactive quizzes, manipulating all a variety of vessels including motor boats and sailing boats.

Holiday on ice for former French sailing racers

After an early sporting carrier spent in ocean sailing races, some French famous sailors seem to have fallen in love navigating close to North or South poles of our planet.

• Philippe Poupon ('Philou') winner of two single-handed transatlantic (Ostar and Route du Rhum) races more than twenty years ago has achieved with all his family the Norwest passage on his ketch 'Fleur Australe'.
  Maurice Uguen, who worked with Philou in ham radio communications during 'Fleury Michon' period, routed 'Fleur Australe' during the passage from East to West. Maurice is preparing from his side a project called 'Captain Hatteras' whose aim is to leave Paris in 2011, sail through the Northwest Passage, and reach Korea, to be exhibited at the Yoesu Expo 2012.

• Jean-Louis Etienne, former crew member (with Philou) of Eric Tabarly with Pen Duick VI (1978), who becomed the first man to reach North Pole alone (1986) is now leading a new project called Total Airship, which aims to fly a blimp over the Artic ocean and the North pole, measuring the thickness of the sea ice.
  

• Christophe Auguin, today the only man to have won three times solo races around the world - 2x 'Round Around Alone' BOC Challenge (1991/1995) / 1x Vendee Globe (1997) - is organizing sailing travels around Cap Horn, Patagonia and Antartic

• Isabelle Autissier first woman to complete the BOC Challenge (1991), who recently became President of WWF France, is leading with her boat Ada 2, "Nomansland project", a sailing and mountain climbing expedition in Antartica (also testing Safran's anti-UFO system for the detection of icebergs and growlers beneath the surface of the water).

• Eric Loizeau, another former Eric Tabarly's teammate moved from offshore sailing races to alpinism (climbing Mount Everest in 2003). He is now invested in events organization with his company ELO. He organizes sailing and skiing trips with Bernard Audrezet (his former teamate on 'Roger & Gallet' catamaran) who manages 'Escales Polaires' a fleet of boats navigating in Artic and Spitzberg Sea.
  

• Guy Delage, ex skipper of prao, who crossed the Atlantic drifting/swimming but also in microlight aircraft organizes trips in Patagonia
  

Meanwhile Olivier de Kersauzon (ex recordman of the solo trip around the world and winner of the Jules Verne trophy) has chosen warmer latitudes for navigating and living a part of the year in Moorea island (French Polynesia).

Same preference for Laurent Bourgnon in Bora-Bora on board the Jambo catamaran after crossing Patagonia for a world tour with his family.

"Never give up your dreams."
All know more than anyone what these words mean.

Sat-nav systems under growing threats

Technology that depends on satellite-navigation signals (GPS/Glonass/Compass) is increasingly threatened by :

• attack from widely available equipment : while "jamming" sat-nav equipment with noise signals is on the rise, more sophisticated methods allow hackers even to program what receivers display (see BBC News / Financial Times / NZ Master Mariners articles)
  

• solar activity rising : GPS systems are particularly sensitive to major electric activity in the ionosphere, which interferes with satellite signals. The Northern Lights (or Aurora Borealis) could be messing with GPS satellite navigation systems when the satellite signal passes through the phenomena (see Telegraph article). The Sun is on its way to another solar maximum, which could generate large and unpredictable sat-nav errors (see BBC News other article)
  

Some more reasons to not rely too heavily on an GPS chart plotter which can be inaccurate sometimes (see the recent story occured in Australia : "Fatal yacht crash inquiry blames GPS")