Infiniti Yachts using of the revolutionary Dynamic Stability Systems (DSS) technology.
Links :
- MySailing : Dynamic Stability Systems go-fast gear
Friday, November 1, 2013
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Saildrone : a wind-propelled autonomous platform is crossing Pacific ocean
Saildrone - Autonomous circumnavigation of Farallon islands from Richard Jenkins
A wind-propelled autonomous platform for ocean data collection
From MTS Foundation
Saildrone is an innovative oceanographic research platform developed through a collaboration of Saildrone LLC with the Marine Science & Technology Foundation.
An autonomous vehicle designed for operation on the water's surface, Saildrone is powered entirely by wind and solar energy.
Suitable for deployments from either shore or ship, it has the capability to autonomously navigate across any body of water around the world.
Saildrone during its first 60 hour milestone, in 25 knots of wind
Designed for long-term deployments in the open ocean, Saildrone will support collection of diverse oceanographic data, which can then be delivered to shore remotely via satellite.
Our current R&D effort aims to enable Saildrone to survive autonomous deployments lasting many months in the open ocean, and prove it as a cost-efficient and agile autonomous data collection platform.
It can safely and reliably operate in areas difficult to access using large ships and other traditional methods - for example, around shallow reefs, banks, and in otherwise harsh coastal environments.
Saildrone will have substantial on-board payload capacity to accommodate a variety of embedded sensors as well as add-on instrumentation for collection of diverse oceanographic data.
Two-way satellite communication allows Saildrone to send data to shore and receive commands from a shoreside control center while operating autonomously at sea.
Missions can be modified "on-the-fly" by a shoreside operator, e.g. if telemetry data shows interesting trends that require more detailed investigation.
This collaboration will enable Saildrone LLC and MSTF to develop and thoroughly test the initial Saildrone prototype demonstrator, and assess the potential of this technology to help reduce the costs of oceanographic data collection relative to conventional methods.
San Francisco to Hawaii mission
Over the past 6 months, Saildrone 1 has logged over 3,000 nautical miles during a variety of missions, including the first autonomous rounding of the Farallon islands and a 27 day offshore sortie in the Pacific.
The current mission is a full ocean crossing from San Francisco to Hawaii, which started on October 1st, 2013.
It can safely and reliably operate in areas difficult to access using large ships and other traditional methods - for example, around shallow reefs, banks, and in otherwise harsh coastal environments.
Advanced composite construction & revolutionary sailing vessel design
Two-way satellite communication allows Saildrone to send data to shore and receive commands from a shoreside control center while operating autonomously at sea.
Missions can be modified "on-the-fly" by a shoreside operator, e.g. if telemetry data shows interesting trends that require more detailed investigation.
This collaboration will enable Saildrone LLC and MSTF to develop and thoroughly test the initial Saildrone prototype demonstrator, and assess the potential of this technology to help reduce the costs of oceanographic data collection relative to conventional methods.
San Francisco to Hawaii mission
Over the past 6 months, Saildrone 1 has logged over 3,000 nautical miles during a variety of missions, including the first autonomous rounding of the Farallon islands and a 27 day offshore sortie in the Pacific.
The current mission is a full ocean crossing from San Francisco to Hawaii, which started on October 1st, 2013.
click on the picture to display Saildrone's progress in real time
Links :
- GeoGarage : Swimming robot reaches Australia after record-breaking trip / Model boat Snoopy Sloop on unmanned Atlantic crossing challenge
- Bluefin Robotics : Bluefin and NRL complete long endurance UUV mission from Boston to New-York
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
NOAA : Better nautical chart images coming to electronic charting systems
Things are changing for U.S. nautical charts.
We think you’re really going to like this improvement!
- Last week, Coast Survey announced that most of our nautical charts are available for free download as PDFs (Adobe Portable Document Format).
- Before that, we announced that the government will stop printing lithographic nautical charts after April 13, but chart users can still get printed charts from a NOAA-certified Print-on-Demand chart provider.
- Today, we have good news for boaters with electronic charting systems that use NOAA raster navigational charts (NOAA RNC®): your charts are going to be easier to read.
When it comes to digital graphics, higher resolution is generally better than lower resolution.
Dots per inch (dpi) measures the image resolution: the higher the dpi, the better the resolution, the clearer the image.
Today, cartographers at Coast Survey are busy improving the resolution of NOAA RNCs, increasing the chart images from the current 254 dpi to 400 dpi.
This change improves the clarity, readability, and aesthetics of this highly popular digital charting product.
Coast Survey maintains over a thousand RNCs that are available as free downloads.
Our Marine Chart Division is transitioning the entire suite, updating and checking quality on all the charts, and we expect all RNCs to be upgraded to the 400 dpi by January 2014.
Don’t worry, we aren’t taking anything offline.
You won’t even notice that we’re changing the RNCs, except that you’ll see clearer images after your chart has been changed to 400 dpi.
RNC screengrab at 254 dpi
RNC screengrab at 400 dpi
Less time puzzling through ragged graphics means more time to increase situational awareness.
We’ve included a 400 dpi test dataset on the NOAA RNC webpage, so RNC users can give it a try. The test dataset includes BSBs for Detroit, Long Island Sound, Puget Sound, and Tampa Bay.
We hope that
users and developers will let us know if you discover any problems with
the test dataset. -> Submit comments here
FAQs : We’ve listed some frequently asked questions below.
Does this change the actual format of the RNC?
No. The only change is the resolution of the chart image.
Will higher resolution files have bigger file sizes?
The average increase in file size is around 50 percent, but that is easily handled by today’s computers, mobile apps, and display systems.
When will all the high-resolution RNCs be available for public download?
If the transition goes as planned, NOAA expects to upgrade all RNCs to 400 dpi by the end of 2013.
I currently use the NOAA RNC suite in my chart plotter.
Will the high-resolution RNCs work as well?
We expect no compatibility issues in this upgrade. If you do have technical problems with this upgrade, contact your software provider for technical assistance.
We encourage software providers to let us know of any difficulties during the testing period.
Submit comments and questions to NOAA’s Nautical Inquiry & Comment System.
Brazil DHN update in the Marine GeoGarage
3 charts have been added and 31 have been updated since the last update
- 704 PORTO DE GUAMARÉ
- 906 PORTO DE SUAPE
- 1001 PORTO DE BARRA DOS COQUEIROS
- 1403 DA BARRA DO ITAPEMIRIM AO CABO DE SAO TOMÉ
- 1511 BARRA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
- 1512 PORTO DO RIO DE JANEIRO
- 2110 PROXIMIDADES DO PORTO DE RIO GRANDE
- 21020 DE SALINÓPOLIS A FORTALEZA
- 21040 DE NATAL AO RIO ITARIRI NEW
- 21070 DO CABO FRIO AO CABO DE SANTA MARTA GRANDE
- 21700 DE TUTÓIA À PONTA DOS PATOS
- 22300 DE MACEIÓ A ARACAJU NEW
- 22700 DA PONTA CUMURUXATIBA A CONCEIÇÃO DA BARRA
- 22800 DE CONCEIÇÃO DA BARRA A VITÓRIA
- 23000 DO CABO DE SÃO TOMÉ AO RIO DE JANEIRO
- 23200 DE SANTOS A PARANAGUÁ
- 23300 DE PARANAGUÁ A IMBITUBA
- 4103A DE PRAINHA À COSTA DO ITUQUI NEW
- 3316 DA ISLA PEDERNAL AO PASO CAA-PUCU-MI
- 3317 DA ISLA DEL LOCO AO PASO SIETE PUNTAS
- 3318 DO PASO SIETE PUNTAS AO PASO MILAGRO
- 3319 DO RIO YPANÉ AO PASO SALADILLO
- 3320 DO PASO SIETE PUNTAS AO PASO MILAGRO
- 3325 DA ISLA SAN CARLOS A ISLA PIQUETE-CAMBÁ
- 3326 DA ISLA PIQUETE-CAMBÁ AO PASO ITÁ-PUCÚ-MÍ
- 3327 DO PASO ITÁ-PUCÚ-MÍ AO PUERTO MAX
- 3328 DA ISLA CAÁ-PUCÚ-MÍ A ISLA CARAYACITO
- 3329 DE ITACUÁ AO PUERTO RISSO
- 3330 DO PUERTO RISSO A ISLA DALMACIA
- 3331 DA ISLA DALMACIA A ISLA SAN ROQUE
- 3332 PUERTO VALLEMI
- 3333 FOZ DO RIO APA
- 3334 DO PORTO SASTRE À CANCHA ESTRELA
- 3342 DE FORTE OLIMPO AO PASSO CURUÇU CANCHA
Today 430 charts (476 including sub-charts) from DHN are displayed in the Marine GeoGarage
Don't forget to visit the NtM Notices to Mariners (Avisos aos Navegantes)
Google Seaview allows unprecedented views of Mary Celestia sunken ship
Explore this historic ship yourself without getting wet
using the following link.
using the following link.
Google has teamed up with the Caitlin Sea Survey, an environmental survey project partnered with the University of Queensland, to provide panoramic views of the sunken civil war vessel the side paddlewheeler steamer Mary Celestia.
The program is an extension of the Google street view technology most of us are already familiar with, except Seaview, as it is familiarly referred to, shows life-like images underwater.
Google Seaview already allows browsers to navigate full 360 degree views of some of the most famous reefs in the world, but with this new addition you can explore one of Bermuda’s most historic shipwrecks without every getting your feet wet.
>>> geolocalization with the Marine GeoGarage <<<
The Mary Celestia is one of the most heavily dived sites in Bermuda drawing attention from diving enthusiasts and history buffs alike.
Registered at 207 tons, the Mary Celestia first set sail in February of 1864.
The vessel, a 221 foot iron-hull paddle steamer, was used as a blockade runner towards the end of the civil war.
It was originally made by the Liverpool Shipyard of William C. Miller and Son and later commissioned by William and James Crenshaw, two brothers from Richmond Virginia to help them transport goods to England and other colonies.
Artist Edward James depicted Mary Celestia’s end in an 1864 watercolor
Photo: Courtesy National Museum of Bermuda
On its last voyage September 6, 1864, the steamer was smuggling ammunition and riffles to Wilmington.
As the ship approached the shore to drop off William Crenshaw and his pilot John Virgin, it collided with a reef several hundred yards off of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse and sunk down 55 feet to where it rests today.
Mary-Celestia from LookBermuda | LookFilms
Trailer for the LookBermuda film on the Mary-Celestia featuring the recovery of civil war wine hidden for 150 years in its bow.
This footage was shot during a dive in Jan 2011 and was not staged.
(see James P. Delgado website & Waitt Institute)
Though covered in coral, you can still clearly see the 14 foot paddle wheel that propelled this historic vessel.
Note : known throughout history as the fabled Ghost Ship, another ship also named 'Mary Celeste' was found sailing off the Azores in 1872 ghost-like with no one aboard, before she wrecked off Haiti in January 1885. (BBC news / Smithsonian)
Links :
- DiveBuddy : the wreck of the Marie Celestia
- Bermuda government : Mary Celeste shipwreck on Google StreetView / Mary Celestia
- National Geographic : Shipwreck Pictures: Civil War-era Wine, Cologne Found
- other Google SeaView projects : Monaco / Galapagos
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