Best Method for Tracking a Passage; St Martin to Australia

[jeremiason]

You might want to read this Latitude 38 article on a Pacific Puddle Jumper, whos family reported him to the USCG after the SPOT Messenger stopped reporting his position on his way from Mexico to the South Pacific in 2010.

SPOT seems to be a good device for coastal passage making, but crossing oceans is beyond its capability.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Thanks for your reply Tom. Yes, I am now aware of the limitations of the SPOT system in the Pacific region due to Globalstar not fully covering this region as there are very large black spots.

I have now crossed it off the potential shopping list.

At this stage I have narrowed it down to either the Delorme inReach but it looks like I would need to get a separate Sat phone if I go for this or an Iridium Extreme Satphone which seems like it ticks all of the boxes.

ATTN MODS - Can you please remove Spot Messenger from the title of this thread and change it to say "Best Tracking Solution for Passage St Maarten to Australia?" I don't think that I can do this can I? Thanks as this would now be more appropriate.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Just wondering if anyone has some tracking maps created through a Delorme inReach during a Pacific Ocean crossing I could take a look at.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Thanks guys for all of the great information provided. We have now purchased an Iridium Extreme Satphone which gives us the yacht tracking ability along with the long range communication which is essential for the Pacific crossing planned to commence from March next year and also for when the boat arrives and operates in Vanuatu. The Iridium Extreme is also equipped with the Accesspoint accessory to give WiFi access to onboard equipment like laptops & iPads etc.

If we had not also required the long range communication, say if we had HF on board, we would have gone for the Delorme inReach which is very impressive and cost effective as well.

[Mambo]

Originally Posted by Ozbullwinkle

Thanks guys for all of the great information provided. We have now purchased an Iridium Extreme Satphone which gives us the yacht tracking ability along with the long range communication which is essential for the Pacific crossing planned to commence from March next year and also for when the boat arrives and operates in Vanuatu. The Iridium Extreme is also equipped with the Accesspoint accessory to give WiFi access to onboard equipment like laptops & iPads etc.

If we had not also required the long range communication, say if we had HF on board, we would have gone for the Delorme inReach which is very impressive and cost effective as well.

Congrats! Sounds like a great set-up. If you don't mind sharing the cost breakdown for the whole package (minutes plan, data, handset, tracking package) that would be really useful info.

Best.
-M

[Ozbullwinkle]

I now have the Iridium Extreme with the Axcesspoint wifi accessory & have been using it to download Grib files through Saildocs which has worked fine.

I still need to resolve the Yacht Tracking app for my forthcoming Pacific trip though for shore based family & friends to keep track of our progress. I initially thought that such an app was built into the Iridium Extreme but this is not the case as you need an add on portal.

I have read about the ones on the Iridium Extreme but they seem more geared to fleet operations and asset management.

Hoping that there are some Iridium Extreme users out there who have already been down this path regarding a tracking app and can provide me with some information.

[Tomm0]

I love my spot tracker, but watch the coverage depending on where you are. Her in Australia including offshore - fine.

When I was in Madagascar... Small orange paperweight.

[Ozbullwinkle]

The Spot will not be suitable for my passage as the Globalstar network has too many blackspots to be reliable for a Pacific crossing.

At this stage we are planning on using a tracking site developed by one of the CF members BLUEWATERSAILINGDATA.COM but it is always good to have a plan B if for some last minute reason we run into a snag which prevents us from using the aforementioned tracker which would most probably be a Delorme inReach.

[Jane.Joy]

We were "gifted" an inReach and it is AWESOME. I like it so much better than SPOT - definitely worth the extra money - for the purchase as well as the monthly expense. Two way comms! You can email (text) ANYONE - and they are directed to a website to reply, allowed 160 characters. It is WAY faster to transmit than the SPOT was - even when we were in a "good" coverage area - the Bahamas. And the interface is more intuitive - off-line maps which at one point (in the San Blas) gave us a clearer picture of where we were than Navionics charts (hey, we're aground!). The inReach "mapshare" feature keeps all your tracks, whereas with the SPOT we had to transfer our tracks - within 7 days - to the "SPOT adventure" website. PITA.

Ozbullwinkle, I'm writing this for anyone else who might be looking for info in the future, since I know you've already purchased the satphone - we are planning to purchase the Extreme as well, before we take off across the Pacific - but the inReach does what it does very well - a definite fun-to-have, if it fits into the budget. My now 83-year-old mom LOVES being able to write back. (Be careful! How are the cats? Where did you put the instruction manual for that printer you bought me because I think I'm out of ink? Etc.)

Also, there is a 12V adaptor for the inReach - no more AA lithium batteries!!!!!! I think it's a bit pricey (as I said, we got it for the low-low price of free) - but over time, and with how expensive AA lithiums are - and how hard to find, sometimes - the adaptor would probably pay for itself pretty quickly with regular usage.

Here is our track from Cartagena, bee-bopping around Kuna Yala (whenever we remembered to turn the thing on), and to Shelter Bay.
https://share.delorme.com/JaneBehr

[Ozbullwinkle]

Thanks Jane.Joy. That is good information as the inReach is still Plan B for us as this stage.

[four winds]

With the InReach, is there a way to limit who can see your tracks?

Or can anyone who knows the "name" of your device see them?

[Jane.Joy]

There is a password feature - so if you want, only those who have the password will be able to access the map.

[Ozbullwinkle]

All is looking good for us to go with Plan A as originally planned being the tracking site developed by one of the CF members BLUEWATERSAILINGDATA.COM

I have logged a passage that I have done down the East coast of Australia under my username & the boat that I am doing the Pacific Ocean passage on which is Rendezvous Rv6282 is currently doing final testing using our satphone on a passage around the BVI from St Martin. You can go to this site and look at either of these tracks.

The great advantage of this site is that it uses Google maps (which is better than what Delorme use) and all we need to do is send a SMS from our Satphone with text of up to 160 characters to update our position on the map and it also shows the total Nm travelled since the last report.

So, no additional expenditure or monthly plans which would be required to go for the Delorme inReach, along with a very easy site to use and to access by all shore personnel who will be following our passage from mid March.

[sinbad7]

I would think using the Inmarsat satellite phone with bluetooth,paired with an Android smartphone would be an excellent solution to transmit your position anywhere in the world to the free,donation based SpotWalla´s on-line Google maps display which already supports inputs from,Globalstar Spot,Delorme InReach,Bubbler GPS,Generic .GPX devices,Google Latify,Yahoo Fire Eagel and even APRS devices.

We are now also working with BluewaterSailingdata.com to make a satellite connection for the Bubbler GPS app. transmitting your GPS location and other text by SMS to SpotWalla at set intervals using Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro - The ultimate combination - IsatPhone Pro
The sat phone has bluetooth connection and cost around US$ 600.-

The interesting part of Bubbler GPS is that it is able to collect your .gps data as often as you like and transmit in bulk at set intervals. This way you maintain all the waypoints in your track but only transmit them at user set intervals. The SMS data messages are very short and executes very quickly to save cost. The user will see the entire,uniterrupted track. This is very useful when Bubbler GPS makes use of the cellnet and uploads directly from your smartphone whenever there is cellnet coverage. It will also upload within WiFi internet connections.

We are presently cooperating with the creators of SpotWalla,Bubbler GPS and Bluewatersailindata,working on a system which will give the end user several options
to upload their GPS/text data for viewing in SpotWalla on-line.

Tore

[Ozbullwinkle]

Sounds interesting Tore but I am not an Android user. I have the Iridium Extreme with the Accesspoint module so that the satphone is a wifi hotspot for my Windows based laptop for email access for saildocs requests etc.

So Bluwatersailingdata.com will suit my tracking requirements. Just making sure that your current dealings with them is not likely to affect the operation of their application as I would not want my position reports to cease for some reason during the passage across the Pacific.

Regards,
Steve