Please turn your AIS off when docked/moored/anchored

[Liam Wald]

[QUOTE=Jim Cate;1236827]Hmmm...

IIRC, within the past couple of months a large (82 foot) Oyster was indeed stolen in the SF Bay area by some dim-witted thieves. The AIS was linked to general or nav station power and thus was energized. The owner and the authorities were able to track the boat until the idiot thieves ran her up on the beach south of the Gate.

Good point! With stupid, dim-witted thieves there is really no need or reason to track them electronically. Just drive along the beach for a few miles and you will likely find them.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by conachair

Get outta here - you seriously think someone back on the boat is going to forget turning on a transponder when firing up the gps & depth etc? Anyone with half a brain who has ais onboard will notice straight away the lack of targets, very weak argument for leaving the boats nav system fired up when leaving it. So everyone should leave depthsounders & gps fired up all the time in case they forget to turn them on next time they get down the boat? Sorry, but that's barking mate

It is easy to forget stuff .

[savoir]

Originally Posted by GeoPowers

I love this about CF. Famed cruiser Evans Starzinger starts a thread about a legitimate topic he experienced while actually cruising and five posts later an average joe schools him on how to be a real seaman.

Frank

The " sort out your alarm " bit was pretty right.

[jeremiason]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Hmmm...

IIRC, within the past couple of months a large (82 foot) Oyster was indeed stolen in the SF Bay area by some dim-witted thieves. The AIS was linked to general or nav station power and thus was energized. The owner and the authorities were able to track the boat until the idiot thieves ran her up on the beach south of the Gate.

Not a common thing though!

Cheers,

Jim

In 2011, 8 recreational boats over 40 feet were stolen in the USA... Hardly justifies leaving your AIS on as a theft prevention or recovery device.

Source BoatUS
BoatUS Magazine: Stolen Boats: Good News, Bad News | December 2012

[MarkJ]

I leave my AIS most of the time for a few reasons... In an anchorage I want boats manouvering to be able to see me. When friends come in I need them to be able to see me (if their wives are good looking); if the boat is stolen I want to find where it is; I want Police/ CG etc of the country I am in to know where I am( as I am not a criminal it's fine.); if my boat drags someone may notice quicker;

There's gotta be other good reasons too.....

Mark
PS this is whilst I am cruising. If living at home I would probably turn it off.

[flash]

I find it curious that many posters seem not to mind leaving their AIS on at all times, including while at sea. I personally leave my AIS transmitter off except when visibility is poor, such as when in fog or at night. I have also flipped it on when in an active shipping lane or commercial harbor. I suppose I might leave it on if I were unable to keep a proper watch. Otherwise, the idea of having a locator beacon for all the world to see, including the government and whoever else, doesn't appeal to me anymore than it would having one in my car or on my person. I am surprised that it appeals to so many fellow cruisers who tend to be an independent bunch.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by jeremiason

In 2011, 8 recreational boats over 40 feet were stolen in the USA... Hardly justifies leaving your AIS on as a theft prevention or recovery device.

Source BoatUS
BoatUS Magazine: Stolen Boats: Good News, Bad News | December 2012

With the Oyster, didn't the owner see his boat aground on the news or something and identify it? The ais track came up later?
Anyway, I would think fear of theft could be argued as a good reason not to transmit while tidied up somewhere - billy the boat-thief can sit at home on marinetraffic picking out a nice big one to take away, then he has your mmsi number, call sign, maybe a pic or 2, list of radio transmitting equipment onboard, if you've been anywhere recently plus any other info which google spits out with your boat name on the same page. Might be a bit safer keeping a lower profile...

[Liam Wald]

Originally Posted by jeremiason

In 2011, 8 recreational boats over 40 feet were stolen in the USA... Hardly justifies leaving your AIS on as a theft prevention or recovery device.

Source BoatUS
BoatUS Magazine: Stolen Boats: Good News, Bad News | December 2012

Interesting thing about the prevailing attitudes that humans have with regard to both crime and disease...
Most people really truly believe, "It will happen to the other guy, it won't happen to me of course. What are the odds?"
Maybe that's what keeps us from being paranoid to the point of debilitation.

[Jammer Six]

Originally Posted by rwidman

I can still post right? It's just that I will be ignored?

Unless you hit a nerve.

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by flash

I find it curious that many posters seem not to mind leaving their AIS on at all times, including while at sea. I personally leave my AIS transmitter off except when visibility is poor, such as when in fog or at night. I have also flipped it on when in an active shipping lane or commercial harbor. I suppose I might leave it on if I were unable to keep a proper watch. Otherwise, the idea of having a locator beacon for all the world to see, including the government and whoever else, doesn't appeal to me anymore than it would having one in my car or on my person. I am surprised that it appeals to so many fellow cruisers who tend to be an independent bunch.

I agree. The privacy implications around AIS, in particular, broadcasting the data on the Internet is interesting. I expect that application will change as soon as policy-makers notice what is happening.

[estarzinger]

Wow I am gone for a day and there are 6 pages!

I have a vesper AIS, and it has all sorts of filters. I was using what they have preset as the "coastal sailing' set of filters.

I have tried it and I do NOT like filtering out slow moving vessels (say under .2kts) because I have found both slow moving fishing boats (say when picking up their pots) and slow moving ships waiting for a birth time or pilot. I prefer it be allowed to alarm for those, and then I don't think there is a way to separate out the (class B) moored boats - would be delighted if someone can tell me otherwise.

The 'coastal sailing' set of filters has an appropriate alarm circle range for dealing with ships moving at 15kts. I do not want to reduce that circle or it will not give me (what Vesper considers) the 'best practice' amount of warning.

I personally see zero reason for pleasure vessels with class B AIS to be transmitting while docked or moored in Newport harbor. I would suggest you are wrong if you think that's going to stop some idiot from running into you - that idiot probably will not have AIS, and if he does probably will not be paying it much attention (if he is bad enough to hit a moored boat). This (the AIS frequency) is a public commons and you are reducing its usefulness and value by clogging it up with unnecessary collision alerts when you don't need to be - it's simply being a bad member of the community - in my opinion.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by flash

I find it curious that many posters seem not to mind leaving their AIS on at all times, including while at sea. I personally leave my AIS transmitter off except when visibility is poor, such as when in fog or at night. I have also flipped it on when in an active shipping lane or commercial harbor. I suppose I might leave it on if I were unable to keep a proper watch. Otherwise, the idea of having a locator beacon for all the world to see, including the government and whoever else, doesn't appeal to me anymore than it would having one in my car or on my person. I am surprised that it appeals to so many fellow cruisers who tend to be an independent bunch.

Yes, you can't trust that government. Next thing you know, they will be tracking your movements and taxing you for every mile travelled! Here's a suggestion - Buy an AIS transmitter, but leave it at the dock, powered on. That way the government can't find you.

The other side of this; Many folks blog on the Internet describing their entire trip. Where they are, what they are doing, who is with them, etc. I published a cruise I took but only after I got home so people wouldn't know I was away from home.

BTW: If you carry a cell phone you already have a locator beacon on your person.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

Wow I am gone for a day and there are 6 pages!

I have a vesper AIS, and it has all sorts of filters. I was using what they have preset as the "coastal sailing' set of filters.

I have tried it and I do NOT like filtering out slow moving vessels (say under .2kts) because I have found both slow moving fishing boats (say when picking up their pots) and slow moving ships waiting for a birth time or pilot. I prefer it be allowed to alarm for those, and then I don't think there is a way to separate out the (class B) moored boats - would be delighted if someone can tell me otherwise.

The 'coastal sailing' set of filters has an appropriate alarm circle range for dealing with ships moving at 15kts. I do not want to reduce that circle or it will not give me (what Vesper considers) the 'best practice' amount of warning.

I personally see zero reason for pleasure vessels with class B AIS to be transmitting while docked or moored in Newport harbor. I would suggest you are wrong if you think that's going to stop some idiot from running into you - that idiot probably will not have AIS, and if he does probably will not be paying it much attention (if he is bad enough to hit a moored boat). This (the AIS frequency) is a public commons and you are reducing its usefulness and value by clogging it up with unnecessary collision alerts when you don't need to be - it's simply being a bad member of the community - in my opinion.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion and of course, others are entitled to theirs. "Being a bad member of the community" seems a little harsh though, and that sort of language isn't likely to win you any converts. Some folks may just turn theirs on just to piss you off!

[Kettlewell]

Too much information is as useless as too little information. If AIS displays are so cluttered that it makes it difficult to sort out who is doing what, what good are they? As Evans points out, filtering is only so useful when a vast amount of garbage is being poured into your system--you still get garbage coming out through the filter.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

it's simply being a bad member of the community - in my opinion.

A shame you added that last bit. Now you personally are judging others as bad elements because they do not do what you want, even though they comply with all regulations. We don't need that, we need more respect for those with other ways; would make our world a bit better.