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Ocean Girl · 27-12-2015, 19:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by OBXSkipper

I'm on the Outer Banks of NC, very unusual weather pattern for this time of year to say the least. I have a friend who works on a longline boat out of Norfolk Va. I told him and hopefully he talks to two friends and so on. It's really pretty boring work and this gives the skipper something to do and talk with other captains about. I seriously doubt any of them would ever tow the little boat back in but they could at least report the sighting. If someone could give me a heads up when it's guestimated to be off NC coast I got another buddy who works on a shrimp boat out of Morehead city, they are near coastal and if she slipped outa the stream she could make Cape Fear.

Thank you! This is just the kind of help we need. Will try to give daily estimates. The recovery coordinator is Glenn at SSCA his email is KPK@sscaDOTorg. If they spot Dagny and cannot stay in the area or tow the boat in, ask them if they can Tag the boat somehow. Hmm I need to start a thread brain storming how to tag a boat adrift.
Anyways, thank you for putting the word out, commercial marine industry is a huge resource we have yet to really tap into.
Hugs to you
Erika

Ocean Girl · 27-12-2015, 19:26

This is the last estimated location per Chris Parker if someone can plot this and post would be wonderful!! My iPad keeps crashing.

The following is a drift analysis prepared by weather forecaster Chris Parker of the Marine Weather Center:

At 5pm on Thu24, I estimate position 28-12N/79-45W, based on drift from wind 30 miles, in direction 320T & set from current 48 miles in direction 355T.

At 5pm on Fri25, I estimate position 29-30N/80-10W, based on drift from wind 25 miles, in direction 310T & set from current 45 miles in direction 348T.

At 5pm today (Sat26), I estimate position 30N/80-30W, based on drift from wind 22 miles, in direction 320T & current about 10 miles in direction 345T.

From the current location there's little GulfStream current (and tidal currents should cancel themselves out over a 24hr period), so drift should be due exclusively to wind, and should be about 18 miles in a direction of 330T Sat26 night-Sun27 (yielding a 5pm Sun27 location of 30-15N/80-40W)...

and 22 miles in a direction 340T Sun27 night-Mon28 (yielding a Mon28 evening location of 30-36N/80-48W).

and 25mi in a direction 360T Mon28 night-Tue29 (yielding a 5pm Tue29 position 30-51N/80-48W).

Of course, all of the above is only an educated guess, and the possible errors compound over time...cheers...Chris.

--
Chris Parker

Weather Forecasting & Vessel Routing
Weather & Communications - Hardware, Software, Sales, Consulting, Books,
Seminars

www.mwxc.com
Marine Weather & Communications LLC (and dba Marine Weather Center)
5130 Medulla Rd
Lakeland FL 33811
ph 863-248-2702
fax 863-248-4666

Ocean Girl · 27-12-2015, 20:03

Ok, brainiacs sailors. Ideas for tagging Dagny.
If she is spotted by someone who cannot tow her in or stay with her till a recovery vessel arrives. How can we tag Dagny?
Phone won't work right?
Throwing an Epirb aboard? Is that illegal us of epirb?
How can we tag Dagny?

Ocean Girl · 27-12-2015, 20:06

Anyone have experience with creating a tomnod search? Tomnod
Can this resource be used?

hellosailor · 27-12-2015, 20:14

Legally, I suppose the only way to tag it is to put a BEACON on it. Which would mean an AIS transmitter, most commonly. With a battery and solar panel if you at all possibly can.

An EPIRB would arguably be illegal, since there is no emergency, only a "damned inconvenience".

You could throw on other radio beacons, such as an amateur radio APRS transmitter if you want to explore that.

Or, simply a strobe or similar marker lights, again with a big battery and solar charger. That might restrict the searching to the dark hours--but that's still half the day, with a cheap simple solution.

A cell phone, out of range of the cell towers, is only going to be useful within WiFi or Bluetooth "mesh network" range, which might be 100 yards at sea.

A SPOT transmitter would give you a beacon good for satellite tracking--but I think you've only got 24 hours before it resets and turns off. You might check SPOT and InReach to see if they can rise to the occasion. Or Yellow Brick, I think they've got longer duration trackers for ocean racers.

Rustic Charm · 27-12-2015, 20:21

[QUOTE=socaldmax;1998739]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

If you followed your own advice, you'd never post anything.

I'm not the one who brought up the CAP, but I figured since they're flying around up there doing SAR and drug interdiction, looking for a sailboat isn't any more dangerous if they happen to be in the area anyways.

Can't help yourself, got to make it personal don't you

If they are out and about anyway, then yes that only makes sense that they keep a look out. I was referring to your quite naive comment that an aircraft is either airworthy or it's not and if it is, then going out to sea for a 100 miles is no different to driving in a car for 100 miles. You were informed by another pilot who would know and you then wanted to argue about that.

Ocean Girl · 27-12-2015, 20:29

So what would an average cruiser or fisherman have aboard that could be used to tag Dagny?
We have so many gadgets aboard with built in GPS...

**StuM** · 27-12-2015, 20:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Legally, I suppose the only way to tag it is to put a BEACON on it. Which would mean an AIS transmitter, most commonly. With a battery and solar panel if you at all possibly can.

An EPIRB would arguably be illegal, since there is no emergency, only a "damned inconvenience".

You could throw on other radio beacons, such as an amateur radio APRS transmitter if you want to explore that.

Or, simply a strobe or similar marker lights, again with a big battery and solar charger. That might restrict the searching to the dark hours--but that's still half the day, with a cheap simple solution.

A cell phone, out of range of the cell towers, is only going to be useful within WiFi or Bluetooth "mesh network" range, which might be 100 yards at sea.

A SPOT transmitter would give you a beacon good for satellite tracking--but I think you've only got 24 hours before it resets and turns off. You might check SPOT and InReach to see if they can rise to the occasion. Or Yellow Brick, I think they've got longer duration trackers for ocean racers.

A fully charged Inreach is good for a week or so on 4 hourly updates. Slap one of those 9Ah or better USB phone battery chargers on it and it's probably good for a month.

hellosailor · 27-12-2015, 20:36

"but I figured since they're flying around up there "
Exactly WHERE did you figure they were flying, and are they indeed flying there?
There's a lot of water between the Bahamas and the US eastern coast, and you could easily island-hop across a lot of the Carib without ever crossing that much water.
Their searches may very well be confined to "within glide range of the next island".

four winds · 27-12-2015, 20:42

Pardon the amateur graphic showing coordinates for tonight, Sunday. Just for visualizing. The little triangle... not the x that is the waymark name for the highlighted mark.

Ocean Girl · 27-12-2015, 20:48

I removed the X

Ocean Girl · 27-12-2015, 20:55

Ok, I can't get Tomnod off my mind. We were able to use it to search for Nina, couldn't we look at satalite pics of Dagny's known position ( west end beach) then trace her to the latest sat pics?
My internet is very bad, hard to research this.

Tomnod

Pelagic · 28-12-2015, 00:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

So what would an average cruiser or fisherman have aboard that could be used to tag Dagny?
We have so many gadgets aboard with built in GPS...

.
Seems to me that if another sailboat finds it....the easiest would be to go on board and sail back towards help in tandem until someone can take it off their hands.

That is what I would do to save a fellow sailors yacht..... Weather permitting.

Great job Ocean Girl, helping to coordinate help via CF.....:thumbup: