Atlantic Delivery

[dpddj]

Everyone knows the ladies are along to do the dishes. Geez.

[ontherocks83]

Glad to see they made port and all crew are healthy and well!!!! Phenomenal job Atoll!!! I can't wait to see what Boatmans account of the events were. Should prove to be a very interesting read.

[SaltyMonkey]

Well well, another day, another sunny day.

When we goin' to Spain?

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by hoppy

This thread highlights to me the shortfalls of Spot for cruising sailors and the people back home following them.

For comparison, this is my yellowbrick site http://my.yb.tl/Jessabbe/ for now it just shows the track from my messing around in the Ionian last summer, I can configure how old data I can display online (set on the web) and from the tracker I can very easily set the frequency of position reports. It can last weeks on a single charge. I am yet to test it on a proper voyage ;-)

The Yellowbrick Tracking looks very nice, but I think the 399 British Pound Sterling (GBP)=$663 USD would hold back a lot of cruisers.

The Spot Gen 3 cost $150 USD and another $150 USD to activate for a total of $300 USD which is half the cost of the Yellowbrick Tracker.

[hoppy]

I can't imagine that there is ay reason why Spot could not rectify the deficiencies that currently make it less than idea for cruisers. At the moment the web based tracking seems more suitable to other uses than cruising.

I think YB has got it spot on in that you can probably display a full circumnavigation worth of tracks. Also for cruisers, I think seeing the speed is quite important. If a few people here had not gone to the trouble of calculating Boaty's speed, it may have taken us much longer to wake up to the fact the he had slowed up dramatically and there was perhaps a problem. With YB reporting the speed it would have been so much easier to identify that something is strange....

It might be a good thing for those of you who have Spot to highlight these deficiencies to them so they can make it more cruiser friendly.

[atoll]

fingers crossed for a bit of sponsership from SPOT

ii asked SPOT to comment on the thread.

got this back from them

Thank you for your interest in SPOT products. We have received your inquiry and will respond as soon as possible.

If you have any additional comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Care team by visiting Contact Customer Care.



Thank you,
SPOT LLC


i belive phil bought the SPOT from WEST MARINE,anybody got any contacts there in florida!
it would be worth firing off an email to them as well.

[Fiveslide]

Originally Posted by atoll

...phil would resume sailing at 4+ knots or so,under genoa only,
as with out the aid of an engine to point up to windward, he was unable to get the mainsail up and sail faster.

:

I'd like to know if the lack of engine was his only reason for not raising the main. I think if you wanted the main up you could lower the anchor just a bit, or tie something to a long line and toss it off the bow. The drag created by the anchor or something works with the wind to turn the boat into it.

Thoughts?

Getting the main back down in a hurry would not be an option, perhaps that is why he just went under genoa alone? It would be a safety issue if you had no way of lowering it and the weather went to hell in a hurry.

And I'm not critisizing boaty, simply trying to learn from this experience. He was getting that boat there with nothing but a scrap of sail.

Sent from my SCH-S738C using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[SaltyMonkey]

Originally Posted by hoppy

I can't imagine that there is ay reason why Spot could not rectify the deficiencies that currently make it less than idea for cruisers. At the moment the web based tracking seems more suitable to other uses than cruising.

I think its a matter of backend/frontend performance and resources and the way it's architected. Imagine downloading 1000's of points for each user, refreshed every minute, most likely from the same database table. No backend paging. All front-end loading.

[Cotemar]

Wolfy,

Since you’re in Horta right now, can you do us all a big favor?

When Boaty and crew wake up at the crack of lunch time today and you see them walking around, can you go over and introduce yourself and tell Boaty that Cotemar wanted a picture of the boat and crew.

It’s a lot to ask for, but it would really add to all the entertainment that we here at the CF are enjoying about this delivery.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by atoll

funny thing is phil had pre programmed his spot to text my number with a "all gone to ****,help" and "we are okay" message before they left florida,unbeknowest by me!

Prophetic no??? Post#707 p48
Button 2 does the same thing, but sends message #2 to the recipient list:
"This is boaty checking in... all is fine with the boat and our passage, but the trip has gone to ***** because we RAN OUT of beer"

Originally Posted by atoll

thanks ,it aint over quite yet they still have to get in the harbour and tied up,they have quite strong headwinds at the moment in the faial channel,so butting along at 3-4 knots apparently.

as they say "it aint' over till the man with the spinning balls sings"

HAA!!! Again... One only needs to see that video once to be affected for a lifetime... Thence forth it can be used in quote references and the rest of the crowd can go "yep... uh huh...."

Originally Posted by atoll

if he does i would reccomend instead of having it on twice a day for two hours at a time,having it on 4 times a day for an hour at a time.

this would have made interpreting it a lot easier,

Boy that would have made a world of difference for sure!

Originally Posted by atoll

agreed,though i still belive that he would have needed some help getting in and alongside in horta in anything but ideal conditions.

100% the truth... The assistance simply started earlier here...

Originally Posted by hoppy

Can't you just program spot to send a position once an hour or so and just leave it always on?

They EAT BATTERIES for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything you bring aboard on a line... Major pitfall... Many have tried unsuccessfully to hardwire... Can be done with a constant voltage power supply transformer...

Originally Posted by hoppy

This thread highlights to me the shortfalls of Spot for cruising sailors and the people back home following them.

For comparison, this is my yellowbrick site Yellowbrick Tracking - YBlog - S/Y Jessabbe for now it just shows the track from my messing around in the Ionian last summer, I can configure how old data I can display online (set on the web) and from the tracker I can very easily set the frequency of position reports. It can last weeks on a single charge. I am yet to test it on a proper voyage ;-)

I've said before in this thread... Yellowbrick is totally missing a product exposure campaign....

Originally Posted by atoll

more good R and D feedback allowing them to make a better product,information such as yours and phils is invaluable to the large companies like SPOT.

I've had one for about 8 years, and they do exactly as advertised... What one has a hard time grasping, is how poorly they do it... and with a little tweaking, it could be the best product EVER!!! (wallet gouging not withstanding)

Originally Posted by atoll

fingers crossed for a bit of sponsership from SPOT

ii asked SPOT to comment on the thread.

got this back from them

Thank you for your interest in SPOT products. We have received your inquiry and will respond as soon as possible.

If you have any additional comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Care team by visiting Contact Customer Care.



Thank you,
SPOT LLC


i belive phil bought the SPOT from WEST MARINE,anybody got any contacts there in florida!
it would be worth firing off an email to them as well.

Maybe this is exactly what Spot needs to make them aware of the shortcomings??? "Hey Spot! I would be happy to help you make your product better"! (longtime corporate supporter)

[ontherocks83]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

Wolfy,

Since you’re in Horta right now, can you do us all a big favor?

When Boaty and crew wake up at the crack of lunch time today and you see them walking around, can you go over and introduce yourself and tell Boaty that Cotemar wanted a picture of the boat and crew.

It’s a lot to ask for, but it would really add to all the entertainment that we here at the CF are enjoying about this delivery.

Please you just want a picture of the lady crew to see how "horrible" his being stranded in the middle of the ocean really was. For all we know he disabled the boat on purpose....you know the old oops I just ran out of gas routine from when you were in high school.

Hell now I'm curious. Pictures please!!!!!

[Wolfy]

Hi Cotemar, I'm not in Horta at the moment (although it would have been nice if I had been), my "baby" is still on the hard in Trini although she'll be getting wet Mid April....

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

Wolfy,

Since you’re in Horta right now, can you do us all a big favor?

When Boaty and crew wake up at the crack of lunch time today and you see them walking around, can you go over and introduce yourself and tell Boaty that Cotemar wanted a picture of the boat and crew.

It’s a lot to ask for, but it would really add to all the entertainment that we here at the CF are enjoying about this delivery.

And for ....ALL OF US!!!

Picture requested with JP TOO!!!

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by Wolfy

Hi Cotemar, I'm not in Horta at the moment (although it would have been nice if I had been), my "baby" is still on the hard in Trini although she'll be getting wet Mid April....

OK, I tried.

OK, JP if you can hear us? We need another Favor?

When Boaty and crew wake up at the crack of lunch time today and you see them walking around, can you go over and tell Boaty that Cotemar wanted a picture of the boat and crew.

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

OK, I tried.

OK, JP if you can hear us? We need another Favor?

When Boaty and crew wake up at the crack of lunch time today and you see them walking around, can you go over and tell Boaty that Cotemar wanted a picture of the boat and crew.

Steady as she goes mates. Boaty has never been reluctant to provide pics.