Big sky, little airplane

1º 34.588n 124º 53.998w

Mon Apr 29 2019

It’s amazing how many mid-air collisions happen in severe clear daylight atmospheric conditions. It’s such a big sky out there, and airplanes are relatively tiny in comparison. Still, it happens but newer transponder technology such as ADS-B provides improved situational awareness to appropriately equipped aircraft.

We have a similar thing on JollyDogs, called AIS, or Automatic Identification Service. It’s required for vessels over a certain size, but not for us. We got it because the technology greatly enhances our situational awareness and safety in congested waters. AIS targets appear on our chart plotter as icons with a velocity vector. We can click on the target and learn all about the vessel; such things as course and speed over ground, final destination, and most importantly the closest point of approach and time that will happen. Handy information, especially enhances our safety in poor visibility conditions. As well, it’s pretty darn difficult to visually judge distance to heavily lit fishing vessels that sometimes paint a very weak radar target, even in great night time visibility.

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since we left Mexico. It’s been 11 days since we saw land. It’ll be at least a week before we see land. We’re a long way from land! Except, as my former shipmate and great friend Captain Ray Catlette once noted, “it’s only about 2 miles below us”.

In the past 3 days we’ve encountered one Japanese fishing vessel and a couple of Chinese fishing boats. I keep thinking those folks are a long way from home. Those fishing boats were each around 200’ long and 24’ beam. Must be an economical design point and I reckon they process their catch and when full either steam home to unload or rendezvous with a mother ship somewhere to transfer the catch and reprovision for additional time at sea.

Our AIS is a Vesper Marine 8000B, made by a bunch of really smart Kiwis (New Zealanders). I purchased and installed the external alarm feature, then tested it. Those folks must be light sleepers, because that little tin horn would never awaken Isabel, now way, no how. That woman is like my sister Lisa used to be before having children, she could continue sleeping soundly even if a freight train went through her bedroom.

Ebay is your friend! I found and purchased for about 10 bucks a little siren alarm that creates around 124 dB of noise. It’s ear splitting, and I’m pretty sure it would wake the dead.

The point of all this is that each of us has a Spinlock life vest. Automatically inflates if we fall overboard. Equipped with a tether to clip on to the boat hard points in rough conditions. We install what are called Jack Lines so we can clip on and move around safely outside the cockpit when required for sail changes and such.

About a year ago we threw down for little AIS alarm devices that install on the life vests. Thad got one for this trip. If one of us goes overboard the device triggers and broadcasts a VHF radio signal that the AIS responds to. It is networked to our chart plotter and drops a man overboard icon onto the screen - gives us a fighting chance to find the missing crew member before they’re swept away, and as long as the battery lasts the icon will report the victim’s present position. It’s a must-have piece of kit for offshore sailing. It also sets off that ear splitting alarm, and as only one of us stands watch at a time we definitely want all hands to wake up instantly and sort things out.

Well, the AIS only has one alarm output, so the audible collision warning alarm also used that little siren. Vesper Marine provides a smart phone app that allows the operator to set various parameters for collision warning, etc. and given how big the Pacific seems to be, I had set the collision warning alarm for five miles.

A couple nights ago around the crack 'o midnight, Thad was on watch and got closer than we had anticipated to a Chinese fishing vessel. The alarm went off and I came out a deep sleep and out of my bunk like a scalded dog. Felt foggy and confused for a moment but knew something bad was happening. Thad realized what was up at the same instant, and over the deafening siren he shouted “I’m onboard, I’m OK”. I suppressed the alarm and we assessed the situation, then adjusted the collision alarm to a much shorter distance between vessels. By then my pulse rate reentered the stratosphere. For me, the only thing more terrifying than an imminent collision between a tiny boat and a big ship is losing a crewmate overboard.

I recall commenting to Isabel and Thad - those sure are tiny boats to be so far from land, so far from home in such a big ocean. The Pacific is rather large, with lots of water.

One of them reminded me JollyDogs is only 38’ long.