New Gadgets: Navigating Through Ice Just Got Easier

I got home from my day job today and got my new copy of Maritime Reporter and Engineering News (http://www.marinelink.com/) I tore through it as usual searching for strange news and gadgets. I saw something that I thought was truly useful in the gadget section- something I hadn't sen anywhere else yet- The Sigma S6 Ice Navigator. As a mariner who is no stranger to the frozen north, I have a real appreciation for this type of technology.

What we have here is a high resolution imaging device that can track up to 1,000 targets on the water- i.e. Big Ice Cubes. This will probably be outfitted on every ice-navigating vessel that can afford it. It is produced by Rutter Technology (http://www.ruttertech.com/).

Something else in the product section that I thought was cool was the SeaQuantum high performance coating- A self smoothing performance coating that reduces hull friction and fuel costs. Your ship may not be a race car- but you can squeeze a little more performance out of her by using something like this! This is made by Joten (http://www.jotun.no/)

In the communications arena we have the new OceanStar by Martek Marine Ltd. (http://www.martek-marine.com/) This will make the crew happy- it can pull in international television and high speed broadband internet. It sounds much better than the system that was installed on my last ship- where the signal kept dropping every time we made a turn or sharp roll. This should give you the clarity you want when you are in the middle of watching a great action movie!

There is a pretty good discussion going on over at gCaptain (www.gCaptain.com) about my last blog entry having to do with the Somalian pirate take-over of the Danish ship and self defense. I am a big advocate of guns and giving people the right to defend themselves. This is always a topic that gets people riled up- as there is no correct answer, it is all driven by personal experiences- it should be interesting. But don't be afraid to post a comment or two over here as well- I welcome your input!

Old Tech Meets New Style: The World's Sexiest Sextant

I never thought I would see a modern styled sextant. I really never thought I would see a sextant in a trend-setting magazine like WIRED. This piece really caught my eye. If you are a collector of nautical gear, this would be a great addition to add to your display case. At $1,500+ I am sure that this will be more for the wealthy yachtsman than the average merchant vessel.

Photograph by Martin Timmermann

WIRED magazine recently ran an article that was a real surprise to me: It was about a sextant, and a very good looking sextant at that! This old school navigational device has some sexy styling that any nautical buff would be proud to get their hands on. Take a look at the story and the picture of this excellent piece of retro nautical tech.

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Exmar Shipmanagement Selects Seawave Integrator for Communications

Picture from Iridium.com

Exmar Ship management will be getting it's 25 ship fleet decked out with some of the coolest technology to hit H2O. Seawave and Iridium Satellite will be providing the Integrator communications solution to the vessels. It has taken a long time for email access to make its way to deep sea vessels and Seawave and Iridium are making it happen. Seawave and Iridium have excellent technology and have done well applying it to the marine sector. If you are looking for a communications solution for your fleet or vessel, you should really take a look at what they have to offer. Looks like the crews working for exmar have it pretty good! Click the link below to read the company press release:
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Electronics (You'll want) at sea

I was thinking about this today because I have become a real fan of small portable electronics- and for obvious reasons. When you have been shipping for a long time you figure out what you really need and what you will actually use. When you are traveling all over the world and have to pack everything into a certain amount of luggage (in my case the smaller the better) it gets difficult to haul around a lot of electronics with you all over the place. So I have some favorite things that I thought I would share with everyone.

If you have a lot of shore time and you don't have much to do, get yourself a portable GPS and try Geocaching. I had never heard of it before until I got a handheld GPS and started surfing the web. If you join a Geocaching group you can sign up for treasure hunts- not that you will get a pot of gold at the end, but they are fun little diversion. So the next time you plan on being somewhere tropical, pick up your GPS and go hunting for buried treasure.

When I first got out of the academy I was still a video game junkie. Old school sailors (40-over) can probably skip this part. But for those of you that can't live without games- you should try some of the new portable gaming devices. I have a Nintendo DS. Love it. I don't play a lot of the traditional games anymore- but some stuff like Big Brain Academy is great for killing time. It is full of brain teasers and stuff. When you have a lot of time and nowhere to go this is awesome. You could try the PSP (PlayStation Portable) too if you don't mind spending more money.

My absolute favorite thing for the ship is my Palm Pilot Tx. It is small, sleek, powerful enough to do what I want and even comes with WiFi and expansion slots. I was taking graduate school classes while on the ship because I could get all my email messages and do my class work with the wireless keyboard and documents-to-go the program that acts like microsoft office. The Palm Tx also gives you the ability to watch movies, listen to music MP3s, and store anything you want on SD cards. Excellent. I have never tried other brands of pocket computers, but this is really an awesome way to bring all of your work and important documents with you. There are many different types- so do your homework to find out what will suit your needs. If you need a small computing device and don't want an expensive laptop- try this out and you might find your suitcase a little lighter on your next trip to Guam, the Gulf, or wherever you have to drag your stuff to... Happy Sailing