Blog updates

Since we purchased our current boat, in May 2017, the steep learning curve and maintenance issues have kept us so busy that there wasn't a lot of time for blog updating. Thus, the page on the site entitled 'THE BOAT' (on the horizontal menu bar across the top) was severely out-of-date. I've now updated it and changed the name to 'THE BOATS' as it contains information on all five of the boats we've owned. You may want to take a look? Here's a pic of our very first boat, "Cygnet", an Alberg22 purchased in 2005.

Also, I was never happy with the 'FIND GJOA' page either. What I'd really like to be able to show readers is a map that continually updates our real time position and keeps a historical track based on AIS data (which is generated from our AIS transponder and doesn't require any manual intervention). I know I can do something similar using maybe a SPOT device, or email, to report position with a subscription to various services etc., but, these all cost money and/or manual intervention and I haven't found one yet that offers a simple, cost-effective (i.e. free), hands-off solution that I like (any suggestions are welcome).

In the past I've manually moved our historical tracks from our chartplotter and loaded them to Google Earth and that is what I have been showing. Unfortunately, this requires a lot of manual effort and was never suitable for uploading when at sea. Recently, I realized I could embed a map from www.marinetraffic.com which would show our current position, from real time AIS data, when we are close to a shore-based station and when offshore in remote areas, possibly by satellite collection as well. I've now added this map to the FIND GJOA page. It's not great either, but, may be interesting to look at when we're underway again...