MAXSEA at Pacific Sail Expo.

We went to the Pacific Sail Expo in Oakland California this weekend, usual mix of tried and true equipment from a multitude of vendors, good chance to play catch up with old friends in the business and an opportunity to get a look at new navigation toys on the market.

One product by MaxSea caught my attention, the combination of MaxSea Marine Software, OCENS Weather Acquisition & email software, GlobeStar Satellite phone, combines to deliver weather and current data overlaying C-Map NT charts delivers a new dimention to navigation aids.

The speed and accuracy of data is incredible, simply select the area you want to transit, press the go button, the software dials the satellite phone, logs on automatically, 30 seconds later you have the latest tide, current and weather information; plot your course and the computer will project based on your vessel, the direction to sail and when to tack to pick up the projected wind shifts. No more guessing whats up ahead, where the high or low pressure systems are, wind speeds, sea states, currents etc, all withing 30 seconds.

MaxSea software and satellite phones are projected to make UHF and Practor modems obsolete; Here is how it works, write responses to all your emails in Outlook express, hit the go button, the computer turns on the satellite phone, loggs on to system server, down loads all your emails and picks up new emails and downloads you new mail to your laptop computer, the phone disconnects when done, average time of 30 seconds, at a cost of 43 cents per minute. You can even surf the web at 56k dialup speeds from the middle of the ocean, so what you say, If your looking for that left handed square wigget to fix your watch-a-ma-call-it when you reach your next port, your can surf the web, find a vendor, send your credit card info and get it shipped and hopefully waiting for you when you arrive. I may not function that smoothly, but the concept has promise.

Unlike UHF/Practor email, if you drop your signal in mid transmission, you get to resend from the beginning and if everyone is on Sailmail at the same time, it might be a little frustrating at times. With the MaxSea system, in a worse case senario, if the call is dropped, resuming transmission will pick up where it left off, no need to start over from scratch.

No need to give up your SSB, you may still want to yack at your friends over the airways. With newer SSB you could call out a MAYDAY on 2182; with the Satellite phone, you can pick up the phone and talk to someone directly and request assistance, at the very least you could call Bob’s Used Wigget Sales and follow up on the shippment of your Left handed Wigget.

Yes, I just received our Starboard DHR oil navigation lamp today, I’m a little of a stoneage throwback in an LED world, but I love electronic wiggets that provide valuable information, especially toys that are easy to use.

We out ran a Hurricane heading out of Mexico a few years ago while sailing to Hawaii, courtsey of a weather report from a passing freighter, it was the last freighter we saw for 2,000 miles; If we didn’t have a freighter to call on, it sure would be nice to press a button and get instant weather and sea condition tracking in as little as 30 seconds.

Marty Chin

Marty:

Globalstar would be neat, depending on your cruising ground and your supply of $$. The company has focused on providing coverage to continental areas, not the oceans.

Check out Home | Globalstar US.

Globalstar does cover N & S America and the N coasts ( E & W) of Eurasia well, and is acceptable in Australia and NZ. And almost works for a trans-Atlantic passage. But Globalstar gives no coverage in the trade wind belt of the S Pacific. Or tropical Eurasia. Or sub-Saharan Africa.

So if your cruising plans include Bora Bora, Fiji, the Louisiades, Ao Phang Nga, Hawai’i, or S Africa, just how useful would your investment in Globalstar be?

Iridium gives better global coverage than Globalstar. Which is why it’s the choice of the US military. Iridium’s coverage in the tropics is not as good as in temperate areas. The US military adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan have led, I think, to improvements in Iridium coverage in the tropics. But I find it hopeless for surfing the Net. And its airtime is too expensive. (Note that the Australian government has a scheme by which it subsidises Australian cruisers to buy an Iridium handset - so they can comply the legal requirement to give 48 hours notice of entering Aus waters! The Aus govt does not subsidise Iridium airtime, however.)

On the other hand, a combination of a good SSB, a Pactor modem, and Sailmail or Winlink does work. And it’s affordable (especially if you are a Ham using Winlink). A Pactor modem can also be used for NAVTEX, etc.

MaxSea is valuable software. It’s latest corporate move has put it in bed with Furuno and Globalstar (and spurned the Dashews, who had contributed valuably to versions of MaxSea that were useful to cruisers). I and many other cruisers use MaxSea in preference to the CMAP client for viewing CMAP charts.

Cheers

Bil

Bil, good write up.

MaxSea also packages their product with Iridium phones depending on where you are crusing, best to let them know your intentions ahead of time. MaxSea would be a good side-by-side companion for your SSB and Practor Modem as there are some areas not serviced by Globestar or Iridium satellite phones. Cost is relative to technology developement and the times, I remember when the Commodore 64 was king, now my pocket rolodex has more memory.

In areas where Globestar and Iridium phones are effective, MaxSea and similar products should prove to be a useful communications and navigational tool. With the Globstar phone cost of completed set up is a little steep at $4,700, with your own laptop, cost drops $1,900. Considering the cost of boat units these days it’s still a reasonably priced product.

BCC Forums bccforums@samlmorse.com wrote:
Author: Bil
Username: Bil
Subject: Re: MAXSEA at Pacific Sail Expo.
Forum: BCC Forum
Link: http://www.samlmorse.com/forum/read.php?5,3990,3991#msg-3991

Marty:

Globalstar would be neat, depending on your cruising ground and your supply of $$. The company has focused on providing coverage to continental areas, not the oceans.

Check out Home | Globalstar US.

Globalstar does cover N & S America and the N coasts ( E & W) of Eurasia well, and is acceptable in Australia and NZ. And almost works for a trans-Atlantic passage. But Globalstar gives no coverage in the trade wind belt of the S Pacific. Or tropical Eurasia. Or sub-Saharan Africa.

So if your cruising plans include Bora Bora, Fiji, the Louisiades, Ao Phang Nga, Hawai’i, or S Africa, just how useful would your investment in Globalstar be?

Iridium gives better global coverage than Globalstar. Which is why it’s the choice of the US military. Iridium’s coverage in the tropics is not as good as in temperate areas. The US military adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan have led, I think, to improvements in Iridium coverage in the tropics. But I find it hopeless for surfing the Net. And its airtime is too expensive. (Note that the Australian government has a scheme by which it subsidises Australian cruisers to buy an Iridium handset - so they can comply the legal requirement to give 48 hours notice of entering Aus waters! The Aus govt does not subsidise Iridium airtime, however.)

On the other hand, a combination of a good SSB, a Pactor modem, and Sailmail or Winlink does work. And it’s affordable (especially if you are a Ham using Winlink). A Pactor modem can also be used for NAVTEX, etc.

MaxSea is valuable software. It’s latest corporate move has put it in bed with Furuno and Globalstar (and spurned the Dashews, who had contributed valuably to versions of MaxSea that were useful to cruisers). I and many other cruisers use MaxSea in preference to the CMAP client for viewing CMAP charts.

Cheers

Bil

If you have a broadband connection to the Internet and a BitTorrent client (such as Azureus, BitLord, or even the official client itself), MaxSea (version 10) and C-MAP CM93 charts are available for the cost of your computer time, electricity etc to download and upload 1GB.

To check whether a seed is present, browse:
Download music, movies, games, software! The Pirate Bay - The galaxy's most resilient BitTorrent site

If the above is goobledegook to you, then you might need to seek the assistance of a smart teenager. Ability to read Swedish helps, but is not essential.

Cheers

Bil

Gee’s I feel like I just read an info-mercial on how to spend the rest of my life savings to stay in touch with the world. And here I was under the impression that the whole idea was to stay out of touch. (grin)

Sometimes getting away from it all, is not all inclusive, MaxSeas email feature to keep in touch with friends and family is an added bonus, the idea is to tune out, not drop out. The weather forcasting potential and sea state predictions of MaxSea are the real heart and sole of this set up, sure would be nice to know whats up ahead before you leave a protected anchorage. Some would contend that knowing whats ahead deminishes the spirit of adventure, if this were true, may be we shouldn’t buy charts? Finding half submerged rocks and ship wrecks can’t be near as much fun if you know where they are (Grin).

Marty

BCC Forums bccforums@samlmorse.com wrote:
Author: Stan R
Username: Stan R
Subject: Re: MAXSEA at Pacific Sail Expo.
Forum: BCC Forum
Link: http://www.samlmorse.com/forum/read.php?5,3990,4015#msg-4015

Gee’s I feel like I just read an info-mercial on how to spend the rest of my life savings to stay in touch with the world. And here I was under the impression that the whole idea was to stay out of touch. (grin)

MaxSea (version 10) and C-MAP CM93 charts are available for the cost of your >computer time, electricity etc to download and upload 1GB.
[…]
If the above is goobledegook to you, then you might need to seek the assistance >of a smart teenager. Ability to read Swedish helps, but is not essential.

I can tell you exactly what the Swedish says, but the key words I see
are not in Swedish… “pirate” and “crack”. Careful, you might need
to seek the assistance of a smart lawyer :slight_smile:

  • Norris,
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