We love AIS.
On the chart plotter, as Melodrama sails along, little triangles with dotted extension lines show approaching vessels, and warn us if we might need to take avoiding action.
It’s just interesting sometimes to look them up, as they transmit their size, type of vessel, and destination, as well as speed and direction. So we can see a cargo ship, 140m long, transporting wood from Helsinki to Rotterdam, or a sailing yacht, cruising along, like ourselves. Or Bodilla the ferry – it’s dangerously close, but we are safely in harbour.
Using an app like Marine Traffic, anyone can see where any AIS transmitting vessel is anywhere in the world. Amazing, really. (The real danger is from leisure yachts and little boats that don’t yet have it, and have to be spotted using Eyeball technology. Or radar.
Typically, maybe 1-2 are visible to us at a time, and mostly minding their own business.
But on the way to Nabbelund we spotted one coming towards us, which I then found with binoculars, and counted 60 more coming behind. You have to see it on AIS! It looked terrifying! It was the Swedish equivalent of Cowes week, and we quickly changed course and headed for the shore to keep out of the way – we could have been very unpopular.
Well done for avoiding the racers! I agree that the AIS is fantastic, but in our part of the world we don’t seem to have quite as much traffic! Bill and I sailed to Hobart from Sydney in January/February and cruised around the D’entrecasteaux Channel and Bruny Island, not too much traffic around there apart from Container ships on the way down and fishing vessels elsewhere. Lovely to be checking in on your blogs!