altendorff.co.uk

Stunning little computer ..for $25!

Russ — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:22:20 +0000

Those of you who follow this blog know I have an "attitude" when it comes to the big marine electronics companies.

I’m sorry, but very few of them seem to bring any real innovation to the table given the prices that they can command and the captive audience that they can "manipulate" or is it "influence".

Yes, yes I know that the market size is less than that for consumer electronics but I don’t care they could still produce a lot better products than they do… IMHO.

Now here is a small bunch of people that

.......Click Stunning little computer ..for $25! .... to continue reading

HTC 7510 – Solid State Computer & Phone & GPS !

How many WiFi hotspots can you see?…

Russ — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:04:25 +0000

Its not at all unusual for cruisers whether they are weekenders or blue water adventurers to have a laptop, iPad, or smartphone – or even all three on board. Many people are expected to be in touch with work email 24×7 and if you have the younger generation on board with you, they will be Facebooking and surfing non-stop!

I am of course assuming that you are cruising in coastal waters, not too far from some civilisation and not actually transoceanic. If you are 20 miles plus away from land then of course we would be talking SSB

.......Click How many WiFi hotspots can you see?… .... to continue reading

No related posts.

Sailing Junk…

Russ — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:33:25 +0000

Having just come back from a holiday in Turkey it was disheartening to find that I could not open the front door of my house ..why?… there was a pile of junk mail and other “useful” offers that just beggared belief ! So when that thoroughly good chap Jeffrey Siegel emailed from Active Captain to describe the very same problem that he has in the USA, it was very interesting to read about Jeffrey’s solution.

I am simply reprinting his comments here…” The first time we left our land-based home for an extended cruise,

.......Click Sailing Junk… .... to continue reading

No related posts.

Sorry to carp on about this…

Russ — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:50:41 +0000

I am pretty sure it isn't April 1st today – but this video just took the biscuit, and I had to share it – why don't the fish do this off the coast at Brighton !

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you take your boat along the Spoon River, which is tributary of the Illinois River, you may get more than you bargained for but watch out because the fish can weigh up to 45kg.

A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency said that boaters have suffered broken bones, black eyes, cuts, back injuries and

.......Click Sorry to carp on about this… .... to continue reading

No related posts.

More support for Active Captain…

Russ — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:51:35 +0000

To my knowledge ActiveCaptain was the first to build a UGC (User Generated Content) product independently of any mainstream supplier of maritime chart plotters or related product. Using this platform you can record local data like Rocks, Wrecks, Obstructions, Buoys, Beacons & Signs, Lights, Shops & Repairs, Ports & Marinas and Anchorages, Moorings and even upload your recommended routing and waypoint data.

I believe that ActiveCaptain is also the most successful. Although there is a preponderance of Stateside data, I and many other UK sailors have been uploading data for our local marinas, routes and other useful

.......Click More support for Active Captain… .... to continue reading

My Top Yachts

Russ — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 09:12:32 +0000

Before long every sailor starts to dream about a long blue water adventure…and then the never ending discussions start about which is your "dream boat". Perhaps you have it already, but perhaps you are like me and have a lovely coastal cruiser, but perhaps you know in your heart that it probably is not the one to carry you across oceans, or out run a storm for days on end.

Of course if you are the next Robin Knox Johnson these matters would not concern you – but if you have spent most of your life behind a desk

.......Click My Top Yachts .... to continue reading

My Top Yachts

Fugawi .v. Volvo…?

Russ — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 19:55:52 +0000

What have these two companies got to do with each other …you may ask!

Well, my buddy the “oil baron” took me out on his brand new Sealine F42 recently. The F42 is a fantastic motor boat, but of course one of the issues of owning such a boat – even if you are an “oil baron” – is that you want to be able to gauge the fuel consumption as you speed along at 20+ knots…

The F42 has a planing hull, and 2x Volvo Penta Diesel IPS500 370hp (or 435hp) engines…. you

.......Click Fugawi .v. Volvo…? .... to continue reading

Fugawi breaks away from the crowd…

GPSGate Express for Windows

Russ — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:36:37 +0000

On a recent delivery trip from Liverpool I had the chance to use a small piece of software called GPSGate. This enabled my bluetooth GPS (BluNext 65 Channel Dongle ) top connect to my laptop correctly when all other attempts had failed. The problem was the useless bluetooth software built into Windows XP – it may be different with Windows 7 I haven’t tried. But I encountered all sorts of problems trying to get my MaxSea software to recognise the virtual comm port that the GPS data was streaming in to from the GPS

.......Click GPSGate Express for Windows .... to continue reading

Battlefield Strength Laser…

Russ — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:23:07 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Last year wired.com reported “Electric lasers have hit battlefield strength for the first time — paving the way for energy weapons to go to war. In recent test-blasts, Pentagon-researchers at Northrop Grumman managed to get its 105 kilowatts of power out of their laser — past the “100kW threshold that has been viewed traditionally as a proof of principle for ‘weapons grade’ power levels for high-energy lasers,” Northrop’s vice president of directed energy systems, Dan Wildt, said in a statement. That much power won’t get you a Star Wars-style blaster. But

.......Click Battlefield Strength Laser… .... to continue reading

How big an alternator do you need ?

Fugawi breaks away from the crowd…

Russ — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:24:40 +0000

For some time Fugawi has produced a perfectly good piece of navigation software Fugawi ENC. I must confess I have not had time to review it in detail, so much time was spent with my 7 part optimal routing series last year and with testing MaxSea TZ in action.

Who owns Fugawi? – well in January, software manufacturer Northport Systems that owns Fugawi and X-Traverse.com (the online chart subscription service) announced that its president, Robin Martel, had acquired the company. Robin Martel took over as the owner of Northport after having joined business

.......Click Fugawi breaks away from the crowd… .... to continue reading