A New Way to Follow Breeze On

Breeze On now has AIS.

The Wikipedia definition of AIS is:

"The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is an automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels by electronically exchanging data with other nearby ships, AIS base stations, and satellites."

Breeze On has always had an AIS receiver as part of the VHF radio, so we could see the names and locations of ships and other boats on our chart plotter if they were transmitting AIS. But, they couldn't see us. I thought it might be nice if other vessels could see Breeze On as well, particularly if we are sailing at night or in fog.

George and our friend, Ray, recently installed an AIS transponder (on a brutally hot day I might add). Now you can see where we are by going to either marinetraffic.com or vesselfinder.com and searching for Breeze On. You can even sign up for an email alert to be notified when we are on the move. MarineTraffic and Vessel Finder also has apps for mobile devices. I should mention that these web sites or apps can find us only if we are in range of a base station. Boats and ships that are equipped with AIS receivers can find us any time we are nearby.

Here are some screen shots from the MarineTraffic and Vessel Finder iPhone apps.