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 Reporting your position to vessel assist or USCG		  New Topic  Topic Locked
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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts
Initially Posted - 11/19/2007 :  16:27:40  Show Profile  Visit delliottg's Homepage
This is an offshoot of [url="http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16568"]Paul's question about where we're all located[/url] that devolved into how to report a position. I wrote to [url="http://captrichardrodriguez.blogspot.com/"]Capt. Richard Rodriguez[/url], a blogger here in the PNW who runs a vessel assist boat up in the San Juan Islands area and asked him how to go about it, here's his response:

Greetings David,

Thanks for writing. The current convention of giving your Lat/Long in maritime realm is: <i><b>Degrees; Minutes; followed by Tenths, Hundredths and Thousandths. </b></i> (my emphasis) Seconds are used on terrestrial maps. Be sure to check the chart you are using. You can default a GPS to do either.

While the difference is slight, it is more important to be able to quickly get the the Lat/Long screen to give your position. If you've followed this page for and length of time you know that about 1/3 of the Vessel Assist calls I run on do not give a their actual position. Usually someone is reading the position of their cursor, as you mentioned, not their vessel. There are those who don't know how to use a GPS.

If in doubt, the easiest method is to reboot the GPS (turn it off and back on.) The reading given will be your current position. I occasionally resort to this tactic to find someone. I've actually had folks report themselves 25 miles from where they were. The funniest one was a vessel who reported themselves on the LEFT side of Lopez Island.

FYI - I'll post your question this week with this response (I don't do last names.) Content is king this time of the year.

BTW - how did originally come by the blog.

Fair Winds & Following Seas,

Richard

I'm presuming he means Degrees & Decimal Minutes, which would have been my last guess, but there you go. I was unable to find any information on the USCG's site last night, even after about 90 minutes of searching.

In a second response he told me that DSC is fully functional here in the PNW, and has been since last January, and BC has had it for some time.

I encourage you to take some time to read his blog, if nothing else to be amused at all the stupid things people do, but also to get a perspective from the other end of the tow line. Be prepared to waste a couple of hours reading.
David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor


Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --
Edited by - delliottg on 11/19/2007 16:29:39

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts
Response Posted - 11/19/2007 :  19:17:21  Show Profile
Thanks for the research, David. That answers my question on the other thread, precisely.
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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts
Response Posted - 11/19/2007 :  21:55:30  Show Profile  Visit delliottg's Homepage
Dave,
You're welcome. As a side note, on my way home this evening, I checked what my new Garmin was set to, and lo & behold, exactly what Capt. Rodriguez recommends, it's set to degrees & decimal minutes (hddd.mm.mmm). If you'd have asked me yesterday, I'd have said degrees, minutes, seconds. Glad I checked, and I'll just leave it on that setting.
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stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts
Response Posted - 11/20/2007 :  11:16:38  Show Profile
seems like an amazingly simple question: 'where are you?'

a question that all of us need to be prepared to blurt out in any set of conditions at any time with little to no notice or prep time, in a manner that first responders need it in.

I took a VHF radio course with Power and Sail Squadron two years ago. Three months after recieving my certificate, maritime law in Canada changed so that all VHF equipped vessels now require DSC.
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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts
Response Posted - 11/20/2007 :  11:43:17  Show Profile  Visit Frank Hopper's Homepage
On my lake the answer is "Over Here". If someone shot a flare on my lake no one would know what it was. Ah the simple life.
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dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts
Response Posted - 11/20/2007 :  12:08:33  Show Profile
In addition to using electronics to report your position, you can also dust off your compass and provide bearings to two fixed points.
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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts
Response Posted - 11/20/2007 :  12:40:03  Show Profile
My <i>what?</i>
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dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts
Response Posted - 11/20/2007 :  13:00:21  Show Profile
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Dave Bristle</i>
<br />My <i>what?</i>
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

You know...that spinny thing with the numbers.

My youngest daughter, who's 12, learned about compasses in elementary school and is a master at taking a bearing, but then again, it's not exactly rocket science, which was my point.
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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts
Response Posted - 11/20/2007 :  13:45:57  Show Profile
Ya, ya, I have one on my dash. I also <i>had</i> a hand-bearing compass that I suspect went to the buyers of Passage... I should get another one--good tool.
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bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1773 Posts
Response Posted - 11/20/2007 :  21:02:29  Show Profile
As trite as the question may seem this is one of the great things about this forum -- clarifying basic data/information. Thank you for surfacing the question and obtaining a qualified, easily understood response!

Peter
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