Something you might have missed in the T500 SI's

Apparently every SAILOR now needs an EPIRB this year as opposed to the past two years where only one was required. This was a recommendation of the Coast Guard/Homeland Security.

Just wanted to make sure everyone knew before too long.

I did not miss that and I agree with it completely. Each sailor should have an EPIRB because it's possible that both could get separated from the boat leaving nobody to turn the thing on.

you're talking the little ones, right? Not the gigantic ones I see in offshore boats.... What is it, 406 MHz now? Or is that the old frequency?

406 is the new one. 121.5's are the old worthless ones now.

406 are the new ones, start shopping now as there is a shortage world wide because the highly intelegent manufactures hadn't considered the fact that every Epirb they'd made for the last 10 years would need to be replaced overnight and that everyone would leave it untill the last minute.

Here's another lower-priced alternative to the ACR Microfix. Seems that it has the same operating statistics. I believe McMurdo is the manufacturer.

http://www.murrays.com/mm5/merchant...10&Category_Code=E&Store_Code=MS

Now we're talking...$299 is more like it. However, I did read some reviews of McMurdo's past EPIRBs and they weren't very flattering...it downright didn't work sometimes....and that "anticipated april 2009" delivery is cutting it awfully close for the Tybee.

From what I'm hearing in the industry don't trust anyones delivery dates on Epirbs at present. Buy from someone who has stock now not someone who'll get it in soon. Pay the premium and don't be disappointed.

Update: Spoke with Steve Murray today and they just got the E-PIRBS in. They have a couple dozen and are expecting them to go fast if you want one or two for the Tybee.

Wow, this is right around the corner. I'm looking forward to following you guys through the media.

We always had two since the Worrell days. I don't see much of a difference.

When I mentioned it to Sean, he said that last year was the first year that they stopped allowing 121.5 EPIRBS and that the cost of the 406's were so great that they wanted to make it easier on the racers to adopt the new equipment and maintain compliance with the race and the CG.

Check your freq, Freak.

Lee:

Good luck and stay safe. Pulling for you.

Doug

sorry, ik begrijp niet computertaal

406khz

Dave and I picked up the McMurdo Fast Find units - $400 and about the size of a cell phone...

Do Spot Satelite Messengers count as EPIRBS? I just got one and they basically work the same as my EPIRB with enhanced features.

I am doing a separate thread on this but I am working with a online software developer using spot units to webcast events. He has agreed to cover the Endurance Series and we are testing it over the next four days to use it for the Keys 100. The developer webcast mountan bike races in the desert and is looking forward to doing boat races. I think I can get him to do the Tybee 500 if there is interest.

West Palm Beach to Key West Run

NO!!!!

They do NOT work the same as your EPIRB by any means!

I'm quite sure they do not count as EPIRBs.

There is definitely some interest in the Tybee 500 for the technology. However, there were some limitations with the data that was published last year. I was ground crew last year and tried to use the three or four teams that had them as a tracking tool.

1) the data intervals were irregular (see item 3)
2) displaying multiple teams on one screen was not possible unless they were all registered under the same account (sounds like you're working on that)
3) no interpolation of the data points...you could look at the boat positions but one team's position may have been from 30 seconds ago and the other from 20 minutes ago making it extremely difficult to determine who was actually in what position. I know it's a complicated solution, but you could interpolate the last speed and heading point on the map and get a better idea of boat position. This would make the map much more meaningful to the observer.

If you want to rent a Spot for this year's race these guys will rent it to you for $25 for the week with service and all.
http://www.skycallcommunications.com/
Really nice guy.
I have nothing to gain from this but I think its too good of a deal not to rent for the week.
Plus, I think since they are coming from the same place we will be able to see them all on the same page?

And if you need to rent a EPIRB, head over to www.plbrentals.com

Jake, the TopoFusion guys have the multiple users figured out. All they need is a link to a shared page from each unit. They have both an event page and a team page. The event page shows the course highlighted in red with baloons marking the start, finish and any other marks needed and the last position of each team. The team page shows which shows the course and the individual tracking for the individual team.

event page: http://www.topofusion.com/tracker-sail.php
team page: http://www.topofusion.com/tracker-saili.php?name=Craig%20Van%20Eaton

You get the team page by clicking on the name on the leaderboard. I screwed up my tracking at the beginning and when I picke up Bruce in Delray. I tried to send an "ok" and somehow turned off the tracking. Noticed it after a little while but you can see the holes in the route on my team page. Other than that I think it only missed one point. I had the unit on the mast.

I heard that the tracking is consistent at 10 minute intervals. If it misses one it sends the next 10 minutes. Also heard if you start the tracking at the same time (sync up) they will display pretty close to the same time. Will try to find that out this weekend.

If anyone is doing the MKL send me your shared page link and I can add you to the current event page.