Whale Alert!

"Needles and pins, needles and pins,
Sew me a sail to catch me the wind. Sew me a sail strong as the gale,
Carpenter, bring out your hammers and nails.
Hammers and nails, hammers and nails,
Build me a boat to go chasing the whales.
Chasing the whales, sailing the blue,
Find me a captain and sign me a crew.
Captain and crew, captain and crew,
Take me, oh take me anywhere new."
Pirate Dreams by Shel Silverstein

Remember about a year or so ago when the video of the whale breaching right on top of a sailboat went viral? Or maybe you read the story I relayed from s/v Wondertime about the whale that wreaked havoc on a cruising boat in Niue. Those poor sailors might have been some of the inspiration for the Whale Alert mobile phone app that was recently released by EarthNC.

The Whale Alert app is designed as a ship-strike reduction effort to benefit right whale conservation, but you can use it too! The app uses data from NOAA's passive acoustic buoy network to overlay whale detections on digital charts for areas along the U.S. east coast. The app also provides information about right whale management areas, including speed restrictions in certain shipping lanes. 

Ship collisions have been shown to be a leading factor for right whale mortality, so the app was designed to alert commercial vessel operators of possible whales so they can slow their ship and heighten visual awareness. If your sailing grounds are on the east coast near any of the right whale management areas, check out the free Whale Alert app in Apple's App Store.

I tried the app here in the Great Lakes and can confirm there are no whales in Lake Michigan. However, I did find some whale activity when I panned over to Massachusetts with the simple and intuitive interface.



I think the technology behind the app is really cool and highlights just how connected we can be, even on our sailboats. Think about it: A whale swimming through one of the management areas decides to give a whaley groan to one of his buddies about some tasty krill up ahead, and suddenly all of the mariners in the area are alerted of their presence by their iPhones. Craziness!!

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to end this post so I can reply to a text message from a manatee in Florida and answer a Skype call from a seal pup in Baffin Bay...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 Favorite Affordable Bluewater Sailboats

Image
I've always said that my favorite boat is whichever one I currently own. Being able to call it "mine" makes it my favorite by default. My first boat was a $400 derelict that I loved (still love) deeply. And she loved me back. However, that doesn't mean there aren't other boats I love that I'd like to call "mine" someday. The following is my personal ranking of my favorite affordable (available for ~$50k) sailboats. I've rather arbitrarily set the price limit around $50k and called it "affordable" in hopes that one day one of these boats might fit my budget and help my family and I to sail far and live free. Also note that other than the top 3, these rankings change in my head almost daily and I really struggled to narrow the list down to just 10.   As you peruse my list, you'll notice that they're all bluewater cruisers . You won't find any modern designs, fin keels, spade rudders, sugar scoop transoms, carbo...
Read more

Go Small and Go Now! 5 Pocket Cruisers to Take you Anywhere

Image
"Go small, go simple, go now!" -Lin & Larry Pardey Iconic cruisers Lin and Larry Pardey are well-known among cruising enthusiasts for the above statement. Can it really be that easy? Grab yourself a small boat, outfit it properly but simply for offshore work, and get going while your dream and your body is still alive! Lin and Larry not only made the statement, they lived it. If you're looking to do the same, maybe some of the micro- or pocket-cruisers I've listed below can serve as your "go small" portion of the equation. Going small and choosing one of these or several other pocket cruisers will lead to trade-offs. Of course first and foremost you'll be giving up length, both on deck and at the waterline. This often leads to less storage space, less weight capacity, and slower sailing. But the upside is presumably less maintenance (less paint, less wood, fewer systems) and more affordable expenses. For example, replacing the s...
Read more

Escape to the Sea: How to get from the Great Lakes to the Caribbean

Image
Let's say winter's chill was something you could no longer take as a Great Lakes sailor. Or perhaps you just want to extend your sailing season beyond the boundaries of summer. What options do you have?  You could just opt for a bareboat charter somewhere in the Caribbean and consider the itch scratched. But then you'd miss out on all the adventure of moving a boat between the Great Lakes and the Caribbean. And you wouldn't be sailing  your  boat. I'm here to convince you that the best option is to sail your own boat south. What follows is an overview of the route you could take to get you and your boat to warmer water and weather from the Great Lakes. Route 1: St. Lawrence Seaway (including Lake Champlain shortcut) You're adventurous if you choose this route. From most starting locations in the Great Lakes, you'll also be seeing the most scenery and passing the ...
Read more