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Category: Zany

Rob Eddy, model maker extraordinaire 6

Zany

Rob Eddy, model maker extraordinaire

Ojibway_model_courtesy_Rob_Eddy.JPG

I’m sure that Furuno folk are going to grin over these photos; I bet you all will.  You just must click them to full size, but also trust me that the phenomenal detail is even more so in reality.  This 18-inch model of a 1983 Jarvis Newman 36 took 1,100 expert hours to build — expertise not just at documentation and delicate hand work but also at 3D CAD, naval architecture, laser cutting tools, and jewelry making.  Adding in a lifelong passion for boats, an artist’s eye and the patience of Job gets you one of my local treasurers: model maker Rob Eddy…

MIBS ME, lots happening, all good! 22

The Trade / Zany

MIBS ME, lots happening, all good!

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Instead of being released, my cranium got completely stuffed in Miami last week.  Now, there is a phenomenon whereby the more I cover marine electronics, the more developers I know and the more they want to tell me about their latest projects.  But there’s something else going on, too:  I believe the pace of innovation is increasing and some healthy trends are emerging.  I’ll try to hit a few today, but it may take weeks to detail all the good things I saw at the show…

MIBS, the Tweet edition 7

Zany

MIBS, the Tweet edition

I tried using Twitter to cover the Ft. Lauderdale Show a bit, maybe I can do better here in Miami. Follow me!

America’s Cup 32, monitoring the madness 17

Zany

America’s Cup 32, monitoring the madness

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Good grief!  It was plain as day that this America’s Cup was going to be all about technology (and bad mojo), but a wind-seeking microlight equipped at minimum with anemometer, satellite compass, and radar?  I can’t find any info about the Alinghi Airforce on the team’s own site, but Sailing Anarchy has the tape, and some trenchant commentary.  If any of you can find out more on that electronics set up, or — even better — what’s on the boats, please let us know.  Meanwhile, I’m lining up the resources I’ll use to monitor this madness in progress…

Happy New Year, rolling in St. Bart’s 13

AIS / Zany

Happy New Year, rolling in St. Bart’s

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Why were nearly 100 mega yachts anchored off St. Bart’s last night, instead of cuddling up in lovely Gustavia for the New Year’s Eve party?  Well, apparently it was quite rough down there, and even the vessels that had already made it into the inner harbor were asked to leave because of the swell.  Which must have been hellacious…

Merry Christmas to all, and to all… 8

Zany

Merry Christmas to all, and to all…

The Celestial Compass iPhone app would have trouble near a Pole too.  The ancients developed an amazingly effective system for measuring position on the earth’s surface, but all related systems tend to go wacko when you’re in that area where a foot step can span many degrees of longitude.  At any rate, many thanks to Dave Blazek for letting me use his cartoon (you can see more here), and for another holiday grin…

Giving Thanks, a holiday break 6

Zany

Giving Thanks, a holiday break

There’s a fair bit of hokum wrapped around the Thanksgiving holiday we’re about to celebrate here in the states, which I’m particularly aware of as I just finished Nathanial Philbrick’s excellent Mayflower: A Story...

Gigando touch screen remote, from Palladium 4

Entertainment / Zany

Gigando touch screen remote, from Palladium

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You may never feel comfortable about slapping a bowl of chips and a couple of beers on this coffee table, but it surely would impress the folks visiting your super yacht, and it’s wicked fun. Tucked somewhere in that table is a full on Mac computer that’s networked to a full on distributed entertainment system — curtains, lights, movies, internet, whatever!  As usual, the megayacht sections of the The Fort Lauderdale show were awash in wretched excess, but also as usual, the good folks at Palladium Technologies demonstrated how creative, even joyous, cost-no-problem electronics can get…

Labor Day weekend, fun & radars 2

Zany

Labor Day weekend, fun & radars

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I can’t quite grok that such a short summer is nearly over, but do realize that a moment like above may not come around again.  That’s the lovely day sailor Heron, Mark Island and the Camden Hills in the background, and several blissful tons of seal basking in the sunshine. But I am looking forward to the Camden Windjammer Festival this weekend, though partially because I plan to use the incoming fleet to test ARPA and MARPA…