iPad on Board

Sailing the Sea of Cortez

NOTE: This article was also published on the Women and Cruising website as well as being one of the 12 most popular articles of 2012. Women and Cruising is an excellent source for the cruising woman - whether out cruising or still in the planning stages. 

The iPad was one of he best purchases we made before leaving the US. We bought it at the last minute after realizing that buying new chart cards for our rather outdated chart-plotter could become quite expensive in the long run. The iPad 3/4G comes with an "assisted GPS" (the basic WiFi version does not have a GPS receiver) and while in the Apple store we talked to several of the geniuses about what exactly assisted GPS is. They all agreed that I had to be within reach of cell towers for it to work. I didn't agree then and I can now say that the GPS works just fine well over 100 miles from shore and gets a fix in mere seconds.  

Our boat's chart plotter came with one chart card that covers Cape Flattery to Mazatlan. While Cape Flattery is amazingly beautiful I doubt we will ever take this boat that far north (we sailed past boats on Puget Sound and love the Pacific North West - in summer). However, in one month of cruising we had already gone past the southern border of the chart card. Not to mention that the card is from 2004 and I just cannot justify buying new cards every year or two to get important chart updates.

Cape Flattery, Summer 2011

When we arrived in Ensenada we realized that our marina was too new to shown up on our chart-plotter. Luckily I had downloaded the latest charts onto my iPhone and we were able to come into port using it for guidance - though we quickly determined that the iPhone screen is too small to be used on a daily basis.

I have heard a lot of complaints about inaccurate charts around Mexico. Maybe we haven't been to enough places, but so far we have found the charts to be about as accurate as expected. This country doesn't have nearly the amount of money to put into charting as the US does. Of course, being hydrographers, we give anything that wasn't charted within the last 10 years a very wide berth! And night sailing close to shore is out of the question almost anywhere. 

The iPad makes route planning a breeze. We like to sit together in the cockpit with a cruising guide and the iPad to plan our upcoming journey. Later we transfer the waypoints to the chart-plotter on the binnacle. This way the autopilot can track our course and we can kick back and keep watches from a more comfortable seat behind the dodger (which is where I initially wrote this post on the iPad while Mike was snoozing happily until his watch started).

iPad Navionics app being used to navigate into Ensenada Blanca, Baja Sur, Mexico. The track showing us on shore is a dinghy trip to the resort to use their free wifi. 

Since the iPad has a 10 hour battery it can make it through almost an entire night of watches without having to be recharged. When the battery does run out there is no need to run the generator or inverter. We simply use the same 12 volt plug we use for the iPhones and use the electricity we make with our solar panels.

Taken April 2012 in Bahia de los Muertos, Mexico

We have a waterproof cover for the iPad so we can keep it at the binnacle while underway. Even in direct sunlight the screen is easy to see if the brightness is turned all the way up; though at night it can still be a bit bright even all the way turned down.

Turns out the iPad has many other great uses. Not to mention all the obvious ones like endless games, Facebook, internet research, dictionary, translator, email, etc...

Boat Log

We tried keeping a hand-written log of maintenance items, trips, fuel usage,etc but soon realized that after spending months trying to convert everything we had to digital we were once again using paper! We tried several of the boat log apps available for the iPad but none had everything we wanted. Finally we realized that all we needed was a calendar. We now use the calendar app and the best part is that we can search entries. So if Mike needs to know how many times we have ran the Honda generator I simply search for Honda. From there we can figure out when it's time to change the oil. By noting our location daily, I can cross-reference the dates with our digital photos.

Weather Updates

Aside from simply using weather websites we really like the Weather 4D HD app. For $2 we get all the weather updates we can handle in a really pretty display.

We haven't tried this yet but we have an app that will listen to the HF radio weather fax signal and then display the weather fax on the iPad. How cool is that?!

To Do List

We use the reminders app because, like the calendar app, it can work over the "cloud" and update the other iDevices. So, if I'm out and about with only my iPhone I can update our calendar or shopping or to do list and the other iPhone and the iPad will get the same update. It's all rather brilliant! We like to take the iPhones to shore in the dinghy because they are lighter and easier to protect from getting wet than the laptop or iPad.

Movies and Music

I like to watch movies on my night watches. Since we like to stand two long night watches it helps make the time go by and keep me awake. I can only contemplate life for so long.  When on WiFi or near cell towers we can also watch Netflix. Oh, and if you want to know how to listen to Pandora from Mexico send me an email ;)

Internet

Here in Mexico WiFi isn't always easy to access but you can buy Internet access by the day or month and by how much data you want. No need for a multi year plan. If you just email and do daily light surfing a month of Internet can be about $20. We have a chip for the iPad and a USB stick for the laptop and have been able to get Internet over 10 miles offshore. Great for getting weather updates!

By the way, if you buy an iPad outside of the US I hear (this is not confirmed) that it will not be unlocked like the US version, meaning if you buy it in Mexico it will only work with a Mexican carrier.

Phone Calls

Really cheap/free calls via Skype or Google Voice. Why did I ever pay for a cellular plan???

UPDATE (May 23, 2012): After nearly dragging anchor onto a rock we tried to use the iPhone/iPad as an anchor alarm. The problem is that it has to be left on (screen lit) all night and connected to power. It also seems to shut itself down after some hours which turns off the anchor alarm. I'm not a fan of having to run out into the cockpit every time we get a false alarm on the chartplotter so we now use our handheld GPS with anchor alarm. We record our track and set the audible alarm. Works great and  there is no need to get out of bed!

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Icons on map are clickable for more information on anchorages, marinas, snorkel spots, etc. Zoom out for others.


When we arrived in Bahia Puerto Balandra around 5pm we were stunned by how beautiful the bay was, with rugged cliffs and small coves of white sand beaches. We set our anchor as usual, in 12 feet of water at low tide, and paid out 75 feet of chain. After making sure that it was set well, we jumped into the emerald green water with our snorkel gear. Mike swam over to our anchor (a Manson Supreme - the name alone helped me sleep... until now) and made sure it was nice and buried in the sand.

Snorkel reef

After snorkeling and quick showers on deck, we had dinner and a sundowner. During dinner the wind started to pipe up a bit. We weren't too surprised as it had been forecast to blow about 15 - though we haven't had any wind at night time for weeks. 

Before heading to bed we did our usual evening checks and made sure the deck was clear of obstructions. Every night we put the spotlight in the companion way to grab if needed. Of course we didn't think we would need any of it since we had been through much heavier winds.

Fast forward to shortly before midnight. I woke up to wind howling in the rigging. I nudged Mike to get up and check on things (I like to use the I'm not wearing my contacts excuse). He begrudgingly rose and headed up top. Not long after he came back down and said "I think we've drug anchor". I grabbed my glasses and threw on a jacket (it's been getting down to 60 at night). I started turning on instruments and deck lights while Mike started the engine. We had dragged almost a quarter of a mile and were now very close to a rock cliff on the other side of the bay with the wind blowing us toward shore. Luckily, the anchor appeared to be holding. 

We didn't feel very comfortable next to the cliff but it was dark and there are a couple of small reefs in the bay making maneuvering difficult. We decided to hoist the anchor anyway and follow our trackline back to our original position. While Mike was up on the bow running the windlass I was praying that the engine would not fail as soon as the anchor came up since we would have been blown onto the cliff in mere seconds. 

With the anchor up I started heading into the wind along our track line towards our old anchor spot. Mike came back to grab the boat hook and told me that a big rock had lodged itself into our anchor!!!  Well that explains it!

With our anchor once again ready for service we dropped the hook as usual and went back inside to listen to the wind howl and the boat creak and groan. But not before turning on the anchor and depth alarms and staring incessantly at our GPS position on the iPad...

Lessons learned

• Just because your anchor has held out through 40+ knots of wind before doesn't mean it will do so again.
• Check if lone rock wedged itself into set anchor in an otherwise all sand bottom. 
• Turn on anchor and depth alarms!

UPDATE (May 23, 2012): After this debacle we tried to use the iPhone/iPad as an anchor alarm. The problem is that it has to be left on (screen lit) all night and connected to power. It also seems to shut itself down after some hours which turns off the anchor alarm. I'm not a fan of having to run out into the cockpit every time we get a false alarm on the chartplotter so we now use our handheld GPS with anchor alarm. We record our track and set the audible alarm. Works great and  there is no need to get out of bed!

The rock cliff

Going Digital

Before moving aboard we converted as many of our things as possible to digital format. We knew there would be no space on a boat for years of paperwork and stacks of music CDs. We had originally planned on not keeping anything that wouldn't fit on the boat but there were just some things we couldn't part with so we bought a small cargo trailer that is being stored with family (Thanks R & D!). 


Banking and bills
Banks make it easy to pay your bills and receive statements online but they still like to send lots of junk mail. I had to call them directly to turn off the ads for credit cards and those pesky checks they want you to use. 
So we don't have to log into our banks through questionable internet connections we use mint.com to check balances and transactions.

Past paperwork
We went through all our old files. And there was a whole file cabinet full! Most of the contents were shredded and tossed but some things we scanned to keep for records. The only thing we kept paper records of are past tax documents. I don't think we have to but paranoia got the better of us.


CDs
I took our stacks of music CDs and painstakingly copied them onto a hard drive. It took days and days. Then we took all the CDs to the goodwill.


Photos
I had several boxes full of photos. I sent them to Foto Bridge to get scanned and then destroyed the originals. It was not easy to do but I'm glad I did it. I had moved with those boxes many times and never once looked at the photos. Just the other day I was able to use a scanned photo taken in Cabo 24 years earlier in a blog post. I keep copies of all of our photos on two computers and two external harddrives. And I don't delete the cameras' memory cards until I have at least one backup.


Stay tuned for another post about going digital in which I highlight our handy iPad!