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by nicthesailor 2186 days ago
Lol. Fair question. I got lost online one day and ended up here. I like the relative civility and thoughtfulness of the discussions, so I usually lurk.

I'm also the default on-board IT support/education person, and I learn a lot here that helps me with that. I managed to get several computer-security-related changes pushed through a few ships back based on hackernews references.
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bacon_waffle 2186 days ago
Thanks for posting! Mixing in perspectives like yours contributes a lot to this being an interesting forum. Any pointers for techie types who are interested in marine work?

A bit tangential: do you know of an open, or just inexpensive to use for brief periods, source of AIS data from satellites? I'm keeping an eye out for a boat (Evohe) returning, it would be great to have a few days of warning before they show up.

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nicthesailor 2184 days ago
There's a growing demand in marine tech development and marine autonomous surface ships (MASS), which I've been following with interest. They generally need seafarers with an understanding of tech, and techies with an understanding of the sea.

If you're interested in going to sea, it depends on your background. If you want to work in the deck department, the simplest sector to get into is yachting; if you've got an electronics background (electrician/electrical engineer), you can often get a reduction in the sea-time requirement to become an electro-technical officer (ETO). Since there's a severe shortage of ETOs at the moment, that would be the best option. If you just want to get to sea ASAP, cruise ships always need IT folk to keep things running (well, not during the pandemic, but in normal times), and I volunteer with Mercy Ships (mercyships.org) who also always need IT folk (and electricians, plumbers, cooks, etc.), even during the pandemic.

You can track AIS near base stations on https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-12.0/cent...

If Evohe is a voluntary observing ship for the met bureau (many merchant ship are), you can track them deep-sea on https://sailwx.info/shiptrack/shiplocations.phtml based on their last report (6-hourly reports). I hope that helps.

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bacon_waffle 2181 days ago
Mercy Ships looks very interesting indeed! I had checked marinetraffic.com, but the free version seems to only show updates for vessels near to shore (ports?). Evohe incidentally just came in range within the last day or two. Great group of folks, they do a lot of conservation in the subantarctics. Evohe's somewhat-dated website is http://www.expedition-sailing-vessel.com/

Thanks for the pointers, and drop me a line if you're ever in sunny Dunedin! I'm firstname.lastname at gmail dotcom.

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nicthesailor 2177 days ago
Yeah, that's because LRIT (long range information transponder) is always a paid subscription, while AIS is free. Something to do with security.

Evohe looks great! If they're ever looking for crew, let me know. If you've got any questions about Mercy Ships, feel free to ask - I'm sockysock79 at gmail dot com

I can't get home to NZ 'til the borders reopen, so I'm volunteering on a ship in the meantime. I'll touch base next time I'm in Dunedin :)

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