FLIR and Garmin, two of the biggest names in marine electronics, have separately unveiled new products intended to help skippers enhance situational awareness on the boat.

The FLIR JCU-4 remote control is intended to allow precision control of the company’s marine thermal and visible cameras. The remote control is compatible with FLIR’s M232, M300, M400/M400XR and M500 series, and with legacy models. Its features include pan, tilt and zoom, and control of all additional camera functions with an ergonomic keypad and joystick control.

With a low-profile, three-axis design, the joystick is mounted with a 2.9-inch color LCD and keypad. A dimmable color LCD and backlit keypad help to preserve the skipper’s night vision. The JCU-4 can be configured between FLIR marine cameras and marine monitors or chartplotters, and three custom keys can be programmed for quick access to user-defined camera functions.

“Designed by mariners, for mariners, the JCU-4 is a meaningful upgrade for those who actively navigate using thermal technology and require dependable and intuitive control of their FLIR camera,” the company stated in a press release.

Also aiming to help boaters feel more confident out on the water, Garmin announced a software update for some GPSMap and EchoMap chartplotters that adds AIS warning messaging to help reduce the risk of collisions.

AIS, when connected to a Garmin chartplotter, can provide real-time information about the position, speed and heading of other AIS-equipped vessels. The AIS targets can be displayed on top of a live chart or a radar display. With the software update, Garmin’s chartplotters will also display AIS message types 12 and 14—addressed and broadcast warning messages—in addition to collision-avoidance alerts.

Garmin’s AIS warnings for object detection are available for these chartplotters: GPSMap 9000, 9500, 8600, 8600xsv, 8700, 7×3/9×3/12×3/16×3 and 10×2/12×2 series, along with the EchoMap Ultra 2 and UHD2 touchscreen series. A Garmin AIS-capable device is also required. 

What does the FLIR JCU-4 cost? Price is $1,699. To learn more, click over to flir.com

Where to learn more about Garmin’s software update: visit garmin.com

The post Helm Upgrades With FLIR And Garmin appeared first on Yachting.

Dockmares have a way of burrowing into the psyche. As a kid, Michelle Hildyard was cruising England’s southern coast with her family aboard Storm King, their Kings Cruiser 29. As they tucked into Langstone Harbour, waves were heaving Storm King—and the dock—while Hildyard’s dad made his approach. Then Hildyard’s sister, impatient to debark, leapt from the moving boat and blew her landing. Hildyard’s mom grabbed the helm, and her dad scooped her sister back aboard. “She could have gotten squished,” Hildyard recalls.

Jump to 2024, and Hildyard, who was recently promoted to vice president of operations at Raymarine and FLIR Maritime, has the opportunity to help make boating a better, safer experience for everyone.

Hildyard joined Raymarine 20 years ago. Since then, the powerboats that she and her husband have owned have grown in size and complexity, as have her job responsibilities. Now 47, she grew up in Southampton on England’s southern coast, a short distance from Southampton Water, a tidal estuary that spills into the Solent. This is one of the world’s great boating areas. The Isle of Wight is nearby, as is the storied English Channel.

“I started sailing dinghies when I was 8,” Hildyard says. “I enjoyed racing, and I did that competitively for a number of years.”

For college, Hildyard moved north to the landlocked University of Reading, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in pathobiology. Next came a move to London, where she worked in the cable TV business, first as a strategy and network development manager for Cable & Wireless Communications, and then as a procurement manager for Sky TV.

Yet, the sea’s gravity was never far from her mind. “I always had friends back home on the south coast, and I always used to come and do a lot of boating,” Hildyard says.

Her entry to the marine industry involved some serendipity. Hildyard met her future husband racing dinghies as teenagers. By the mid-2000s, they were a pair. “He didn’t want to move to London, so we decided that I’d finish my stint in London,” she says. “A job came up at Raymarine, along with a couple other supply-chain jobs. What swayed me to Raymarine was because it was in the marine industry.”

Hildyard began in 2005, at the height of the industry’s pre-Great Recession boom. She was a supply-chain manager, a position that she held for 18 months before getting promoted to commercial director. She and her husband took up power cruising in 2007 when they purchased a Fairline Phantom 40.

The Great Recession began later that year, and “things weren’t brilliant,” Hildyard recalls. Raymarine was still an independent company at the time. “I learned a lot because I was working with the bankers, with the financial advisers, about how to support Raymarine in restructuring to be sold.”

By May 2010, FLIR Systems, the US-based thermal-imaging giant, had purchased Raymarine. “One of the things we took on at Raymarine was FLIR’s marine thermal-imaging cameras, growing that business and incorporating it into Raymarine’s portfolio,” Hildyard says. This coincided with her promotion to director of global customer service, a position that she held for more than eight years.

Around that time, anticipating the arrival of their first daughter, the Hildyards upgraded to a Fairline Phantom Targa 44. “Our eldest daughter was 10 months old when she did her first Channel crossing,” Hildyard says, “but she was on the boat at five days old.”

In 2011, Hildyard enrolled at University of Southampton Business School, where she earned her MBA. This program took three years. With graduation approaching, the family upgraded again in 2013, this time to a Fairline Targa 47 GT. “It’s a really good cruising boat,” Hildyard says, describing the layout and well-used RIB.

Today, the Hildyards are a family of four who live in Southampton, about a five-minute walk from their marina. From there, Hildyard says, it’s a 25-minute ride at 6 knots to the Solent, a route the family knows well. “On the weekends, we can go to Lymington, Beaulieu, and Cowes and Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight,” she says. “A little bit farther afield and we can go to Poole or Weymouth, or across to the Channel Islands and France.”

In fall 2018, Hildyard was named vice president of customer service before becoming vice president of product management and development. One of her responsibilities in the latter role involved developing a clearer understanding of market needs and driving new product to fill niches. Layered on top of this came two major macro-level changes: the pandemic, and Teledyne’s acquisition of FLIR and Raymarine in May 2021.

“We hunkered down,” Hildyard says. “Then 2021 hit, and aside from the supply-chain shortages, it was great because the marine industry came back to life. People couldn’t travel, but they certainly wanted leisure time.” This translated to boat sales and the acquisition.

While Hildyard describes Teledyne (an American technology firm) as a great parent company that has natural synergies with FLIR and Raymarine, the marine electronics market is competitive. “To continue growing the business, we need to continue a good cadence of product introductions,” Hildyard says. “You’ve got to understand what your customers’ problems are, and you’ve got to solve those problems.”

Obvious problems, she says, involve lowering boating’s barriers to entry while engaging more experienced boaters.

“For most people, docking is horrendous. It’s the worst part of the experience,” she says, pointing to DockSense, which is Raymarine’s camera- and GPS-based assisted-docking system. “You can create [air] bumpers around your boat, and no matter how much you bring your [helm] over, it’s not going to get within a half a meter of that pontoon or hit another boat.”

While Hildyard sees DockSense and other AI-based technologies as crucial, she’s aware of the coin’s other side. “A lot of people buy a boat for the pleasure of sailing or driving it,” she says. “Automation and AI must enhance that experience, rather than take over.”

One example of this, Hildyard says, is advanced technologies that help anglers find fish faster while reducing their time and fuel burn.

Looking ahead, Hildyard expects several important waypoints that need to be met as the boating world catches up to the digital age. The first involves connectivity and digital switching.

“When you go out cruising or fishing, you want to know that your boat is ready; you want to be able to check things in advance,” she says. While these home-type technologies are finding their way aboard, Hildyard says the sea change will take another few years.

On the three- to five-year horizon, Hildyard expects automation and AI to play increasingly bigger roles. But as a lifelong boater, she understands there’s a fine line involved. “I think it’s how you apply it in the industry that’s going to be very interesting, and how people want to use it,” she says.

Looking five to 10 years down the course, Hildyard expects to see fully autonomous yachts. “Making the right decisions on what sensors to develop and what technologies to prioritize is going to be critical,” she says, noting that this task, along with fostering in-house innovations and outside partnerships, is a big part of her role.

There’s no question that technologies like DockSense would have added serious safety margins the day that Hildyard’s sister fell overboard. A lifelong boater with decades of industry experience may have precisely the right combination of expertise to guide Raymarine and FLIR through the evolutions that will decide boating’s future.

Side Rides

In addition to their Fairline Targa 47 GT, the Hildyards recently acquired an e-foil board, giving the family the chance to experience the boating world’s coolest craze. Also, the Targa 47 GT carries a Williams Jet Tender, which they use to get ashore and to support their watersports habit.

The post An Interview with Raymarine’s Michelle Hildyard appeared first on Yachting.

FLIR has unveiled a new series of navigation displays called Raymarine Element S, promising all-weather performance, best-in-class speed and straightforward operation for yacht owners who want GPS navigation without sophisticated sonar.

Element S is available in 7-, 9-, and 12-inch models. There’s a 64-bit quad-core processor for speed, a built-in 10Hz GPS sensor, and support for charts from Raymarine’s LightHouseTM NC2, Navionics and C-Map.

Element S can be purchased with an optional Raymarine Quantum wireless chirp radar or an AIS receiver. There is NMEA 2000 connectivity for autopilot and VHF DSC integration, along with the display of sailing instruments, engine data and fuel tank level information. Element S allows storage of up to 5,000 waypoints in 200 groups, plus 50 routes and 15 tracks.

When will Element S be available? Raymarine dealers reportedly had it starting in mid-June, at a suggested retail price of $449.

Learn more about Element S: raymarine.com

The post New Series of Navigation Displays: Raymarine Element S appeared first on Yachting.

Some years ago, i was invited to sail aboard a Gunboat 66 from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Lahaina, on Maui’s northwest flank. It was me, her owners, the crew, the late, great lensman Bobby ­Grieser and Pickles, the owners’ Jack Russell terrier. Our final night featured a celebratory meal at the Lahaina Grill, with Pickles dutifully standing watch back aboard. While we’d remembered to switch on the masthead ­tricolor before venturing ashore, we weren’t the only boat in the anchorage on that inky-dark, January eve, and finding our way home proved challenging in the gathering swell. Just as the yacht’s owner, Bruce, recalled that sharks frequent Maui in midwinter, we caught Pickles’ bark. Looking back today, I realize that better night-vision technology would have made our RIB ride much smoother.

The desire to peer through darkness is a wish as ancient as the mariner himself, and modern yachtsmen are buoyed by technology such as radar and thermal-imaging cameras. While the latter has historically been expensive, FLIR’s M100 and M200 thermal-imaging cameras are poised to be more economical, making the technology available for a wider variety of vessels and applications.

Unlike traditional night-vision systems that require a certain amount of ­ambient or projected light to work, thermal-­imaging cameras detect minute differences in the thermal energy emitting from all objects warmer than absolute zero (minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit). The cameras passively gather this information, using it to render real-time video imagery that’s streamed to a networked display, requiring little user input. “If you can watch TV, you can use thermal night vision,” says Andrew Teich, FLIR‘s president and CEO.

If you’re seeking a professional-grade thermal-imaging camera, FLIR’s yet-to-be-released M500 system offers a glimpse of mil-spec tech. It delivers a triple payload: thermal-imaging cameras, daylight-imaging cameras and a powerful LED spotlight. The M500 (about $175,000) cools its sensor to cryogenic temperatures to remove thermally induced noise and bolster the camera’s spectral-filtering capabilities. This extra capability and componentry requires government approval (currently pending) before the M500 can be sold commercially. Need-it-now customers can also consider the already available M400XR ($85,000), which uses an uncooled Tau 2.7 core to deliver 640-by-480 image resolution.

Much like digital cameras, a thermal-­imaging camera’s cost lies mostly in its thermal core, or sensor. In the case of FLIR’s M100 and M200 cameras, that core is an uncooled Boson VOx microbolometer that detects thermal differences of roughly 60 millikelvins, or (ballpark) one-ninth of a degree Fahrenheit. According to FLIR, the M100 and M200’s detectors can spot a man overboard from 1,500 feet and a vessel from 0.67 nautical miles. Additionally, both cameras have 4x continuous digital zoom and FLIR’s ­Digital Detail Enhancement software, plus the ability to view real-time imagery via a networked screen, multifunction display (MFD) or smartphone/tablet. Owners can also view the camera’s footage remotely, using its built-in Web server, and both cameras can record footage onto a networked MFD’s internal storage or third-party microSD card.

While the two cameras are largely ­identical, the M100 ($2,495) was designed as FLIR’s price-conscious, fixed-mount thermal-imaging camera. It can articulate vertically through 200 degrees, and it’s locked along its azimuth — or horizontal — axis. The M200 ($3,495) has all of the M100’s capabilities plus the ability to pan 360 degrees horizontally. “We left the ability to tilt [in the M100] because a planing powerboat’s camera angle can radically change,” says Jim McGowan, FLIR’s marketing manager for the Americas, who explained that this movement allows users to match their camera’s viewing angle with their boat’s running angle — a feature that helps enable FLIR’s ClearCruise IR Analytics software.

FLIR Systems has long built thermal-­imaging solutions for myriad applications, including automotive, aviation, military and industrial safety. In the marine industry, FLIR’s thermal-imaging cameras play nicely with MFDs from all major marine-electronics manufacturers. In 2010, FLIR acquired Raymarine, and while the manufacturer ensures that its cameras remain brand-agnostic in terms of compatibility, this ownership allows FLIR to add proprietary features for Raymarine owners. Both the M100 and M200 are Ethernet-enabled and will network with any MFD that accepts video over IP, but ClearCruise IR Analytics software works only when one (or more) of these cameras is paired with a Raymarine quad-core Axiom-series MFD.

When enabled, ClearCruise IR ­Analytics runs in the background anytime the ­camera is on, constantly scanning the course ahead for “nonwater” objects. Once identified, the camera and the Axiom MFD collectively determine if the target’s speed and bearing are a threat. Dangerous targets have a bright-yellow frame, plus ClearCruise IR Analytics triggers ­top- level auditory and ­visual warnings on the MFD. “The goal is to make the camera work for you, even when you’re not looking at it,” says McGowan, who compared ClearCruise IR Analytics to the automatic radar plotting aid (ARPA) feature on some high-end radars.

It’s important to consider any camera’s effective operating range. Basic math reveals that if you’re cruising at 20 knots, you’ll cover 1,500 feet (MOB-detection range) in 44 seconds, and you’ll burn up 0.67 nautical miles (vessel-detection range) in two minutes. So, much like with forward-looking sonar or radar, reaction time is dictated by boat speed: Lower rpm equates to more sand in the proverbial hourglass.

“The M100 and M200 are so small, they fit on any vessel, and they’re right at home on a tender,” says McGowan, who explained that while thermal-imaging cameras complement radar and make for fantastic rear-facing, backup and/or security cameras on large yachts, owners of smaller yachts and well-appointed tenders could opt for thermal imaging over radar. “Before [these cameras], the least-­expensive 320-by-240 pan, zoom, tilt camera that we sold was $9,000,” McGowan says.

While the price drop is great news, all thermal-imaging cameras are hampered by rain, heavy fog or minimal thermal difference between air and water temperatures. To help counter thermal imaging’s environmental limitations, the M100 and M200 have three preprogrammed operating modes (day, night and docking), as well as eight different user-selected color palettes. The latter can make a significant difference when searching for objects or even small boats. Additionally, McGowan recommends keeping the camera’s sensor trained on the water, leaving only a slice of horizon in its frame as a visual reference.

If your big night ashore unfurls under reasonably friendly skies, the M100 or the M200 could be the ideal tender companion to find your way back aboard, without the need of a barking Jack Russell terrier.

The post Affordable Eyes: Thermal Imaging Cameras appeared first on Yachting.

FLIR Systems has announced Evolution Release 4, the most significant update to its Raymarine Evolution Autopilots. Evolution R4 is designed to add accuracy and responsiveness of control for sailing and powerboats alike.

The Evolution R4 upgrade expands the system’s 9-axis EV sensor core with algorithms that improve the accuracy of measured wind conditions for better steer-to-wind control. The R4 upgrade also adds Evolution TrackIQ for steer-to GPS waypoint tracking.

“With our advanced Evolution heading and positioning technology, Raymarine autopilots have set a new standard for accurate and responsive autopilot performance in the boating industry,” Gregoire Outters, vice president and general manager of FLIR Maritime, stated in a press release.

The post Evolution Autopilot Upgrade appeared first on Yachting.

Several years ago, Patrick Sciacca, Yachting‘s editor-in-chief, and I traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia, to review the gorgeous Coastal Craft 560 IPS. The Coastal Craft handled high-speed turns like a dream, but I remember nervously scanning Howe Sound’s waters for errant logs, an unfortunate but unavoidable offspring of the Pacific Northwest’s logging industry. While I like to think that my eyes are relatively sharp, half-submerged logs can be tough to spot at 10 knots; 40 knots presents a different reality, with a much slimmer margin of error. We dodged calamity, but some electronic assistance would have certainly quelled my nerves.

While AIS and radar dramatically help with collision avoidance and navigation, they don’t provide assistance when it comes to dodging logs, avoiding lobster pots or, heaven forbid, contending with a man-overboard emergency. FLIR’s latest fixed-mount thermal-imaging cameras, the M400 series, help increase situational awareness and bolster operational capabilities, and they provide the same level of technology that first responders and militaries trust to save lives and secure borders.

FLIR makes two versions of this high-end camera, the M400 ($70,000) and the M400XR ($85,000), the latter of which adds video tracking to its deliverables list. Both versions are gyrostabilized and equipped with a triple payload consisting of a high-resolution thermal-imaging camera; a high-definition, low-light color video camera; and a high-intensity LED spotlight. This trifecta is contained in a tidy, dome-shaped, waterproof housing that can continuously pan through 360 degrees and tilt plus-or-minus 90 degrees.

Both cameras offer HD imagery, and they both can be controlled using the camera’s dedicated joystick or via a touchscreen user interface using a networked multifunction display. The M400 also has an internal web server and IP-enabled controls. This allows a user to wirelessly control his camera using a smartphone or tablet and the FLIR Mobile app (iOS- and Android-friendly), provided that the camera is networked to a Wi-Fi hotspot or is accessible via a wireless access point.

Unlike traditional night-vision technology, which requires a certain amount of lumens (from ambient light or a dedicated illuminator) to operate, thermal-imaging detectors sense minute temperature differences between objects and their backgrounds, which the detectors use to render video imagery. The M400 series’ 640-by-480 VOx microbolometers can detect differences as slender as 50 millikelvins, or 1/20th of one degree Celsius, at both long and short ranges. And thermal-imaging cameras work equally well in daylight as they do at night, which is helpful for spotting kayakers at high noon.

“[The M400] was a couple of years in development,” says Jay Robinson, FLIR Maritime’s vice president of product management, who adds that FLIR engineers packed a huge amount of hardware and software into a relatively small dome. Unlike previous fixed-mount FLIR cameras that relied on downstream black boxes to provide advanced-level features such as IP video and high-definition serial data interface, the M400 series’ main boards contain this hardware and allow the cameras to play nicely with third-party MFDs sans black boxes or downstream processing. In fact, M400 series cameras have just four connection cables — a power cable, an Ethernet cable, an HDSDI cable and a serial AV cable — that need to be installed to take full advantage of the camera’s capabilities.

While M400 series cameras have the same thermal-imaging sensor found on other high-end FLIR cameras, they sport a brand-new 3x optical zoom, which takes the horizontal field of view, or HFOV, from 18 degrees to 6 degrees. They also have a state-of-the-art Tau 2.7 camera core with a built-in electronic zoom that takes the HFOV from 6 degrees to 1.5 degrees. M400 cameras also have FLIR’s proprietary noise-reduction technology, Digital Detail Enhancement, which renders crisp edge details between objects and their backgrounds. FLIR says that an M400 can detect a man overboard at 1.3 nautical miles and a small vessel up to 3.2 nautical miles away.

M400 series cameras also include a high-definition, low-light video camera that provides resolution up to 1080/30p and offers a range up to the visual horizon. “The color camera has a 30x optical zoom that brings the [HFOV] from 64 degrees to 2.3 degrees … and an e-zoom that brings this down to 0.2 degrees,” says Robinson, who adds that gyrostabilization is required to see objects accurately at range and at narrow fields of view in anything but millpond conditions. Also, like most security cameras, the M400’s color camera switches to black-and-white mode if there isn’t enough light (or illumination) to render color imagery. “You generally get a pretty clear picture without much light,” Robinson says. “Moonlight is enough to see quite a bit.”

A high-intensity LED spotlight completes the M400 package. “The spotlight has a narrow beam, so a user can point the [thermal-imaging] camera at a buoy and then light it up to show the crew,” Robinson says. “You can [also] light up people who are in approach, communicating that they are being watched.” FLIR says the spotlight has a maximum range of (ballpark) half a nautical mile.

While FLIR’s M400 cameras offer cutting-edge technology, they require surprisingly little maintenance. “Salt buildup on the windows is one of the [common] reasons that the image isn’t clear,” says Jay Robinson of FLIR. “Just blast it with a hose.” It doesn’t matter if the camera is turned on during washing, but users should use fresh water only (never Windex or similar solvents) and allow the unit to air-dry (no wipes or microfiber cloths). White plastic covers offer aesthetic-preserving sun protection, but they aren’t necessary. Also, Robinson reminds users to “park” their cameras after use, which shelters the lens in a downward-facing position.

All three of the M400’s onboard devices can be used simultaneously without interference or reduced performance.

While the M400 can help identify buoys and logs, it can also serve as a collision-avoidance device. Provided that the vessel’s radar is NMEA 0183-compatible and properly networked, it shares Tracked Target Messages that advise other networked instrumentation on the current location of its mini automatic radar plotting aid, or MARPA, targets. M400 cameras use this information to lock onto and track these targets, supplementing the user’s radar returns with video imagery.

In addition to radar tracking, the M400XR comes equipped with video tracking, which follows objects in a section or gate of the camera’s field of view. “The gate describes the area of interest for the video-tracking algorithm,” Robinson says.

The gate’s default setting is one-third of the image area, but users can adjust this preference. To operate, a user simply taps a button, and the M400’s video-tracking feature keeps either camera pointed at a target, without input from other networked instrumentation.

While M400 series cameras sport memorable price tags, they provide the electronic sophistication that first responders, law enforcement and militaries trust to help ensure operational success. “Mega-yacht customers like to buy the best-in-class [equipment] that’s being used by professionals,” Robinson says.

As for plying log-strewn waters, M400 series cameras enhance situational awareness while offering technical sophistication and a user-friendly interface that makes them welcome additions on board any yacht.

The post All-Seeing Sentinel appeared first on Yachting.

The Everglades night was inky black and the anchorage desolate when Don and Denise Bermant’s problem arose. They had cruised Blue Pearl, their brand-new Fleming 65, up Florida’s Little Shark River, and the Utah-based couple realized they had less brine than anticipated under the keel in the outgoing tide. Their only option was to weigh anchor — a time-consuming task even for a fully crewed yacht — and they had to do it fast, all alone. The Bermants had taken up boating in 2010 with the purchase of their first yacht, a Fleming 55, and had racked up considerable hours on both yachts’ engines, but they now had to pull off a flawless series of moves, lest they risk discovering the hard.

Fortunately, Blue Pearl is well-appointed with a bleeding-edge selection of now-generation Furuno equipment, as well as a FLIR thermal-­imaging camera and a Carlisle & Finch Co. spotlight. The couple confidently tapped a few touch-screen-enabled multifunction displays (MFDs), fired up their yacht’s engines and windlass, and slipped out of the emptying waters, their worries allayed by a top-notch marine-­electronics inventory.

“If you think about it, without all of this equipment, how difficult would it have been to move up a narrow river in the middle of a dark night?” Denise Bermant wonders even today. “Without the plotters and radar and the FLIR, it would have been an impossible thing for us to do.”

Don Bermant adds with a laugh: “We didn’t even have to do much cursing at each other, so it worked out pretty well!”

Marine electronics often get slapped with the bad rap of being expensive black boxes, yet talk to any boater who has tangled with pea-soup fog, pitch-black horizons or “heavy-metal” crossing situations, and it’s obvious modern electronics are the great equalizer. Forget about stationing a crew member on the bow to listen for a faintly tolling bell buoy; modern radar, AIS, thermal-­imaging cameras, sounders and redundant GPS units are all designed to defrock fear from navigational situations.

Next, pipe all of this data, plus the vessel’s instrumentation information, across a shared data backbone (e.g., NMEA 0183, NMEA 2000 or an Ethernet network) and into a series of networked large-screen MFDs (or black-box MFDs tethered to touch-enabled marine monitors — or both), and the situation quickly becomes one of — to borrow Denise Dermant’s words — “video-­game driving.”

MFDs are often the most-used piece of equipment at the helm. While their navigational capabilities haven’t changed fundamentally in several years, the level of technological refinement, improved user interface, faster speeds and greater processing power make now-­generation MFDs a considerable upgrade. “We’re using the new equipment like our old gear, but we’re getting more information, faster,” says Capt. Bryce Garvey, who runs the Garmin-equipped Merritt 72 Georgie Girl. “It’s like upgrading your smartphone. … It’s the quickness in which the new MFDs respond: You can’t confuse it. It thinks as fast as I do.”

Capt. Mark DeBlasio agrees. He runs Simrad MFD systems on a 60-foot, Ritchie Howell-­designed, Carolina-style sport-fisherman. “It’s very user-friendly, really fast and menu-driven,” he says. “I can zoom in and out without any redraw delay, and I have a continuous chart moving over the screen. Also, the data bars give [me] a tremendous amount of information.”

For Garvey and DeBlasio, speed, reliability and rock-solid performance are essential, especially for fishing tournaments. “A lot [of our success] is staying on top of the right [bottom] structure,” says DeBlasio, who has reeled in almost $1 million of purse money during the past few years. “Simrad’s Insight Genesis [cartography] is great, as the contours are what we fish, and it makes it easy to stay within our target depth.”

Having the ability to target specific fish changes the game for anglers. “The gear is an edge,” Garvey comments. “We wouldn’t have confidence without confidence in our electronics.” Garvey points to Georgie Girl‘s CHIRP-enabled Airmar transducers as some of his most important tools. “I’ll yell out to the guys, ’15 to 20 seconds!’ and 30 seconds later the marlin is in the spread,” Garvey says. “These ‘ducers let you call the shots.” Additionally, Georgie Girl uses Garmin’s new Wi-Fi enabled and waterproof VIRB cameras to look at underwater dredges and to create video references for later use.

“I call it cheating,” says Joe Vezzosi, owner of a Simrad-­equipped 2015 Contender 39 ST, about his new sounder’s side-scanning capabilities. “You can see what [a] wreck actually looks like, you can pinpoint its location, and you can see its orientation. It’s a big advantage.” Another advantage, Vezzosi adds, is CHIRP-enabled sonar, which was a new technology for him since receiving his Contender. “If you’re a guy who doesn’t have a lot of fish-finder experience, CHIRP really makes it easy,” Vezzosi says.

“There’s no learning curve.”

Most current equipment allows boaters to stream their instrumentation to ­third-party wireless devices — either using a Wi-Fi enabled MFD or via a dedicated Wi-Fi module — giving users onboard mobility, a feature that’s especially popular with anglers. “We use [our Wi-Fi connection] as a mobile monitor,” Garvey says. “It makes the crew more active in the cockpit. When they see we’re on a good spot, it gets them fired up, and it helps with their attention span.” Additionally, everyone aboard Georgie Girl wears a Garmin Quatix watch, which provides instrumentation data, remote auto­pilot control and — crucially — an MOB alarm.

While Garvey says wireless information helps keep his crew focused when fishing, plenty of cruisers, including the Bermants, use their tablets for navigation and operations. “We can control the boat from an iPad,” Don Bermant says. “We can see what’s on any of our four screens, and we can make changes to the plotter. … I go to bed with my iPad next to me so that I can see the [instruments] and the FLIR.”

While repeaters are nothing new, the fact that now-­generation marine electronics can be controlled via Wi-Fi is rapidly ushering in a new era of information-rich boating when a skipper doesn’t have to be stationed at the helm to make mission-­critical decisions or to ensure vessel safety. “AIS has made me more aware of my surroundings,” DeBlasio says. “It allows you to make decisions and adjustments much earlier than traditional radar, and you can call [any vessel] by name.”

Still, not everyone is sold on the omnipotence of “electronic eyes” such as AIS. “I don’t know if AIS made me a safer boater,” Vezzosi says. “If you’re [not] paying attention, AIS can help, but you should never get into that situation.” Still, Vezzosi finds AIS helpful for locating commercial fishing vessels, which are oftentimes dragging bait. “Then, you can find the fish,” he says.

By adding a thermal-­imaging camera to their helm, the Bermants have further increased their safety margin. “We find a [target] on the radar and lock the FLIR [thermal-­imaging camera] onto it so that we can actually see it — for example, a buoy marker,” Don Bermant explains.

While different boaters assign different levels of trust to their electronic eyes, most thoroughly endorse touchscreen-enabled monitors and MFDs. “[Touch screens] get you away from keypads and buttons,” says DeBlasio, who adds that “touch makes navigation that much faster.” As for using a touch-screen monitor in ugly seas, DeBlasio is a satisfied customer. “With the big screens, it’s not a problem at all,” he says, adding that his touch screen experiences on his 48-footer have persuaded him to add this technology to the 60-footer during his next electronics refit.

Nevertheless, some owners still prefer analog redundancy. “Touch screen is a great upgrade, but I like having a keypad when I’m running,” Vezzosi says. “It’s hard to touch a screen at 45 knots and not feel like you’re going to put your finger through it.”

Irrespective of your feelings about touch-screen monitors and wide-open throttles, there’s no debate that now-­generation, fully networked monitors/MFDs — ideally jumbo-size — make life afloat much sweeter. And while it’s easy to fixate on metrics such as processor speeds and other tech specs, the simple fact remains that having all of your onboard instrumentation, cartography, radar, AIS and camera feeds presented on one (or more) integrated and user-friendly screen beats the days of bow-stationed lookouts, paper charts and awkward interfaces, especially for cruisers who are new to navigation. Just ask the Bermants.

“We didn’t own any boats prior to 2010,” Don says. “Without the technology, we couldn’t have gotten into the cruising that we’ve done.”

The post Human Element appeared first on Yachting.

FLIR M400

The FLIR M400 is the latest thermal night vision camera from the Oregon-based manufacturer. It is a pan/tilt marine system designed for short- and long-range target identification, with a 640X480 sensor that can deliver thermal video images in low light as well as total darkness.

An integrated HD color-visible camera and tight-beam LED spotlight are also part of the package, further enhancing target identification.

Additional features include a continuous optical thermal zoom lens (up to 4X), active gyrostabilization for steady images, radar tracking and optional video tracking to keep targets in view at all times. Image resolution is up to 1080-pixel high-definition, and a 30X optical zoom is built in.

The FLIR M400 comes with a two-year warranty that can be extended to three years with product registration. Units are expected to begin shipping during the second quarter of 2015.

For more information, visit www.flir.com.

The post A New Way to See in the Dark appeared first on Yachting.

Raymarine Dragonfly

FLIR Systems has introduced seven new models of its Dragonfly range, including the 4.3-inch Dragonfly 4 DV, which is being marketed as the world’s first recreational CHIRP sonar costing less than $200. (Retail is $199.)

The Dragonfly series offers CHIRP sonar vision, all-weather color displays and wireless mobile device integration. While conventional sonars transmit a single frequency with each pulse, Dragonfly’s CHRIP sonar simultaneously pulses across a spectrum of frequencies, creating higher-resolution images. Dragonfly’s CHIRP DownVision technology allows performance to 600 feet with high-speed bottom tracking.

The Dragonfly PRO models combine CHIRP DownVision and conventional CHIRP sonar with 10Hz GPS for staying on course, and internal Wi-Fi for streaming to mobile devices. All of the GPS-equipped Dragonfly models support charts from Navionics, C-MAP by Jeppesen and Raymarine LightHouse.

“The first Dragonfly, launched in 2013, was a breakthrough that let fishermen see the underwater world with incredible fidelity,” Grégoire Outters, vice president and general manager of FLIR Maritime, stated in a press release. “Now with the expanded and more attractively priced Dragonfly range, we are making our high-performance CHIRP DownVision sonar technology within reach of every fisherman and boater.”

More information about all seven Dragonfly models is at www.raymarine.com/dragonfly.

The post The First CHIRP Sonar Below $200 appeared first on Yachting.

Raymarine MFD

FLIR Systems, the parent company of Raymarine, has announced a partnership that will allow support for C-MAP by Jeppesen cartography on some Raymarine multifunction displays.

Raymarine’s range of LightHouse II-based MFDs along with its line of Dragonfly Sonar/GPS models will support C-MAP and Jeppesen’s worldwide map library.

“We are excited Raymarine customers will soon be able to take advantage of C-MAP by Jeppesen’s complete library of navigational data and value-added products,” James Detar, Jeppesen’s portfolio management director, stated in a news release. “Raymarine’s navigation displays combined with C-MAP by Jeppesen charts will transform the way boaters navigate, with full-featured vector charts, dynamic raster charts, plus 3-D and satellite chart options.”

The cartography support will be part of a regular Raymarine software update and will be available as a free download with LightHouse Release 13 in early 2015.

Learn more at www.raymarine.com or www.c-map.jeppesen.com.

The post A Marriage Made in Helm Heaven appeared first on Yachting.