Scary WiFi in the harbor

Read Panbo on WiFi security. It's very scary. Like Panbo, I first heard of open WiFi issues from Jeffrey Siegel of Active Captain fame. I receive his newsletter at tweets.

Handheld display for the nav station?

I just read about the Mimo iMo eye9 USB touchscreen with built-in webcam on Engadget. I imagined a low-powered MacMini installed on the bulkhead with the iMo as the display. It's features are portability, touchscreen, orientation (portrait or landscape), and camera (I'm dubious about that). I could hand the display to someone sitting nearby to double-check a chart, stow it in beneath the nav station, and fix it in a stand on the nav station.

But then I remember that I could do all of that and more with my iPad running iNavX connected to a headless Mini running MacENC. In addition, I can take the iPad to the bunk and cockpit. Can't do that with the iMo because it has a USB tail. Of course, the iPad is not a real display. The best one could do is run one of the screen sharing applications (e.g., VNC).

Avia Sail Pro, Windows, and iPad

I've lost or damaged electronics aboard Speakeasy--it's a wet environment. I've now lost access to an older PowerBook and am looking for a computer for Speakeasy. Notebook computers are so cheap that I'm considering putting Avia Sail Pro software on Windows and piping the data through Avia to my iPad, which is what I have been doing with OS X and MacENC.

Speakeasy: Boat of the Year

Art, Debbie, Mark, and Beth with Boat of the Year Burgees

Our Cruising Fleet gives brag flags each year. This year Speakeasy took third place Boat of the Year honors. Points were awarded for managing and attending events (e.g., cruises to Michigan City, South Haven, and Hammond and participation in off-season events, like our Chili Cookoff). What put us in the running was inflating EZ, our dinghy, to attend the Progressive Dinghy Dinner. For some reason, no one else bothered to get in their dinghy this year. We got some sympathy because one of the three chambers was leaking air during the ride from Speakeasy to the dock.