Conference unifix::sailing

    Everyone who doesn't live in a cave has seen those remarkable night
    videos of the air raid over Baghdad.  
    
    Well, for those of us who want a peice of the military industrial
    complex to call our own, West Marine offers
    
              * * * NIGHT VISION MONOCULARS * * *
    
    The same technology used by CNN and Apache helicopters in a convenient
    hand held package.  Yours for only $1999.99.
    
    So dump those obsolete Fujinon 7X50's overboard and go with the latest
    and greatest.  Next time Taylor Ann tries racing with her lights out,
    you'll be ready.
    
    

>>>              * * * NIGHT VISION MONOCULARS * * *
>>>    
>>>    Yours for only $1999.99.
    
For the ultimate in stealth racing or cruising at night, buy *two*, and 
link them with a custom bridge fitting and head harness!  ($999.99 sounds
reasonable for this added hardware, certainly compared to the investment
in the scopes themselves.....) 

Since keeping a flashlight trained on the jib/genny telltales is such a 
hassle (batteries die, shift the light each tack, watch it short out
beating in heavy wweather, etc), this is a great high tech way to solve 
that pesky problem.  And there must be other equally worthwhile uses... 
dodging pot buoys coming into Cape Porpoise at 0100, 24-hour bird
identification, learning more about the scope and importance of this
country's underground economy through direct observation of offshore
importers right before your very eyes.... 

J.

    On a serious note, I wouldn't be surprised to see these as semi
    standard equipment within three to five years.  The Japanese will crank
    up the volume to a point where the night vision feature will be as
    common as a built in compass, and a lot more useful.
    
    Dave

    Dean should be able to authenticate this.  Two years ago, while I was
    racing on Bodacious, our navigator worked at Sanders Associates as a
    systems test engineer.  During the weekend of the Berringer overnighter 
    he managed to sign out a pair of night vision binoculars and we used
    them in the race.  They really do turn night into day.  We knew where
    the competition was and how the wind was effecting the surface of the
    water.  John Burbank, however, in the interest of fair sailing insisted
    that we keep the use of them to a minimum.  By the way, they didn't
    help us all that much if you look at how we finished.
    
    Charlie

    RE .4
    
    Yeah, we had 'em on Bo' for the Berringer this year too.  Lot of good
    they did us ... we got to use them to watch Claddagh and Wildside sail
    away from us while we were bobbing in a hole near the mark at Eastern
    Point.
    
    ... Bob
    

    Last summer I was on a tour on the fast attack nuclear sub USS La Jolla
    in San Diego.  While on the bridge of the sub I noticed mounted
    overhead a Icom M55 VHF radio.  With all their world wide communication
    capability they needed a radio they could contact the pleasure boaters
    when entering harbors.  In close quarters and slow speeds a sub is
    extreemly difficult to maneuver on the surface.  While sailing off San
    Diego we have been overtaken many times by a sub and they are very
    difficult to spot on the surface as only the tower is above the water
    and they are doing 15-20kts.  They told me that when they are returning
    from sea that sailboats are their biggest problem of dectecting with
    their electronics unless they are motoring or playing a stereo, so they
    rely on their periscope before surfacing.  This gives me something to
    think about when night sailing around here. :-(
    
    Chuck

The discussion of GPS that was here has been moved to Note 452.

The Moderator