I'm on the Undine (Callsign SHJC) - Anyone Else?

[TheBry]

The Undine left Bremerhaven on 27 June and is due to arrive the West Coast of the United States (Port Hueneme) on 23 July. Anyone else on board? I've been tracking her movements several times a day. Red pin-drops in image below show her progress. Green is most recent location.

[berniec]

what are you using to track it with, looks like a google maps plug-in i'm guessing?

[TheBry]

Actually, I did register with Vesseltracker.com and did install their plugin to Google Earth, but for some reason it only seems to work in coastal waters. So, I've resorted to building my own map. I'm scraping longitude and latitude info from sailwx.info for the Undine, and am plugging that info into Google Earth, which marks each change with a pin. Not the most elegant of solutions, but it is very accurate

[M3MIKE]

I'm on the Grand Venus. ETA of July 26 (Hueneme), but I can't find it anywhere on vesseltracks.

[batchelorc]

vessletracker.com is radio based. Can't receive ships positions that are out in the ocean. Only near land

[TheBry]

Originally Posted by M3MIKE

I'm on the Grand Venus. ETA of July 26 (Hueneme), but I can't find it anywhere on vesseltracks.

Looks like you're getting in three days after I do, M3Mike. VesselTracker is great close to shore, but out at sea it's useless. It uses transponder signals but, from what I understand, many ships switch this off when they're out at sea. So, I've been using a different method -- they frequently report weather conditions (daily -- sometimes multiple times a day) to the weather service. That service is tracked on www.sailwx.info and includes longitude and latitude of the last known report (and the date and time the report was sent). Again, some ships choose not to do this, but my ship is doing it (so far anyway), making it easy for me to track her.

Just tried to look up the Grande Napoli and the Grand Venus (both bound for Port Hueneme) but had no luck.

[M3MIKE]

Originally Posted by TheBry

Looks like you're getting in three days after I do, M3Mike. VesselTracker is great close to shore, but out at sea it's useless. It uses transponder signals but, from what I understand, many ships switch this off when they're out at sea. So, I've been using a different method -- they frequently report weather conditions (daily -- sometimes multiple times a day) to the weather service. That service is tracked on www.sailwx.info and includes longitude and latitude of the last known report (and the date and time the report was sent). Again, some ships choose not to do this, but my ship is doing it (so far anyway), making it easy for me to track her.

Just tried to look up the Grande Napoli and the Grand Venus (both bound for Port Hueneme) but had no luck.

Thanks for looking. I found this on mobile tracker http://www.vesseltracker.com/mobile/...l?shipId=60012
but I don't know if it is accurate or just a demo?

[TheBry]

Originally Posted by M3MIKE

Thanks for looking. I found this on mobile tracker http://www.vesseltracker.com/mobile/...l?shipId=60012
but I don't know if it is accurate or just a demo?

Looks accurate, but it does say that the ship is out of the range of VesselTracker's ability to track it. Sucks that it isn't traceable via the http://www.sailwx.info site either.

[M3MIKE]

Originally Posted by TheBry

Looks accurate, but it does say that the ship is out of the range of VesselTracker's ability to track it. Sucks that it isn't traceable via the http://www.sailwx.info site either.

I Googled the call sign and then I found this today. These ships make to many stops. Looks like Jacksonville after UK
Don't they know I'M waiting for my car!

http://www.shipais.com/showship.php?mmsi=351034000

[TheBry]

Originally Posted by M3MIKE

I Googled the call sign and then I found this today. These ships make to many stops. Looks like Jacksonville after UK
Don't they know I'M waiting for my car!

http://www.shipais.com/showship.php?mmsi=351034000

Great site! Thanks for the tip. There were two additional waypoints for the Undine that I'd missed before -- one was Southampton, England -- presumably to pick up Minis bound for the USA. Cool!

As of today, 10 July (East Coast time) she's just approaching the Bahamas.