Finding Mysticeti
Above should be a map of our last known locations, shown by red bubbles.
If you click the bubble, there may (or may not) be a short message. We will try to update our position every 24 hours while we are underway.
The positions on the map are provided by Farkwar (www.farkwar.com), which seems to be pretty much a one man business. Do not be alarmed if the map disappears, or the positions go away. We have also joined a Farkwar fleet. If you look at the Farkwar home page, you can click on Fleets on the top menu bar and then scroll down the page and select “Pacific Puddle Jump 2017” to see other boats generally going to the same place.
The positions are received by Farkwar through the SailMail radio email system (www.sailmail.com). The email is originated by us (Mysticeti) and transmitted by our Icom SSB radio using a Pactor modem to a SailMail receiving station. It is a long distance transmission subject to atmospheric noise, sunspots, Maxwell’s equations and the otherwise black magic of radio frequency energy, not to mention the vagaries of our boat’s own power sources, electrical connections, radios, antennas and the moods of computers and software. The weakest link, of course, is us. So, in other words, this is to be taken as a fun thing, and not as a means of thinking we fell off the Earth if updates don’t happen every day.
The other tracking options below still work, however, the AIS will quickly be out of range of shore stations (satellite AIS tracking may work, but you might need a subscription to see the location). The Spot tracker should continue to work for a while, but their coverage map shows no service in the South Pacific.
Click the above link to see where we are now.
If it says there is no data available it probably means we haven’t pressed the button in a while. We will try to press the button at least once every 12 hours while we are moving, and once every few days when we aren’t.
Only the last few days’ worth of positions will show on the map. Older positions will drop off. Eventually, if we don’t press the button, all of the positions will drop off. Then it will just show a black screen.
AIS is another potential way to know where Mysticeti is right now. It requires no input from us, it’s automatic, and it can update as often as every few seconds. The problem is it only puts us on the map if our signal is received by a shore receiving station connected to the internet.
Go to www.marinetraffic.com and search for Mysticeti. Or just do an internet search for Mysticeti AIS, or MMSI 367102950.