How do you pass time on a long voyage?

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BandB said:
We have a keyboard and background music and karaoke equipment.
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BandB,

Cool, and I thought I was nuts. I've got a real nice electric piano that I'd consider taking, but can't figure out where to put it. It's only 75# and pretty skinny, but boat space is a premium......

Might consider a table top unit, but not sure what to get that really sounds like a piano.
 
Seevee said:
BandB,

Cool, and I thought I was nuts. I've got a real nice electric piano that I'd consider taking, but can't figure out where to put it. It's only 75# and pretty skinny, but boat space is a premium......

Might consider a table top unit, but not sure what to get that really sounds like a piano.
Click to expand...

We like other sounds too but if piano is your main interest, some of the small, inexpensive Yamahas are pretty good. Sam Ash is running a great deal on an 88 key Yamaha if you want to spend more. The portables only way 15-20 lbs and take up virtually no space. A lot connect to iPhones to be used as controllers too. We never travel without a keyboard and background/karaoke.
 
South of Heaven said:
The freighters are faster????
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Many we see in the open ocean are going 20kts. I have posted many a story of my love for AIS as it enables me to call a freighter by name and ask (plead?) for guidance in avoiding the freighter. The freighter crews have generally been helpful.
 
BandB said:
We like other sounds too but if piano is your main interest, some of the small, inexpensive Yamahas are pretty good. Sam Ash is running a great deal on an 88 key Yamaha if you want to spend more. The portables only way 15-20 lbs and take up virtually no space. A lot connect to iPhones to be used as controllers too. We never travel without a keyboard and background/karaoke.
Click to expand...


BandB,

THANKS MUCH,
Did a quick chat with them and they have some nice stuff. The Yamaha, 115-88 looks like a great value, $600 (900 retail), perhaps last years model, which is fine. Weighted keys, full 88, and very portable. Looking into that one, but doing a bit more shopping now.

I have a Casio Privia, which is a dynamite good performer at a reasonable price and would like to come close to that quality, which is possible.

Good ideas. Thx again.
 
Seevee said:
BandB,

THANKS MUCH,
Did a quick chat with them and they have some nice stuff. The Yamaha, 115-88 looks like a great value, $600 (900 retail), perhaps last years model, which is fine. Weighted keys, full 88, and very portable. Looking into that one, but doing a bit more shopping now.

I have a Casio Privia, which is a dynamite good performer at a reasonable price and would like to come close to that quality, which is possible.

Good ideas. Thx again.
Click to expand...

Quality improves every year on the pianos and organs. I don't play more than just a few notes in learning a song or something but my wife plays very well. Just over the last 16 years she's learned so much more and gotten keyboards capable of so much more.
 
Seevee said:
Might consider a table top unit, but not sure what to get that really sounds like a piano.
Click to expand...

Good keyboards can sound very much like a good piano, even a high-end concert piano. Wifey's keyboard sounds every bot as good as her small grand piano.

But that also means good amplification, etc... and sometimes means stereo amplification, speaker separation, etc. Not unsolvable, except for maybe extreme speaker separation depending on boat size and shape.

You'll know this, but the "feel of the keys" (weighted, etc.) and a full-length (88 keys) keyboard are generally important for serious work.

When wifey shopped, she ended up eventually focusing on Roland, Korg, Yamaha, and... hmmm... another brand I can't remember right now... I suspect almost all the good ones from each of those companies are pretty impressive.

-Chris
 
ranger42c said:
Good keyboards can sound very much like a good piano, even a high-end concert piano. Wifey's keyboard sounds every bot as good as her small grand piano.

But that also means good amplification, etc... and sometimes means stereo amplification, speaker separation, etc. Not unsolvable, except for maybe extreme speaker separation depending on boat size and shape.

You'll know this, but the "feel of the keys" (weighted, etc.) and a full-length (88 keys) keyboard are generally important for serious work.

When wifey shopped, she ended up eventually focusing on Roland, Korg, Yamaha, and... hmmm... another brand I can't remember right now... I suspect almost all the good ones from each of those companies are pretty impressive.

-Chris
Click to expand...

Yes, the options are very good. I'm happy with a good weighted touch and a "reasonable" sound. I'm not going to install high end speakers. Would be nice, but just not the room. Perhaps I can hook to my old Bose, which are pretty nice, but I'm only entertaining myself and the Admiral. A few beers and I can play rag time... works for me.

I'm excited about the piano now...didn't think it would work.
 
ranger42c said:
Good keyboards can sound very much like a good piano, even a high-end concert piano.
Click to expand...

Very true. Our Yamaha Disklavier (player piano) has a mode in which the note sounds are produced electronically, rather than by actually striking the strings (although the keys still move). Anyway, the electronic sound is so realistic, the only way I can tell which mode the piano is in is by careful observation.
 
Wifey B: I've never owned a real piano. Only keyboards. I've played regular ones here and there. :)

Learning keyboard for me was just something I decided would be fun as I was young and working hard but not interested in going out and partying and I always loved to sing. So, took some lessons and practiced constantly and since I met my hubby I get even more experience. Also been to the store for training on additional features and sounds and what to use with what kind of music. Obviously, I learned from the pop music standpoint and as to any form of concertos or other similar music, I'd be totally lost. I see professional concert pianists and I'm just amazed. But I have fun. :)
 
To pass the time I now play with the steadying sails, and sometimes sail into (then away from) giant thunderstorms. [emoji51]

IMG_0636.JPG
 
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MangoMan said:
Here's an idea .... how about keeping a proper lookout no matter how long or short the voyage?
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How do you do that while crossing oceans or even doing long coastal single handed?:rolleyes:
 
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Simi 60 said:
How do you do that while crossing oceans or even doing long coastal single handed?:rolleyes:
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Obviously you can't. This of course is one of the reasons many of us don't believe in crossing oceans single handed.
 
Seevee said:
Yes, the options are very good. I'm happy with a good weighted touch and a "reasonable" sound. I'm not going to install high end speakers. Would be nice, but just not the room. Perhaps I can hook to my old Bose, which are pretty nice, but I'm only entertaining myself and the Admiral. A few beers and I can play rag time... works for me.

I'm excited about the piano now...didn't think it would work.
Click to expand...


Yeah, there's only so much you can do without good speakers and a subwoofer in the system... but in a small space you can usually get pretty good tone anyway. You might investigate whether there might be transmitter/Bluetooth speaker options these days... if so, that could perhaps give you more flexibility, maybe easy-mount speakers up high around the saloon or whatever...

The last several times we've played out, we've announced right up front that we weren't starting the music until everyone in the crowd had at least three drinks... and until we had three drinks each, too! I think we must have sounded great!! :)

-Chris
 
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Hence the 'black ball', ship not under command.
But the black ball is pretty big for boats our size.
I don't have a mast to hang it either.
 
WesK said:
Don't set the boat on autopilot and go below to take a dump. :rolleyes:
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Hence the 'black ball', ship not under command.
But the black ball is pretty big for boats our size.
I don't even have a mast have a mast to hang it either.
 
Simi 60 said:
How do you do that while crossing oceans or even doing long coastal single handed?:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

The interpretation of a "proper lookout" has to vary according to the risk.

In some situations a single person needs all their wits to monitor all the traffic and hazards on hand. (heavy traffic, bad weather, reefs, breaking waves)

There are times where you may not see another vessel or hazard for days (open water, good conditions, far from shipping channels). In these conditions, I see minimal risk in taking a short nap. Whether that nap be for 5 minutes or 5 hours would depend on the assessment at the time.
 
AusCan said:
The interpretation of a "proper lookout" has to vary according to the risk.
Whether that nap be for 5 minutes or 5 hours would depend on the assessment at the time.
Click to expand...

5 hours without plotting your position on the chart does seem a bit excessive.
If during your nap, your GPS goes down, where are you when you wake up??
 
Just for the record...

A black ball is a vessel at anchor..

2 in a vertical line is vessel not under command.

Leaving the helm unattended is not really vessel not under command....though it comically is the same :)

After 5 hrs napping, and the gps went down....I would just check one of the other 5 gps aboard.
 
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OldDan1943 said:
5 hours without plotting your position on the chart does seem a bit excessive.
If during your nap, your GPS goes down, where are you when you wake up??
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Possibly twice as far from the known position compared to sleeping 2 1/2 hours. ;)
I agree with it being a bit excessive, but it would be my maximum limit. If I hadn't slept much in a few days and had confidence in my equipment, I would consider it, especially if more bad weather was expected later on.
 
psneeld said:
Just for the record...

A black ball is a vessel at anchor..

2 in a vertical line is vessel not under command.

Leaving the helm unattended is not really vessel not under command....though it comically is the same :)

After 5 hrs napping, and the gps went down....I would just check one of the other 5 gps aboard.
Click to expand...

Good point!

I could argue both keep a constant watch and taking the occasional nap. For me, I don't to blue water and rarely out of site of land, so I prefer that someone is watching on the boat. With a 2 person crew that works quite well. And in a busy area, I want both to monitor.

We do the same in the airplane. One sleeps, one flies. The cat naps help me a LOT so I'm refreshed for more critical times, like "re-entry". However, there's been a few time when I wake up and my co-captain is sound asleep. Yikes! Hope that never happens on a boat where it's much more critical.
 
psneeld said:
Just for the record...

A black ball is a vessel at anchor..

2 in a vertical line is vessel not under command.

Leaving the helm unattended is not really vessel not under command....though it comically is the same :)

After 5 hrs napping, and the gps went down....I would just check one of the other 5 gps aboard.
Click to expand...


LOL 2 black balls? Aint no way of that happening.... I'm not sure I have space to store them folded up. I guess I could tow them behind the boat.

Per the GPS? Remember Desert Storm? Uncle Sam shut the entire GPS system down.
That left a lot of boater and airplane pilots totally blind. The Feds said they would never do that again..... Yup, always believe the Feds, they will never lie to you, to you, to you. Remember that famous sentence, "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."
 
Dont believe they shut it down, just degraded the signal.

Too many modes of transport rely on it now, doubt it will ever shuts down.

Either way ....in my boat after a 5 hr nap,, if I was taking a 5 hr nap solo, it would be in a sutuation where it would be easy to DR ahead.
 
OldDan1943 said:
Per the GPS? Remember Desert Storm? Uncle Sam shut the entire GPS system down.
That left a lot of boater and airplane pilots totally blind. The Feds said they would never do that again"
Click to expand...

Just as well the Russians have a decent setup called Glonass.
GLONASS is an acronym, which stands for Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, or Global Navigation Satellite System. GLONASS is Russia's version of GPS (Global Positioning System).
Click to expand...
All my gear runs on it as well as US sat's.
 
Take care Simi,the Russians know where you are.
If you have a Huawei phone so do the Chinese.
If you have an iPhone....
 
Simi 60 said:
Just as well the Russians have a decent setup called Glonass.

All my gear runs on it as well as US sat's.
Click to expand...

And we also have WAAS, EGNOS and, MSAS. But not sure we would benefit from WAAS or MSAS if the satellites in that system went down.

And a lot of GPS boxes receive all of them. Simrad does. And Garmin uses at least the US sats and Glonass.
 
OldDan1943 said:
Hence the 'black ball', ship not under command.
But the black ball is pretty big for boats our size.
I don't even have a mast have a mast to hang it either.
Click to expand...

You can buy a folding "black ball" for smaller boats like ours. It's not really a "ball", it's two round disks at 90 degrees to each other. At a distance, it looks like a ball. I bought one with the intention of using it but like you, I have no mast. I suppose I could hang it from the bimini frame.

That said, in all my time of boating, I can't recall ever seeing a small recreational boat showing a black ball or any other daytime signals. And I doubt more than a few boaters would know what it is or what it means.
 
Maritime courts will note you were not showing a proper dayshape and possibly/probably assign a higher value of blame if someone runs into you.

Only takes a minute or two to display one once you have a proper set up
 
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