From Cairns Post

Yep Phil. Of course they should be monitored,
However there seem to be more and more accidents that boil down to the tech.
More loud warning sirens?
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/29/new-zealand-navy-ship-hmnzs-manawanui-sinking-autopilot-inquiry-ntwnfb

EastCoastSail said..

garymalmgren said..
Yep Phil. Of course they should be monitored,
However there seem to be more and more accidents that boil down to the tech.
More loud warning sirens?
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/29/new-zealand-navy-ship-hmnzs-manawanui-sinking-autopilot-inquiry-ntwnfb

If you read the full inquiry for Manawanui unfortunately the root cause is systemic incompetence. An embarrassing outcome for a proud seafaring nation.

I have had a couple of anxious moments from my autopilot but in every instance when reviewed I was in error.
My key lesson learnt is when running autopilot from a touchscreen MFD in heavy weather with lots of spray the MFD control is useless. I need to recognise this and use the dedicated autopilot control at the front of the cockpit.

Auto pilots and charts plotters, never the twain shall meet.

Its a good idea to set a cross track alarm from a gps or plotter as a back up warning when steering via autopilot or windvane. Currents can have a big effect over a number of hours sending your boat sideways into danger.

How ridiculous, a professional war ship or anyone else for that matter that turns on the autopilot and goes to sleep. Nobody on watch, nobody practicing basic seamanship before we start talking about course alarms, radar alarms, depth alarms and whatever else warnings you program. To blame a "dumb " autopilot that gets told what to do with no inputs from a ton of "smarts" and a "smart" sailor is a ridiculous argument as it gets especially in the era of networked NMEA everything.

As ridiculous as that prank video.

Lots of marine Radars have land proximity alarms.

I'm hoping it becomes more common that plotters have features that enable a "look ahead" zone that will detect and alert if objects/contours/soundings enter it.

This feature, just like autopilots and everything else on boats, will need to be practiced and drilled by users.

It seems that people often incorrectly use equipment and systems due to lack of confidence and competence outside of trying it a couple of times when new.

I've just been on a boat where the safety depth alarm had been set at zero for a year, because the person who set it while in berth, no longer crews on the boat.
The owner was not aware that this feature may have helped prevent his last two groundings.