2019 Bimini Trip ( Unofficial Thread Until Admin Puts Official One Up)

[Bruce]

Hey, when will the dates be selected for the 2019 Bimini trips? I have scanned these threads, forgive me if I overlooked, thanks

Hopefully by the end of the year.

Bimini Sands where we normally stay is in internal turmoil between the marina manager and condo owners. We are waiting to see if they work things out. If so I am predicting 2 to 3 large Bimini Flings in 2019. If not then it may be a much larger number of small trips. I am in frequent contact with various players at Bimini Sands. As soon as I have something to work with I will contact previous group leaders and we will begin planning 2019.

 

[Brent Tharpe]

Hopefully by the end of the year.

Bimini Sands where we normally stay is in internal turmoil between the marina manager and condo owners. We are waiting to see if they work things out. If so I am predicting 2 to 3 large Bimini Flings in 2019. If not then it may be a much larger number of small trips. I am in frequent contact with various players at Bimini Sands. As soon as I have something to work with I will contact previous group leaders and we will begin planning 2019.

Hopefully by the end of the year.

Bimini Sands where we normally stay is in internal turmoil between the marina manager and condo owners. We are waiting to see if they work things out. If so I am predicting 2 to 3 large Bimini Flings in 2019. If not then it may be a much larger number of small trips. I am in frequent contact with various players at Bimini Sands. As soon as I have something to work with I will contact previous group leaders and we will begin planning 2019.

Awesome, thanks my wife and I and another couple are wanting to make the trip with a 242 and possibly an lx210, looking forward to it

 

[Bruce]

lx210

That has been done but not very well. I recommend against it.

I had a LX210 and took her out off the gulf coast several times. One maybe one and half foot seas was the limit.

 

[Speedling]

That has been done but not very well. I recommend against it.

I had a LX210 and took her out off the gulf coast several times. One maybe one and half foot seas was the limit.

Ummmm wow I can't imagine the ride in one of the 2 smokes. My exciter was fast but thirsty and certainly not meant to be in anything more than 8" of waves, lol!

 

[Av8tor07]

I’ll be going in 2019. I like to think that other than a fixed mounted radio, I have all that’s required. I will be installing the radio before the trip. I’ll be towing from NJ with my wife and son. Looking forward to the trip.

 

[Betik]

I’ll be going in 2019. I like to think that other than a fixed mounted radio, I have all that’s required. I will be installing the radio before the trip. I’ll be towing from NJ with my wife and son. Looking forward to the trip.

in 2018 we had 4 boats towing from NJ/PA so you might have some company on the way down to Florida

 

[Av8tor07]

in 2018 we had 4 boats towing from NJ/PA so you might have some company on the way down to Florida

I’m looking forward to that. It’s always nice knowing there are others around, just in case of any problems.

 

[MrMoose]

For those who are looking for some safety equipment for a Bimini crossing, Costco has a sale on:

 

[Av8tor07]

For those who are looking for some safety equipment for a Bimini crossing, Costco has a sale on:
View attachment 83251

Is this required for the Bimini trip? I only use my boat in lakes.

 

[Bruce]

Is this required for the Bimini trip? I only use my boat in lakes.

There is no requirement for an inReach for the Bimini trip however it provides satellite based tracking and messaging which would have significantly improved the situation for the boats that ran out of fuel and were left drifting for hours in 2017.

My family has carried one in floating case for the last four Bimini trips.

 

[Julian]

It would also have been helpful if we (the rescuers) had known how to convert coordinates from decimal to minutes/seconds. The boat needing rescue only had decimal coordinates....and all our devices only took degree/minute/seconds input. We tried just entering the decimal, but it was WAY off from their actual location (like 30+ miles off). Since then I have installed "Coordinate Converter +"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_coordinate_conversion

Do you need a satellite device like this...No. But IMHO, you do need a full size marine radio with the tallest/best antenna you can find. Satellite is an added bonus in the event you have to ditch fast....faster than you can hit the distress button on your radio.

 

[MrMoose]

Well, imho, the inReach is a good tool to have in case of a ditch/drift situation. It's not dependent on the boat's power, so it is a primary rescue tool for ditching, as well as a back-up if your primary communication/navigation systems fail. Although I think that @Betik previously mentioned that in difficult seas, it would be almost impossible to use it as a navigation/communication device because of the screen size and THE LEARNING CURVE REQUIRED TO BE ABLE TO USE IT EFFICIENTLY. For communicating in a non-ditch scenario, the unit does have a bluetooth app that enables you to text from your phone, which is much easier to do.
If you need to prioritize your equipment for the crossing:
Must-haves: Built-in DSC VHF with the tallest antenna you can manage. Floating hand-held dsc vhf (I prefer one that has an option for a headset as it significantly improves my ability to hear and speak during the crossing). Built-in chartplotter.
Good to haves: InReach, PLB (sat personal locator beacon)
Nice to have: evil eye to ward off evil while crossing.


Moose-out

 

[Sbrown]

It would also have been helpful if we (the rescuers) had known how to convert coordinates from decimal to minutes/seconds. The boat needing rescue only had decimal coordinates....and all our devices only took degree/minute/seconds input. We tried just entering the decimal, but it was WAY off from their actual location (like 30+ miles off). Since then I have installed "Coordinate Converter +"

I believe most modern GPS unit have to ability to enter either format, you just change to the correct format in menu options. It is an important feature to look for, IMHO. I know my Garmin can do it and its old enough to have been discontinued.

 

[Bruce]

One boat actually used an inReach to initiate rescue during a failed solo return crossing in 2014. That was what motivated me to buy one.

 

[Speedling]

If everyone going had shared mmsi numbers and a boat or two knew how to use the feature to tie into a chart plotter it would be as simple as requesting location, and follow to the dot.
Once i got home from bimini and realized i hadn't entered my mmsi number (most vhf radios only let you enter once) i decided that i need to research and get a system that does that.
My radio has the location call feature but i used my phone as my chartplotter.
In the drifting situation, if all mmsi were entered a lead person could call boats missing via their mmsi and get to them asap

 

[Bruce]

If everyone going had shared mmsi numbers and a boat or two knew how to use the feature to tie into a chart plotter it would be as simple as requesting location, and follow to the dot.
Once i got home from bimini and realized i hadn't entered my mmsi number (most vhf radios only let you enter once) i decided that i need to research and get a system that does that.
My radio has the location call feature but i used my phone as my chartplotter.
In the drifting situation, if all mmsi were entered a lead person could call boats missing via their mmsi and get to them asap

This assumes that the boats are within VHF range. If so issuing a DSC distress call would allow the boat to transmit its location.

In 2017 both of the drifting boats rescued by other JetBoaters did not have VHF radios capable of DSC / MMSI or inReach. One had an EPIRB and was debating use. I am uncertain of the exact equipment of the two cabin cruisers that made it less than half way and were towed in by commercial operators. One had suffered a hull breach, the other had brought too little fuel.

 

[robert843]

One boat actually used an inReach to initiate rescue during a failed solo return crossing in 2014. That was what motivated me to buy one.

Speaking of lx210 wasn’t this boat an LX210?

 

[Bruce]

Speaking of lx210 wasn’t this boat an LX210?

It was. Great people, terrible hull design for crossing the stream.

 

[Sbrown]

If everyone going had shared mmsi numbers and a boat or two knew how to use the feature to tie into a chart plotter it would be as simple as requesting location, and follow to the dot.
Once i got home from bimini and realized i hadn't entered my mmsi number (most vhf radios only let you enter once) i decided that i need to research and get a system that does that.
My radio has the location call feature but i used my phone as my chartplotter.
In the drifting situation, if all mmsi were entered a lead person could call boats missing via their mmsi and get to them asap

On the June 2018 run, @Julian was one of the few who had both an MMSI and their VHF set up to auto reply to a location request. I know, because I used location request several times to navigate to someones location. There were quite a few for whom I had MMSI's programmed, but they never responded to any location requests, so either they didnt know how to set it up or they were operating on the DL.

Or maybe they were just avoiding ME.

 

[Wisefam22]

Speaking of lx210 wasn’t this boat an LX210?

Glsd to see you in here. How yall fair? What the TV shows myrtle beach didnt get it to to hard.