QM2 current position going towards Cork

[Officeboy]

I was looking at QM2  webcam at the rough seas and went to get it current position which she has  rounded  Cornwall  sailing towards Cork set at  29 deg  (04-11-19 .at 11.30am)

i believe she is sailing from Hamburg - Southampton - New York  

Anyone an explanation.

PS. at 12.45 she has changed position to 301deg must have been trying to miss  Bay of Biscay where there was violent storm 11

 

Edited November 4, 2019 by Officeboy
more info

[s.s.France]

I am on the ship now. We altered course a bit northwards due to big waves and to make the ride more comfortable according to cpt.Wells

[bluemarble]

Another possibility for that 29 degree bearing is that marinetraffic sometimes drops the last digit of the true bearing when displaying QM2's position. In other words, QM2 may have actually been sailing a course between 290 and 299 degrees, but marinetraffic was incorrectly reporting her course as 29 degrees. QM2 has adjusted to a more northerly course as s.s.France has explained, so a course of around 290 to 300 degrees is to be expected. I have my doubts she was ever actually on a course of 29 degrees though.

 

This seems to happen fairly frequently. I think it was first reported on this thread where it was observed that the last digit of both her speed and her course were sometimes being dropped by marinetraffic.

 

 

[Dranuc2016]

The past track shown on Marine Traffic shows a turn towads the north that looks consistent with your 290° course estimate.  

 

BTW, I'm sure you must have noticed.

 

Before this year,  position was not updated a day or two after leaving England,  and resumed a day or two before reaching New York, or the reverse. 

(Unless you maybe paid for premium service that included satellite data, instead of just VHF data)

 

Starting this year,  AIS, now has a kind of mesh network,  where even if a ship is out of range of a shore VHF receiver,  a ship within VHF range of can receive,  and retransmit the packet, until it reaches a shore VHF receiver.  I believe that during this process is when the course and speed are reduced by one tenth.  Position seems to be correct though. 

You can now view the position, although the speed and course may be off by a factor of 10, all the way across. 

 

[Tech nerd info follows]

Within the packet, speed is stored as whole number integer, tenths of a knot e.g 123 means 12.3 knots

Course and heading are stored as a whole number integer, tenths of a degree 0 to 3599 for 0 to 359.9 degrees.

I feel the store and forward logic is retransmitting knots and degrees, instead of tenths of knots and tenths of degrees, and so the apparent divide by 10.

 

[Resume normal]

Still I am happy seeing position data, even when out of VHF range.

 

Edited November 4, 2019 by Dranuc2016

[bluemarble]

Uh oh. It looks like QM2 really has turned toward Ireland now. It's hard to account for this screen shot from the marinetraffic app as incorrect course reporting.

 

[Dranuc2016]

Seeing that too, on the regular website. 

Must be a medical evacuation. 

Someone on board will probably confirm.  This early in the crossing,  it should be easy to make up for lost time,  and arrive on schedule. 

[Summergee]

Just seen on Facebook. Medivac happening.

[majortom10]

9 hours ago, Summergee said:

Just seen on Facebook. Medivac happening.

Correct nothing to do with weather or sea conditions but an emergency medivac by helicopter by Irish coastguard as Captain said 40 knot winds and challenging seas they did an excellent job.

[Bigmike911]

The latest seescanner (miss spelling intended)  shows them south west of the Irish coast, traveling a bit north of their direct track at 271 degrees at 18.9 knots, so it would appear they didn't loose much time, or they would be traveling a bit faster.

Edited November 5, 2019 by Bigmike911

[bluemarble]

Looking at QM2's past track, I figure the diversion for the medical evacuation took just a bit over two hours (from approximately 15:15 to 17:20).

 

By the way, I noticed a few times since the diversion was complete where marinetraffic showed QM2's course as 27 degrees instead of 270+ degrees (and a few times where it showed her speed as 1.7 to 1.9 knots instead of 17+ to 19+ knots). This issue we've discussed where the incorrect course is sometimes being displayed is probably what prompted this thread's original post, several hours before the diversion for the medical evacuation started.

Edited November 5, 2019 by bluemarble

[majortom10]

The actual medivac took 1hr in very challenging conditions but I don't know how far of original course we went and how long it took to get back on original track but nothing has been said about delays so presume QM2 will just go a bit faster to make up lost time.