Sky and Marine instruments have always been developed according to the same credo:
- Low consumption
- Forgotten apparatus
- Rustic and therefore reliable
- Easy to use
- Low cost
Its designer Jean-Jacques Vigneron was not born yesterday. He made his mark as an electronics engineer by developing a radar detector - the ancestor of the Mer-Veille - for Alain Colas in the 1976 Transat on Club Méditerranée. A detector which became compulsory for all competitors on the 1978 Route du Rhum. In 1989, he created the company Ciel et Marine to develop.
The Mer-Veille is a small device that emits an alarm when it is "illuminated" by a radar echo. Four LEDs on the front panel show the area in which the beam is located. This is then sufficient to visually detect the vessel emitting the radar beam and ensure that it is not on a collision course.
It is very simple to use. Just turn on the unit and wait for it to alarm you. Already 4000 units are sailing around the world without any problem. In the age of AIS, one might wonder what the point of such a device is. Indeed, the question may arise, but we quickly realize that AIS and Mer-Veille are complementary. Not all vessels transmit in AIS, just as not all vessels operate their radar continuously.
That's why this company produced the receiver.. AIS RC10 . It is also a black box receiver, but it also has an alarm. The system calculates CPA and TCPA and triggers a single alarm on four pre-determined levels. Four LEDs locate the bearing of the vessel that triggered the alarm. No need to have a computer on to know what the alarm is. You can maneuver quickly and then turn on the display to learn more about the signal. NMEA information is output from this box to connect to a screen.
For users who are already equipped with an AIS black box or Class B transponder, and therefore have to navigate with the screen always on (high power consumption), the Alarm Calculator AIS CA20 connects to the AIS output and acts as an alarm by calculating the CPA and TCPA of approaching targets.
Always looking for new and simple solutions, the company has to upgrade its AIS receiver by adding a Wifi transmitter (to read the identity of targets on a tablet). Small in size and with very specific products, this company is also able to respond to special requests. Thus it is currently developing an evolution of the AIS receiver without GPS for the competitors of the Golden Globe Race.
Tariffs on sale on the site or in hardware stores:
- Sea-Watch: 367.00 euros
- AIS RC10: 308.00 euros
- AIS CA20 Alarm Calculator : 150.00 euros
