Hi John - Agreed on the advantage of AIS and big ship worries. However, we have seen one or two ships underway that did not have AIS working; they were foreign-flagged and large enough to be required to have it. Evidently they are not required to transmit a Securite in this event. It would be nice if they were. Penny and I continue to remind each other not to rely on AIS. It is very easy to do, but there are still plenty of commercial tows and other big boats without it which are sailing both inshore and offshore! Regards, John "Seahorse" > Personally, I love having an AIS. Big ships are no longer a worry. ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com