When you have spent time working on your yacht, you’ll expect the most technologically advanced engineering and materials of the highest quality. Every detail is thought through, from engine performance to the fabrics used in the interior.
With this in mind, it’s critically important to protect such an investment from both the dangers of the natural world and unwanted human interest. Much of this can be achieved by installing high performing forward looking sonar and intruder detection sonar systems.
Here are 5 reasons why you need sonar for your luxury yacht:
1 . Enables you to visit the most difficult to access harbours and anchorages
Wherever you sail in the World, you will encounter tricky to navigate harbours and anchorages. They may be small, overcrowded or difficult to manoeuvre within. Or the issues you face may lie under the water. Many large river deltas, such as the mouth of the Amazon, have shoals and sandbanks, which frequently shift from their charted positions, making the risk of grounding very high. Navigating exclusive bays and lagoons in the Caribbean with submerged rocks and coral reefs can prove challenging.
By installing forward looking sonar, you can avoid these issues. Wavefront’s forward looking sonar product, Vigilant, allows your crew to see exactly what they are sailing into with real-time, 3D terrain mapping of both the seabed and water column. Vigilant gives you unrivalled resolution and detail, up to 600m ahead and down to 100m depth.
2. Keeps your Superyacht safe from underwater threats
Wherever you travel in your superyacht, you may be a target for unscrupulous people. Criminals and pirates are becoming ever more sophisticated, and the threat you face is not just on the surface. Unmanned underwater vehicles and unidentified divers approaching superyachts are not uncommon. Their aim is to cause you and your passengers harm, damage your yacht or attach illicit cargo.
By installing underwater intruder detection sonar, you’ll give your crew and security team plenty of time to react to this unwanted underwater attention. Our intruder detection sonar product, Sentinel, is the best IDS on the market. Underwater threats are detected and classified by employing simultaneous active and passive sonar processing. It gives yacht owners peace of mind to know their underwater security is covered by an excellent sonar securing product.
3. Allows you to navigate through poorly charted waters
The ocean covers 71% of the Earth’s surface, so it’s no wonder much of the more remote areas are still poorly chartered. This shouldn’t mean you can’t go there and if you have a love of exploration, the ability to travel to unexplored and unspoilt places is all part of the adventure.
Wavefront’s Vigilant Forward Looking Sonar allows you to be free to travel through these waters whilst keeping your passengers and crew safe. Our 600m 3D depth mode builds a high-resolution 3D model of the entire seabed around your yacht. It gives your team optimal obstacle and grounding avoidance information, even when the conditions change dynamically.
4. Protect our precious marine environment
Whilst sailing the World, we must remember we aren’t the only ones out there. The number of whales and other large marine mammals in our oceans drastically declines year on year. This is partly due to collisions with seafaring vessels. It’s our duty to keep our beautiful marine creatures and delicate underwater environments safe from harm.
By using hazard detection alarms, one of Vigilant’s many features, you will be warned of any underwater hazards up to 1500m ahead, 100m deep and with a 120° field of view. Vigilant’s sonar frequencies are specially designed not to impact the marine environment. By installing forward looking sonar, not only are you protecting ocean-dwelling creatures, but you are also keeping your yacht safe from damage.
5. Make the underwater world visible
Where do you plan to go on your travels? Through reefs or rocky sea beds? Icy polar regions? Or shallow tropics with hidden sandbars? Installing forward looking sonar on your luxury yacht will allow you the freedom to choose where you go and when you go. You won’t need to rely upon out of date depths on charts as forward looking sonar does the job for you in real-time. This up-to-date obstacle and grounding avoidance information is invaluable for your crew.
Vigilant‘s exceptionally clear 3D terrain data builds a high-resolution model of the entire seabed around the yacht, even if sea conditions are changing. Automated alarms can be set up to give early warning of dangers both on the sea bed and in the water column, including iceberg detection and floating debris.
In conclusion, these are just 5 reasons why you need sonar for your luxury yacht. There is little point in spending millions on a luxury yacht if you don’t spend a bit extra to protect it from damage and harm or can’t go to the places you want.
We have your sonar needs covered with our products, Vigilant and Sentinel. If you’d like further information, you can view our sonar products or get in touch.