In 1977, the original Pride of Baltimore vessel was commissioned and sailed more than 150,000 nautical miles before unfortunately sinking in 1986 after an accident. Following an outpour of public support, it was decided that a new replacement boat would be built. It was named Pride of Baltimore II and has been sailing ever since. It has visited more than 200 ports in 40 countries and has recorded over 250,000 nautical miles. Every year, thousands of people are welcomed aboard the ship for private sailing charters, receptions, tours, day trips, youth programs, and overnight guest crew experiences.

Last summer, the Pride of Baltimore II embarked on the 2019 Tall Ships Challenge. This year, the event toured the Great Lakes across Canada and the United States, it assembles several “tall ships” and attracts crowds in several cities to witness these beautiful boats.

TIMEZERO is a proud partner of the Pride of Baltimore that was equipped with our TZ Professional software during this summer’s challenge. We caught up with Senior Captain Jan C. Miles to ask him a few questions about his experience with our solution.

Can you tell us about your navigation?

The PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II is an American sailing ambassador to her homeport and home state of Baltimore and Maryland. Over the ship’s more than thirty years she has sailed as far east as the Eastern European nations of Ukraine & Russia and as far west as the Eastern Asian nations of China, South Korea & Japan; and just about everywhere between. This year it was her 12th voyage into the Great Lakes, joining several other “tall ships” as a tall-ship-fleet assembled by Tall Ships America moving from summer weekend port festival of tall ships to summer weekend tall ship festival (Toronto, Buffalo, Cleveland, Bay City, Green Bay, Kenosha, Midland, Sarnia, Kingsville, Erie, Brockville). PRIDE’s way into and out of the Great Lakes meant sailing the Western North Atlantic around Nova Scotia, Canada then through the Gulf of St Lawrence past Quebec, City and Montreal.

Why did you choose TZ Professional and TZ iBoat?

TZ Professional & TZ iBoat are the latest iterations of years of development starting with Nobeltec. PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II has benefited from this steady development history since the late 1990s.

With over 30 years of experience in the business of marine navigation, we have kept innovating to constantly keep improving our product offering. The very latest version of our professional solution, TZ Professional v4 is the most powerful and most advanced yet. The main new features include integration with the rest of the TIMEZERO solutions through TZ Cloud as well as the brand new Premium Weather Service.

Why is TIMEZERO software so important for you?

Graphically tracking in-range vessels through displaying AIS “contacts” is an essential asset when continuously underway with rotating watch-leaders. Early awareness of other vessel movement trends enables timely conversations between watch-leader and master when it comes to identifying prudent maneuvering while under sail. This also applies when we find ourselves near commercial traffic constrained by their deeper draft.

Establishing a route is also very helpful for watch-leader/master alignment when trying to understand any changes required along the way. Timely conversations are enabled between watch-leader and master as turning waypoints pass, weather changes or commercial/fishing/recreational traffic is observed. ETA information at waypoints was helpful when communicating with Vessel Traffic Services via VHF radio.

TZ Professional v4 comes with a very useful AIS and ARPA target identification feature. Thanks to this, you can always remain aware of the traffic in and around your vicinity. For additional safety, anti-collision alarms can be configured to alert you when there is a potential danger. These alarms are entirely customizable from the color that they appear and in the sound that they make.

Our software also boasts the most powerful and easy to use Routing Module. Our algorithm automatically avoids the coastline so that the best possible route can be created with just two clicks: one on your starting point and one on your point of arrival! A new assistant is now available and helps define optimal conditions for your route (departure and arrival time, maximum wind speed and wave height, engine use).

What is/are the most important feature(s) for you?

• AIS depiction of in-range vessels.
• Display of route to follow.
• Alternate Route of Voyage planning to learn length of time comparisons.
• Tidal Current data – duration of transit of route studies.
• Tidal Height data – also useful for air-draft considerations, as well as current information in non-USA waters. (Current studies outside of USA are tidal height referenced).

Can you tell us about your use of the TIMEZERO – FURUNO ecosystem?

The navigation center aboard PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II is down below the main deck for reasons of her traditional style depicting the early 1800s Baltimore Clipper Privateer. With a dedicated WiFi router using the more portable TZ iBoat on deck permits having the ship’s actual navigation information at hand while on deck during very tight piloting of harbors and narrow winding commercial & non-commercial rivers. An example of a lengthy non-commercial river being Maryland’s Chester River of the Chesapeake Bay.

Our TZ iBoat app for iPad is the perfect companion for any of our PC software (TZ Navigator or TZ Professional). In fact, with the recent addition of the TZ Cloud Service, your navigation data will automatically be synchronized between your TIMEZERO devices (integration with the Furuno NavNet TZtouch2 tablet starting summer season 2020).

With its extremely powerful chart engine and AIS and Radar support, TZ iBoat allows you to take the navigation capabilities of TIMEZERO anywhere on your boat after doing any extensive preparation on your computer.

Any further information you would like to add?

The operating company that owns PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II is always exploring potential promotional voyages on behalf of Baltimore and Maryland. TZ Professional enables realistic forecasting of future trips. This realism provided by TZ Professional allows the company to indicate future calendar dates to clients.

On top of being a great active navigation partner, TZ Professional is also an excellent tool when it comes to planning. Thanks to the powerful Routing Module, you can precisely figure out your future travel time using the weather and all the other requirements that you may have. You might for example only want to navigate by day and at a certain speed, the Routing Module will take this into account and will adjust your route and travel time.

Click the link below to learn more about our latest version: