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About Us:
During 20 years spent sailing, racing sailboats and general boating on the Great Lakes and inland lakes, the knowledgeable staff at YellowLogic has been sharing their expertise. Reaching back what feels like an eternity, our first exposure to marine navigation was Loran and it seemed like just the ticket. Back in the day, that is. With the advent of GPS navigation, an accuracy in your positioning of 10 to 15 meters seemed like a gift from above. Well, that was before the addition of SA (Selective Availability). My how things have changed!
Current average GPS accuracy is right around 3 to 5 meters or 1/3rd what it was just a few years ago. Now with WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System), accuracy is increased to better than 3 meters 95% of the time. The only thing that's really not a surprise is that even with all these improvements, the package it all comes in keeps getting smaller and smaller while doing more and more. From the external "Leggs' Egg" (our nick name for a Lowrance high sensitivity antenna that snagged every line off the back of the boat) for positional correction 15 years ago to now with WAAS built into everything from handheld units to 15 inch color multifunction display... wow.
One of the ways we got our company name was that at the time we were seeing some of the first waterproof, marine-specific GPS units, a lot of them had "yellow" rubber armor on them. That, paired with a few handheld GPS and laptop-based navigation solutions making up the "logical" side, divined the company name of YellowLogic. That and the (yellow) Golden Retriever that loved the water helped a little too.
The early handheld units had poor accuracy and detail to them and did not last long on AA-cell battery power. The laptops with great charts and plotting ability were often hidden down below, away from the water and spray, and likewise were also hidden the skipper's vision. One custom unit was a Dell laptop that the screen was separated from the laptop body and a 3.5 foot extension cable was used to connect the two. The laptop ran cool enough to be sealed up in a watertight container and the screen accepted the new video cable so it was a technical success. The problem was that with all that extra detail of electronic charts and scrolling, the laptop labored to keep up. As it worked harder, the heat built up and it ran slower and slower. Accordingly, as the laptop stuttered the scrolling of the chart, your position was not updated in a timely manor. Built in SA.
Now, all that power and more can be yours with features like good accuracy, turn-by-turn directions, voice activation, touch screens, 6 million points of interest and more for products like automotive GPS' (various Nuvi's and Maestro's come to mind). All on a 3.5" to 4.3 screen that fits in your pocket! Modern chart plotters and multi-function displays incorporate GPS navigation/charting built in, below-water 3d perspectives, sonar/fishfinders, radar inputs, video inputs and so much more. With sizes up to as large as 19", features like touch screen, PC/Satellite/DVD inputs and full daylight visibility, the options are endlessly customizable. My how things have changed! These are exciting times with more products by an ever-increasing field of manufactures than ever before.
All those years of campaigning as crew aboard racing sailboats around the Great Lakes has taught us important lessons on durability and reliability. No one understand the need for products that simply work on demand like boaters! Nothing says "tough" like marine electronics that can run continually for more than 2 full days during a Chicago to Mackinaw race in rough weather without a hiccup. Over time, I'll find and post pictures and plots from various events we have competed in. Hopefully this year I'll be able to generate a little more content than usual.
With all that said, we will try to answer any questions and process any orders in a timely manor. Because we are a company made up of boaters and sailors, there may be occasions when the entire office wants the day off. Will will try to post these notices in advance and work on alternatives for everything we can. This year, the tough spot came around
July 17th through July 24th with the 100th running of the Chicago - Mackinac race. Congratulations Bill Newman on your 2nd Place in Section 6 and to all Muskegon boats that competed! See: (http://www.chicagoyachtclub.org/racetomackinac/)
If you have any questions, please feel free to
One parting photo until my next update:
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