Every year our team of judges looks at what’s new and innovative in the always-changing field of marine technology. We cast a wide net because that fits with the interests of Chuck Husick, who had a universal interest in marine technology — in fact, in all kinds technology! Chuck was involved in everything from helping to develop marine communications standards like AIS via his work with the Radio Technical Commission for Maritime (RTCM), to inventing a new type of raw water strainer fitting that was then manufactured by Groco Marine.
So for the 2015 Husick Award, here are the nominated products:
Furuno TZ Touch2 MFD series — Multifunction displays with a refined graphical user interface using new “Edge Swipe” motion, built-in RezBoost Fish Finder and an internal GPS antenna.
www.furunousa.com
Standard Horizon HX870 — A floating 6-watt hand-held VHF radio with an internal GPS receiver.
standardhorizon.com
Garmin BlueChart Mobile 2.0 — An iPhone and iPad app that allows users to plan and view routes and then wirelessly transfer those routes to a compatible Garmin-networked chartplotter.
www.garmin.com
Simrad HALO radar — A solid state radar that combines traditional pulse and broadband radar and uses pulse compression technology.
www.simrad-yachting.com
Ocean Signal MOB1 — A personal locating AIS man-overboard device with integrated digital selective calling (DSC).
oceansignal.com
Mantus Anchor Mate — A stainless steel and polyurethane bracket that holds your anchor securely on its bow roller.
mantusanchors.com/
PredictWind — A web-based weather forecasting and weather routing service with tracking, departure planning, alerts, etc.
www.predictwind.com/
FLIR Ocean Scout — A compact marine thermal hand-held night vision camera.
http://flir.com/
Motorola Moto G 2015 edition — An IPX7-rated water-resistant Android smartphone.
www.motorola.com
Marinco/Mastervolt ProInstaller Series Clustering System — Modular assemblies for making the installation of electronic components easier.
www.marinco.com
Winboat folding RIB — A dinghy that folds into a compact package for easier storage.
www.winboat.net/
Crestomer 1152PA — A new structural adhesive for demanding marine applications.
www.scottbader.com
Maretron TSM1330C — A vessel monitoring and control touchscreen.
www.maretron.com
Swell Advantage — A mobile marine app for navigation and social media.
swelladvantage.com
After the judges voted, our final 2015 Chuck Husick Award winner was:
PredictWind — Web-based weather forecasting and weather routing service. Our judges found PredictWind was innovative, had a great selection of features and its web-based nature allowed it to be used anywhere a voyager can find an Internet connection. Given the importance of weather to voyagers, PredictWind was a fitting selection for this year’s award.
