31st Jan: AIS alert at Stone Point

At about 16:00 I was driving back from giving a neighbour a lift to St Mary’s when my phone rang.  Since I was driving I could not answer, but the voice message came up as text over the Apple Maps satnav saying that there was an alarm going off at NCI Stone Point and having failed to identify it the watchkeepers were leaving the station.  I suspected it was the AIS-MOB alarm but by the time I could find a safe place to stop and phone back I got no reply, so they must have left.

While I suspected the AIS-MOB was a false alarm but I didn’t want the alarm to be going all night and probably burn itself out.  I get tired in the evenings, so after another attempt to contact one of the watchkeepers, I decided not to wait, but go out to Lepe and check the problem before it was too late in the evening.

I was indeed the AIS-MOB alarm and the chart-plotter showed one activated on the Isle of Wight.  I informed the Coastguard and they asked me to send a photo of the screen (see above).  As soon as I had taken the photo the icon disappeared.  When I got home I checked on Google Maps and it appeared to be coming from or close to a building used by Spinlock, a yacht equipment manufacturer.