SETTING A CLEAR COURSE


The latest bridge systems are not just highly technical and fully integrated with other on board systems, but are now works of art themselves, seamlessly blending into the overall design and style of the yacht itself Words: Adam Fiander


T


he on/off metal ‘toggle’ switches, with their black plastic ends, that randomly adorn the wood-panelled dashboard of my 1967 Triumph GT6 classic car, remind me just how much driver information systems and


console technology has changed, not just for cars, but for boats as well.


These last five years, in particular, have seen monumental changes and advancement, not just in the physical and visual appearance of bridge and helm stations, but in the shear scope and scale of information control and management and data use and storage now available. Even relatively small and affordable outboard-engined 28ft starter-boats are


being built and marketed with ‘full glass helm bridge’ functionality of varying degrees of complexity, and this level of standard-fit equipment is being seen as the new and widely accepted norm.


“Gone are the days when a chartplotter and a few analogue gauges would suffice,” says E-Touch Systems, Managing Director, Jamie Brown.


“A new age of ‘Glass Bridge’ systems and fully integrated Access Management Systems (AMS) are becoming standard. The ever-increasing processor power of modern electronics, coupled with the affordability


of modern technology, is allowing even the smallest of yachts to have


a centralised, touch-screen, multifunction bridge integrating AMS, Navigation, CCTV and Media, amongst others.”


On larger yachts, the bridge and helm station itself has become a room that can be equally personalised, structured and enhanced in a way that meets the same visual aesthetic and techno-sophistication of the rest of a yacht’s interior. No more is this just a room full of mis-matched screens, randomly placed knobs, dials, switches, and awkward looking black boxes.


Underlining the point about aesthetics, Roger Trinterud, Kongsberg Maritime’s Sales Director for their cruise, yacht and passenger markets, said, “The modularity of


50 | SUMMER 2021 | ONBOARD


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