AIS Surprise

We took Privateer out today just to check all the systems after a 2000 hour service and a change of all her oils and fluids. All that went fine.

The area just north of Newport can be pretty crowded so occasionally someone shows up near us that I didnt see coming. In the picture below you can see Big Blue on AIS coming by. She is a 45′ cabin cruiser doing 25 knots.

Big Blue comes by on our port

So I look out the side and see nothing. I get up and go to the door, nothing. Then a minute later she disappears from the screen as well. I search the screen and she reappears about a mile north, where she really is.

My assumption is, there was a malfunction in either her transmission or my reception. More likely her transmission. I have seen AIS return for boats showing them going backwards or sideways, a transmission error that I could sort of comprehend, but this is the first time I have ever seen a boat displaced by more than a mile. The ramifications are quite disturbing.