January 25th
Vendee Globe Update The Vendee is just one hell of a race. Jean Le Cam lost his lead on Bonduelle going around Cape Horn. He is just 51 miles astern of Vincent Riou sailing PRB. And Mike Golding is in third just 90 miles back, now when you are travelling at around 15 knots thats not a lot after going well over hald way around the world
Meanwhile Ellen MacArthur has an amazingly slim eight-mile deficit over Francis Joyon's world record, its down to minutes behind. She can still do this.
Meanwhile it is a full moon tonight, I heard it referred to as a Howling Moon, well it sure would be nice to be sailing under it, you all know what I mean!
Do you use Telenor Satellite Services? They have announced that the Inmarsat A analogue voice and data service is to start operating over the Indian Ocean East satellite (located at 105 degrees East), from February 19. They say antenna realignment should be automatic with the majority of Inmarsat A terminals, however some terminals will have to undergo manual realignment.
January 22nd
The Australian Navy ship HMAS Ballarat has run aground at Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean. Familar territory as my old merchant shipping company lost a ship here, not easy navigation, but the navy again? The ship's rudder and propeller have been damaged but no one was injured. An investigation into what caused the ship to run aground. Sigh! well now I don't feel so bad having gone aground myself a few times
January 21st
SOLAR ALERT
The sun has just experienced what is called a coronal mass ejection, a giant gas bubble that is, which will give great Northern Lights displays but this can cause interference on SSB/HF radios, GPS etc so keep an eye on your fixes and also communications.
SUB AGROUND! SO IS THE SKIPPER!
As expected the unfortunate submarine skipper who ran aground was “re-assigned” not a good day at the office for this guy. Meanwhile did you hear all about the school of giant squid that were washed ashore in the US, strange stuff!
Ellen had a setback in her world record attempt when the headboard car ripped out and off of the mainsail track causing considerable damage. She made repairs after climbing the mast twice, the damage is at 25 metres, what a gal! Wish I could meet a lady with that sailing commitment! Her lead over the record is down to 1 day and 20 hours, so still in there
Tuesday 18th January
SUB AGROUND! It happens to us all, but they are blaming outdated charts! Well as we all know that’s maybe valid excuse however the sea is changing the bottom around all the time, the recent earthquake and Tsunami have altered the position of islands some 100 feet plus let alone the seabed and depths. It is a cautionary tale for all sailors, use the charts, but also use seamanship and caution.
Vendee Globe Well even the best prepared boats in the big events get problems, and this is a battery problem you do not need. The 7th place boat Skandia sailed by Nick Moloney has batteries that will not hold charge so he has to recharge every 2 hours to keep his power supply up with the autopilot being essential. What is the problem? Probably they were too deeply discharged and plate damage resulted. Without knowing battery type its hard to know but presumably they are AGM or Gel
January 11th
Tsunami Update
In spite of the appalling loss of life and tragedy the local yachting community actually and somewhat surprisingly had minimal damage on the Thai island of Phuket. Reports state that islands such as Phi Phi and Khao Lak were completely devastated by the tsunami, while Phuket had localized damage only. Reports also state that no sailing yachts were lost in the Phuket, Krabi, and Phang Nga areas, with no marina damage and that dive operations and day charters already back in business. If you want to help Thailand get on a plane and go charter a boat, it’s the best thing we all can do. In Malaysia, the Telaga Harbour marina berths were completely destroyed, with around six yachts lost. Many reports also state that media footage and reports are grossly overstating and sensationalizing reports about the Thai areas, while in Indonesia I suspect that they cant even hope to convey the utter destruction and carnage.
Vendee Globe Update
Vincent Riou (PRB) is still in the lead with Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) in second just 13 nm behind (Close isn’t it?) and Mike Golding (Ecover) third. On an electrical note, Sébastien Josse (VMI) had engine failure so lost his battery charging and therefore automatic pilot and electronics, happens to even the best prepared. Read this site on redundancy planning along with failure mode analysis, it could make your next cruising trip less problematic
Ellen MacArthur Update
Ellen sailing the really fast 75’ multihull B&Q;, is now nearly 5 days ahead of the record at an average speed of 17.7 knots!!! She is headed for Cape Horn now and is currently averaging 20 and 24 knots. For those who don’t know who the sponsor B&Q; is, it’s a UK based DIY warehouse chain like the US Home Depot, and Ellen is epitomizing DIY I think!
January 9th
Well first Happy 21st Birthday to my two sons Andrew and David. The adventure has just begun for you both.
It’s also London Boat Show time and if we hope that this site wins one of the website of the year awards, we are up against the seriously large companies with big budgets but we do have more useful information than them all. Thanks to everyone who supported us. What is new at the London Boat Show, my favorite show?
SIMRAD have come out with some great new products . First is the NavStation series of electronic navigation equipment to suit sail and power. There are 3 different screen sizes, the CX34 (7-inch), CX44 (10.4-inch) and the CX54 (15-inch) to choose from. You can select any combination of GPS chartplotter, echosounder and radar all on the same screen. Great stuff! These new units also provide very accurate tidal flow data, full screen images with aerial views of ports and harbours, along with adjacent land and sea data for navigation route planning. Also Simrad launched 2 new radar antennas (the DX45 and the DX60) to go with the NavStation range. The principal innovation of these DX radomes is the new technology known as MultiVision. This allows a view of 2 separate radars to be displayed on a single screen.
Also out is the new range of autopilots for the Volvo Penta Inboard Performance System (IPS. They are plug-and-play with the AP16, AP25, AP26 and AP27 integrating with the AC05 Autopilot Computer for intelligent auto-steering. Simrad also have out the CX33 combination unit with 6-inch color screen; the new entry-level CP31 GPS chartplotter for small yachts and motorboats, and the Simrad SA50 which is a new SART homing
January 5th
Tsunami Survival Story
An amazing sea story. An Indonesian man has been rescued after spending eight days adrift on a driftwood raft at sea after being swept out to sea by the tsunami.
This weekend, see how I am in Texas right now, I will go visit the Houston Boat Show and drool over what is new. Stay tuned ya'all!
I have been asked by several of you to make a page listing what my "favorite" equipment is so soon I will do my "ideal" electrical and electronics equipment.
January 2nd
Happy New Year to everyone. What a horror ending with the Tsunami in Asia, I have 2 yachtie friends who live and sail out of Phuket and sincerely hope they are okay. Give generously, they need it!
On a happier note the Around the World speed record has Ellen some 2 1/2 days in front of the record, she is busy dodging large ice bergs at around 20 knots (yikes!) and record is 72 days, 22 hours and 54 minutes
On the Vendee Globe, the leader Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) will be rounding Cape Horn tomorrow and he is some 260 miles ahead now of Vincent Riou (PRB)
December 24th
BEST WISHES TO ALL FOR THE HOLIDAY AND FESTIVE SEASON, and to be more politically incorrect MERRY Christmas
Not the right time to be talking about refrigeration and air conditioning equipment however Dometic in the US who market the excellent Cruisair air conditioning systems have launched a new digital control system for Cruisair air conditioners. The SMXht is an ergonomically designed keypad with display unit in all sorts of aesthetically appealing colours. The nitty gritty bit that I like is that a user is able select the operation mode, make setpoint adjustments and control the fan speed. The microprocessor-based control system has some 20 programmable functions that also include the ability to fine-tune system performance. These functions include programming automatic dehumidification parameters, the compressor differential adjustment, AC line voltage calibration as well as high and low pressure tests. Pretty good I think.
December 21st
Vendée Globe Update Another Vendee Globe update. Roland Joudain has retired with a damaged keel is heading for Hobart in Tasmania. Battle is on between Vincent Riou (PRB) and Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) with just 2 miles between them, amazing stuff! Sebastien Josse (VMI) and Mike Golding (Ecover)are next and well back.
ELLEN MACARTHUR RECORD ATTEMPT Ellen and B&Q; is around 1140 miles west of the Crozet Islands, and now over 22 hours ahead of Joyon's record time. She reported that 46 knots windspedd she was doing a very laxative 30 knots plus!!!
NEW ELECTRIC COOKING GEAR I used to have an Origo spirit stove, now look what they have. They have ceramic cooktops with models one, two and three-burner models (Origo 3100, 3200 and 3300). They are available as built in powered by 230V/50Hz or 120V/60Hz mains power. They use special Hi-Light heating elements that give fast almost instant heat and even distribution.
December 16th
Well, we all thought that the threat of GPS disruption was gone. The latest news is that the US has once again reviving plans to temporarily shut down both the US GPS system of global positioning satellites and any similar systems that are operated by other countries (Glonass and Galileo) in the event of a major threat to the US (threat being next to anything I guess) so everyone best practise those traditional navigation methods just in case.
Do you want some comment on something special in this blog? let me know as it's your blog! Bookmark this blog for further marine technology updates!
John C Payne
