Routine

It's a bright morning and we decide we want to be Somewhere Else. The boat has been tidied and nothing will fall over if we heel. Ingrid takes the anchor winch stick while I start the engine.



I walk forward to help with the anchor chain safety. We always attach a hook to the chain to prevent the forces from being transferred to the anchor winch.



I take the rope with me to the cockpit to secure it. Meanwhile, Ingrid has started winching the anchor in. I help her by motoring forward slowly.



After the anchor is up and secured, we sail off for our next destination.



After a hard sail - the Caribbean, you know - we arrive and Ingrid walks forward to prepare the anchor. She stands ready while Paul positions Victor Too.



The anchor goes at the right spot and we let out 10 meters of chain, then wait for the wind to make the anchor grab. We let out more scope and secure the chain.

Then, sometimes I snorkel to check on the anchor. But when we can see the sandy bottom, this isn't necessary. Only once we've had to re-anchor, and once I have had to reverse afterwards to make the anchor dig in. So we're quite pleased with our Manson anchor.



After all the cruising, we deserved a drink!

The need for speed

All is now ready for the cold of winter. I was a bit too optimistic taking the alternator out. I thought it would only be a week or two before I got a new one in. But things are always more complex than you can imagine.

So in the end, I won't be buying a new alternator as this would introduce a point of failure into the system. The engine is only designed for a 40 Amp alternator and I already have a 35 Amp one. So putting in a heavier one would put a lot of strain on the belt. And since I can't easily set up a two belt system, I will now put in a smart alternator regulator. This will charge the batteries much faster. This is very necessary since the alternator with the normal regulator charges quite slowly.

And since I've decided to put in an extra service battery, I might need the faster charging sooner rather than later. This will bring the total to 360 Ah service and 105 Ah start battery. With 350 Watts of solar power, the electric system should hold out under normal running load with the fridge on.

So now the cabling is in place, only the new battery box has to be installed next to the diesel tank. I'll have to put in some safety so any problem with the starter battery doesn't affect the tank.

Next item is wind propulsion. I'm having UV strips on the genoa upgraded. Next on the list is the main sail, where a new one will have to be made. I'm still not sure what to do with the Genoa 3, perhaps it'll go on the cutter stay but then I will lose the ability to furl that one. It has served well as a heavy weather sail- up to F8. But perhaps I'll need a high aspect jib as a replacement.

So much to decide, and the sprayhood is in the process of renewal as well. Once all sails and engine are ready, it's only additions I'll be needing. The arch for the solar panels will get welded, and the list right now gets shorter in a faster rate than new items are added.

So that's good. Six months to go, and we're still on schedule. Once everybody is at it on sails, sprayhood and arch, it's time for some R&R, two weeks of skiing in France. It'll be well deserved.

Ups and downs

The weather has been awful of late. But it didn't take much, just one good day without rain or wind. So when that one day came, I quickly mustered up a strong hand of a good friend and up I went!

It was the first time I actually did work up at the top of the mast. Since I got over my fear of heights, I can't say it bothers me much these days. So once the hard work was done - winching me up - it was a very concentrated hour of careful fixing to replace the wind rotavecta, resolder the connections, and change the mast top light wiring. I changed to LED lights and ran a new cable through the mast as the old one had become inflexible and corroded.

To change the wiring, I had devised to sew the old one to the new end finish with some insulation tape. And to my surprise, this worked a treat! The most difficult was connecting the leads to the lamp housing, as I had a hard time getting high enough above the mast head to see what I was doing. I still feel my thighs 3 days later from pressing my muscles to stabilize against the mast and stays.

Once that was done, it was down again. I must admit that even though it is a balancing act, being up there is quite the experience. After thanking Jorn for his much valued assistance, I finished the wiring with the connector and then took out all the halyards and other lines. I hope I haven't forgotten to do anything up there, because it'll be spring before they go in again, freshly washed!

Next item on my planning is getting quotes for the sails. It'll be the first serious investment in a long series.

Finding crew is fun

At a party I threw last Saturday, I announced the trip and got a lot of crew in return. I had displayed the trip dates and some graphic representations of the route and invited people to put their names down. I was surprised to get as many interested folk to sail along for a short (1 week) or longer (up to 3 months!) period. Of course, there is still a lot of explaining, checking and organizing to do, but getting this kind of encouragement is fantastic.

For those interested in the exact route, these are the legs:

Ostend to Brittany: July 3rd to 15th 2010
Brittany to Porto: July 18th to August 1st 2010
Porto to Faro: August 15th to 31st 2010
Faro to Madeira: September 1st to 9th 2010
Madeira to Tenerife (Canaries): October 1st to 7th 2010
Tenerife to Boavista (Cape Verde): October 26th to November 1st 2010
Boavista to Grenada: December 5th to 28th 2010 (First crossing)
Then we island-hop along the Caribbean
Martinique: January 15th 2011
Dominica: January 29th 2011
Guadeloupe: February 6th 2011
Antigua: February 19th 2011
St Kitts: March 5th 2011
Anguilla: March 26th 2011
Tortola to Faial: April 21st 2011 (Second crossing)
Visiting Azores: May 8th to May 29th 2011
Faial to Scilly's: May 30th to June 5th 2011
Scilly's to Boulogne: June 24th to 29th 2011
Boulogne to Ostend: June 30th to July second 2011

I feel I've taken enough time to be able to reach every stop along the way and still be able to organize crew for the longer legs. Starting days are generally in a weekend, so relatives and friends joining us along the way, can arrange flights and so on.

I'm not entirely certain if the conditions for the second crossing will turn out to be good enough, but there is some spare time for that trip. I've read several pages of advice, and none are conclusive as to when to start and which route to take. There is the Azores High to contend with, so taking plenty of fuel seems paramount for this leg.

At the moment, I'm very pleased with all the excellent feedback I've gotten.