So, here's the thing. I had three major projects (and lots of lesser ones!) that had to be completed before I could think about leaving. In no particular order these are:
- Acquire and commission an AIS system. (see Wikipedia article on AIS here.)
- Have the auto-pilot sent back to Raymarine for repair, hopefully under warranty
- Have the torn UV panels on the head-sail replaced.
A month later I find that sometimes it may be true that 'two out of three aint bad', but in this situation it isn't good enough. I know this because ... well, you've probably figured it out. One of them is still in waiting-on-somebody-else mode.
The AIS system looked, after my initial research, like it was going to consist of three different electronic components at a minimum cost of about $500; undoubtedly with a great deal of drama getting the three components to talk to each other as well. Then, thankfully before I had committed to purchasing that setup, I stumbled across a VHF radio that has AIS built in. And it will talk to my GPS/Charplotter. And it was only going to cost $450. And it has DSC. (Off you go to Wikipedia again.) To add the icing to the cake, if I couldn't get it to talk to my GPS, (so many acronyms!) or the GPS failed, it has it's own, admittedly quite small, display screen. I nearly swooned. But wait ... there's more! While researching that one, I discovered another model that has all the same features that I wanted, and it was only $230. I even managed, by myself, to get it to talk to the Chartplotter. The VHF radio that was on the boat when I bought it is still working, but I've now got two additional and significant safety devices built in, and I'll keep the old one for a 'back-up' unit.
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| What I see on the GPS. The green triangles are other boats with AIS systems |
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| The new toy |
So there it is. Hooked up and working. It has been for a week now, and seems to work OK here in the harbour. Why do I say 'in the harbour'? Because I had it up and running from early this week, but the other two projects weren't done yet, so no sailing.Gaah!
Today I received the patched head-sail back from the sail loft. When I took it the local branch of North Sails I explained what I wanted done and the guy was all: "OK, lets have a look at it." So we took it out of the sail bag and he's looking pretty unimpressed. Then I said "It only has to get me back to Australia and I'll upgrade to something better.", thinking this would re-assure him. It had the opposite effect. His head jerked around to me and he said "You're sailing to Australia?". "Umm .. yes." He looked at the sail again, and then turned back to me with an expression that very eloquently said "Not with a sail in this condition you're not!". Le sigh.
So I left it with him, and he rang back the next day and said "OK, I can make it serviceable. But I'm not putting any guarantees on it.". Was a bit embarrassing, really. But it's done.The UV panels would have cost about $100 on their own. The patch up and strengthening cost $400.Pretty much what I'd saved on the AIS.
Which leaves us with the auto-pilot.In fairness to Raymarine, I must say that it took two weeks to get it to them. The first week I was fluffing around with it, trying to establish what, exactly, had gone wrong with it. Then there was a few days of being mucked around by the local Raymarine agent, so it only arrived at Raymarine two weeks ago, and there was public holiday in the middle of that. But if it isn't back by early next week I may have to make a phone call in my grumpy voice.Yeah, that'll scare 'em into action.
Some of the the numerous little jobs have been done. I'm finding it pretty difficult to get motivated though, as I keep thinking "no hurry, the big ones are all in wait mode." No doubt I'll get the auto-pilot back and suddenly realise that I'm only still here in California because I've been sitting on my behind and not being productive. So I've been making some effort in the last few days.
In terms of planning, I'm re-evaulating my intention to stop over in the Marquesas and Tonga. I'm thinking I might provision for the whole trip, and lay a course that takes me within a day or two of those, and probably a few other ports, and see if can do it more or less non-stop. Then if I need to I can detour to the nearest, but keep going if all is well. I haven't committed to that, but it's certainly possible that I'll go down that path.
Toodles.
W.
PS: I stumbled across the pic below on a local boat-parts retailer's web site.
Notice something? Apart from the obvious, obviously. The weather. It's quite calm. So how did they end up like this? The story, as told on the site, is that the boat was being filmed as part of a movie under production. The director wasn't happy with the way the boat was sailing along, all upright and calm, so to get it heel over and look more exciting, he instructed some of the crew to climb the mast and lean out to one side. Which they did. (You can see them still clinging on.) Further ... further ... too far!
I think the moral here is that 'looking exciting' isn't really what sailing is about. Now they just look stupid.
