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Starblazer - 27/01/2016 – Halfway there!



O.K. I’ll stop moaning. Yesterday the wind behaved itself in that we sailed
for 24 hours without reverting to the engine. It wasn’t stunning sailing
but it was fast enough to avoid a DNF in relatively flat seas which allows
the boat to move faster in less breeze.

When we left St Helena at 1830 on Tuesday 19th our DTW (Distance to
Waypoint) was 1,916 nM. We reached the halfway point at about 2040 0n
Tuesday 26th: 7 days 2 hours 10 minutes. If we continue to make the same
average speed we will arrive next Tuesday at about midnight, 2100 Brazil
time we believe. Ideally we would like to arrive in daylight so need to
increase our average speed but that is largely dependent on the winds.

Yesterday evening we had our first AIS target with a ship since leaving St
Helena. A Singapore bound ship passed within 2 miles of us. AIS stands for
Automatic Identification System and is an absolutely brilliant invention
which is mandatory on big ships. The system broadcasts the ship’s details:
name, radio call sign, MMSI number (a sort of telephone number for use on
the radio), course, speed, GPS position, destination, type of vessel
(tanker, passenger, cargo etc.), length, beam, draught and Rate of Turn,
destination etc. The transceiver unit we have compares the ship’s position
with ours, calculates their bearing and distance from us and how close they
are likely to pass us. In our turn we send briefer details because we have
a class B set. The range of the transmission is largely determined by the
transmitter power and the position of the aerial. On’ Class B Pleasure
Craft’ we can generally receive signals from other yachts up to about 10
miles away, occasionally a bit more but frequently a bit less. The really
wonderful part of the system is the alarm. We can set filters so only
vessels which will come within a certain distance from us will alarm. It is
great until you approach a harbour where there are numerous boats at anchor
offshore plus lots more within the harbour. At that point I tend to turn
off the unit with the alarm! The AIS automatically sends the reports it
receives to the plotter so we can have a visual image of the ‘target’ on the
screen in the cockpit, we have usually turned the plotter on within about 10
miles of a harbour though we have cancelled the AIS alarms.

Technology is wonderful but it does not replace keeping a good lookout!
Most fishing boats do not send an AIS signal to keep their position secret
from other fishing boats, though it is possible that they have a receiver
and know of your whereabouts. Most yachts crossing oceans appear to have
AIS now, but the same is far from true for the vast majority of yachts and
motor boats in coastal waters. It is great in poor visibility conditions,
but better if linked to a radar display, especially in busy seaways.

Yesterday’s galley offerings comprised a Mediterranean Quiche for lunch:
tomatoes, olives, feta and chorizo in a case made from a multigrain wrap,
simple, quick and fairly low in calories. Dinner was roast chicken breasts
with roast potatoes and ratatouille. I roasted the vegetables for the
ratatouille first then finished it off in a saucepan with the tin of chopped
tomatoes and herbes de provence.

At this point I really ought to comment on the vegetable situation. It is
now just over 3 weeks since we bought the vegetables. Some keep quite
happily in baskets in the aft heads: potatoes, cabbage, aubergines,
butternut squash. Onions survive in a net strung from the arch on the stern
of the boat. Others require refrigeration, especially the salad vegetables.
The refrigerator on Starblazer is comparatively small, our previous boat had
a much bigger fridge but only one sink. Our double sink is great but is at
the expense of fridge space. When we went camping in New Zealand we bought
a 12 volt fridge which plugs in to a cigarette socket. John has connected a
socket to the batteries in the aft cabin for the coolbox which we have run
during the daytime. The results have been good. Tomatoes, cucumber,
peppers, lettuce, courgettes, carrots and beans have all had an extended
life. The green beans were the first to rot after about two weeks. The
celery I bought was a disappointment. I ordered one head of celery from
Cocos Keeling, kept it in the main fridge and used the last bits of it after
about 5 or 6 weeks. The South African variety was nowhere near as good.
One head was thrown out after a couple of days, clearly suffering from some
sort of disease. The second head swiftly followed suit, similarly suffering
from some sort of spotty disease, the centres of the ribs also dried out.
We still have fresh veg to last until Brazil though have now finished the
cucumbers and peppers!

Joyce


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