I am sure that this is something that all the skippers have found a challenge - reading the ARC Handbook fills your head full of ideas, must do's and nice to haves. Turning that into a set of actionable plans that are going to be done over a period of months is not easy. In our case it resulted in a rather large set of scribblings that turned into a spreadsheet of plans, rotas and to do's. Given that our Skipper Malcolm (who keeps most things in his head) and Martin (our IT technophobe) are doing most of the sailing and engineering prep work on Layla it is somewhat amazing that the progress when checked is always good. As is usual however as fast as we checked things off new things were added and as it stands there are 285 items on the to do list with a good 90% complete. We are getting there!
My job as self appointed IT and Communications Officer has been to do some of the Admin and working on anything that contains a transistor or needs a password! After failing the Mensa test trying to develop our "5 person 2 on" rota Steve stepped into provide much needed experience to the task! As they say theory is one thing, practice an altogether different thing.
Like all the boats in such an ambitious crossing there has been a very long list of mods and upgrades plus the fair share of wear and tear issues to resolve as well as routine maintenance
For those with an interest in such things..
Additions
Running back stays, Gybe preventers, Furling lines for the cruising chute, New lines and halyards, New jack stays and temporary lines fwd and aft, Lee cloths, Master cabin bed divider :/), Retaining bungee cords in cupboards and fridge, Angle grinder - batteries / cutting wheels and tether, MOB1 AIS for life jackets, Red Port optimiser for Sat Phone, Sat phone aerial, Netamo weather station, Labelling all switches / winches / jammers, 12 volt charging for devices instead of using inverter, Taping off any sharp edges
Repairs
Kicker to boom fixing wear, Boom to mast fixing wear, Kicker hydraulics, New anemometer, Repaired VHF aerial, Cleaning all blocks and line routes, Cruising chute repairs - beware the Canary Island winds which can go from 5kts to 25kts in minutes, Rudder bearing, Finding out that the bow thruster cannot eat a large fish!
Service
for engine, genset, water maker, Williams, dingy outboard, cleaning, antifouling
Of course safety checks and changes necessary to pass inspection
Finally there is the provisioning plan, watch and cooking rotas, storage plan. Power, water and fuel planning and tracking. Creating a one page per day log, planning flights and accommodation for crew and family, downloading music for all the different tastes, packing games and putting away all the nice things in the galley and cabins ! Lastly packing photo and video gear so we can record our adventure.
Quite enough I think.... perhaps we can go sailing now
Adios preparacion