Well I think I’ve entered some kind of weird mid-Atlantic twilight zone where all days are starting to blend seamlessly one into the other. Very little changes (which after the last leg I’m heartily grateful for) and so instead of boring myself and everyone else with recounting what we’ve had for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I started thinking about what we have onboard that makes me grateful I’m doing this in 2023 and that I’m not instead married to Eric Hiscock.
Okay - there are obviously quite a few things that are essential for ocean sailing life - sails, toilets, Ernie our autohelm (of the speedy milk-cart fame), husband and crew-mate etc etc.
There are also a number of items that I embrace fully having lived on some very basic sailing boats that have offered very little in the way of creature comforts. These include our fridge, shower, washing machine (o god YES! It saves you literally hours in a launderette) inverter, freezer …. the list goes on ….. and of course - the crème de la crème of all ocean-going extravagance - Starlink
But then there are those luxuries that make the difference between a good voyage and an even better one. I’m talking gadgets techno-heads! So here’s our top 10 - in no particular order of importance:
- Anker power packs: These come in a variety of sizes and outputs (including one that charges laptops) but we think the best one is the Powercore 26800mAh. No need to worry about what mAh is all about - suffice to say it holds a colossal charge and can recharge most small gadgets - such as a phone around 6 times. In practical terms it means you can charge your gadgets when sunbathing on the front of the boat, from the cockpit - or even if you’re relegated to the dinghy when you piss off your crew-mates
- Instax Wide Instant Portable Photo Printer: now bear with me here, I did say ‘luxuries’. This bad boy lets you print off photos straight from your phone - and you can print as a collage, add text, stickers and sketches AND print with a QR code that allows you to embed links, sound (yes sound!) and hidden messages.
- Luci Solar String Lights: yes okay they’re fairy lights for the cockpit. But they look o so pretty - and they are solar charged, last for hours (up to 40 hours of beauteousness on one charge) and they’re waterproof. And if that doesn’t convince you, you can also charge your phone from the solar bank.
- Color Lizard Selfie Stick with Tripod: not just for those self-indulgent insta moments. We use ours as a tripod for holding a phone when putting Starlink through its paces and calling the grandchildren mid-Atlantic. And if you do want to indulge your inner Kardashian it has a remote that connects with your phone via Bluetooth for selfies - or even better, you can use the selfie-stick to get great bow-wave vids with your phone!
- Dymo Label-maker: never thought I would use this so much. It’s amazing how easy it is to forget what things are. This is now no longer the version that stamps out raised letters. It prints onto a continuous strip for labels as long as you need. We’ve used ours to label spares, the toilet flush system to try and demystify it for our guests and even our spinnaker pole mechanism. Anyway, who doesn’t love a label!
- Air-pods Pro (in-ear bluetooth earphones - but only for Apple devices). These are a bit more pricey as they’re the top of the range ones, but they have both noise cancellation (for those times when it’s really a bit too scary and you need the Archers at full volume to shut it all out) AND transparency mode so if you’re on watch you can be rocking it and hear what’s going wrong with the boat all at the same time. Supposedly water-resistant, but if iPhones are anything to go by I wouldn’t rely on that.
- Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition: I literally cannot imagine life without my Kindle. Books are my joy and I love to escape into a different world of the imagination. I know a lot of people prefer the feel of a ‘real’ book, but a Kindle gives you numerous books in one slim, lightweight gadget and allows you to read in the dark. So night watches are no longer something to dread as they were in my 20s when the sun going down meant at least 8 hours with little to do. I love the Signature version as it has a large 32gb storage and is waterproof.
- Air-tags: introduced onboard as security for the dinghy after a top tip from some friends doing the ARC. We’ve now fitted one to our outboard and one to our dinghy (both in waterproof cases that we purchased separately and have ‘hidden’ so they’re not immediately obvious to a thieving b*****d). Great way of knowing where that ‘TB’ has absconded to with your tender.
- Go Pro Hero: I’m sure everyone knows about Go Pro - but it’s SUCH a great rugged little camera for high image quality, stabilised video and underwater filming (also takes photos). It’s superb for filming while you’re sailing, kayaking, swimming and snorkelling. Having now seen Fergus’ Insta360 I think that could be even better, but I do so love our Go Pro.
- Silwy Magnetic Glasses: Not a techno gadget as such, but so awesome I could not leave these off the list. O yes fellow tipplers you can now have your grog of choice in a lovely glass and go sailing at the same time! This range of crystal glasses are manufactured with a magnet in the base of the glass and come with easily removable and re-usable magnetic sticky pads that you place at a convenient distance from your drinking arm to keep your G&T always at hand. And you can also purchase magnetic strips for your storage cupboards to store your glasses every which way and keep them safe. In over 4000 miles and some very big seas we haven’t had a single breakage!
Well that’s it for now folks - time to go off watch and get a well-earned 3 hours of sleep.
