13th Sept - "Independance at Sea" and 100 miles to Las Palmas
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Various people have asked us what kit we carry, and what options we have for power and communications, so here is a run down. Food It is fairly easy to ensure that enough food is carried. However we have to think carefully about menu planning so that we maintain a balanced diet. Meals have to be able to be prepared in adverse conditions – including the possibility that we lose the ability to heat up food. We are fortunate to have a large refrigerator and alternative cooking technologies. In additional to a conventional camping gaz powered hob and oven, we also have a 900 watt microwave oven and electric kettle. Both of these are much safer and quicker than gas – however they are dependant on electric power... Water The boat has two independent water tanks which are filled with chlorinated water before we leave. We also have a reverse osmosis water maker which can provide 5 litres of drinking water per hour. In addition, we carry enough bottled water to meet our emergency needs in the event of total loss or contamination of other water supplies. Electricity This modern boat
uses a lot of electrically powered technology. It has both 12volt DC and 240volt
AC systems on board and a new set of 6 deep discharge advanced technology AGM
lead acid batteries – each with 90 amp hour capacity. Fuel As well as the installed 180 litre diesel tank, we have the same again in cans. So how much of the 360 litres might we need? Just running the Pagura 3000 diesel generator is economic – about 1 litre an hour for 2KW; we only need to do this for a couple of hours each day. Hence we will allow about 40 litres for battery charging/services on the 20 day (or so) ARC crossing. For the main 40 hp Volvo engine we count on 2 litres an hour for gentle motoring (2000 rpm – 6 knots) – double this for 7 knots and double again to 8 litres an hour for 8 knots. Assuming we keep to 2000 rpm to boost our speed in light conditions our range is about 900 miles. Navigation The boat has a Raymarine electronic chart plotter/radar system with two display heads either of which can back each other up. In addition we have multiple hand held GPS units using dry batteries, two iPads with chart plotting software and three mobile phones with GPS built in! As backup we carry paper charts, several compasses and our trusty sextant. Radio communication In addition to one main (and two handheld) VHF transceivers which can communicate with other vessels within about 20 miles range, we have a small Iridium Satellite phone. This allows voice and data communications (albeit at a leisurely 9.6kbps) at all points on our passage. In the event of an emergency we would be able to speak directly to medical assistance or other services for advice. You can e-mail us on alize {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com. Automatic radio beacons We carry an EPIRB emergency beacon which we can activate in the event of emergency. This would alert Falmouth Coast Guard of our identity and position. We also carry personal distress beacons which will automatically alert nearby vessels if any of us are “Man Overboard”. During the ARC event, we will also carry a satellite tracker which will allow anyone at home to track our progress on the web. Weather forecasts We have several alternative methods to receive forecasts: The quickest and easiest is to send a brief email note by Satellite phone to an automated service which sends back a detailed forecast for our location for the next seven days. The marine Navtex service provides automated weather forecasts to our receiver when we are within about 300 miles of land. We have two battery powered short wave radios with weatherfax software on iPad and PC which can receive weather maps by radio. This 70 year old technology works amazingly well – it seems magic to receive a weather map from a little Sony transistor radio sitting in the cockpit – the squawking sounds from the radio being translated by the iPad into a weather map before our eyes! During the ARC event, there will be regular weather forecast broadcasts for the fleet on short wave radio and VHF. Today’s update -
we are about 30 miles off Lanzarote and 100 miles from The weather continues very hot, dry and sunny. About 10 young dolphins played around the boat for about 20 minutes this morning – a fabulous sight. They were enjoying surfing down the Atlantic waves and in our wake. Several very
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