3 pictures for you

Chaser 2
Yvonne Chapman
Sun 29 Oct 2006 12:52
Hannu,Tina and their daughter Minja came to join us in the cockpit with Chris and Fritz yesterday afternoon. We discuss all the usual items of concern and interest, weather, sails, battery requirements etc, then we put the world to right. I believe if all the political leaders got together had a good drink, then started discussing their politics, they would end up with a more logical solution to their problems the more intoxicated they got.
 
We met a couple in the club last night who are racing across the Atlantic in their Sigma 400. A different style of sailing to ours. We've not been on board but it would appear they have removed anything remotely luxurious and used the space for sails. They will have 4 or 5 crew  on board although they say 10 is a good number to sail most efficiently. Their battery and fuel supplies are super low, it would appear they have only about 40 amps of available battery power before recharging with their engine. It was very interesting talking to them, and we'll meet again I'm sure, but Ocean racing is not for us. We need our luxuries, like water and proper food, a cold beer. Anyone reading this not familiar with cruising should understand that  all our power requirements are supplied by batteries, which in turn are charged by varying methods, engine (using diesel) or wind generators (that need wind)  or solar panels that need sun. We for example we use around 200 amps per day, so we have to have means to replace it. If we only had our engine to charge our batteries we would run the motor for maybe 4 hours a day, this equals 12 litres of diesel, over a period of 20 days amounts to a lot of fuel. I believe our friends said they had about 120 litres on board, navigation lights alone would take 12 amps, and  thats only 1 12 volt  light bulb Each to their own though, they need to cut down on their weight. I'm sure they would be horrified if they saw the weight we were carrying. The difference is we live on the boat and they race, they'll have to put up with discomfort for a month, but when we arrive we'll be living and cruising for the next year or maybe more, so we have to take all our belongings with us, (and we have!)
 
The weather has changed a little and it got a little chilly as the wind picked up, we're in for some rain over night.  This morning it's raining still, not a lot, just heavy shower in the wind, and the temperature has dropped a few degrees. We're using the time tidying the boat and reorganizing our clothes. Yvonne has the sewing machine out adjusting some clothes and making so harnesses. When the weather returns to normal we'll go ashore, get a bit of shopping and check in at the Club WiFi and try and Skype Susie again.   I think the rain has stopped so we're off out, we'll continue with the reorganising later, its a hard life.

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