Technical Probs 46:28.5N 13:47.6W Miles to go to Pwllheli 529
Ellatrout3
Wed 13 Aug 2014 21:37
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We have been having difficulty sending our messages and
getting the weather forecasts because the USB port on the computor,
to which we connect the sat phone, appeared to have an intermitant
connection. We could hear it clicking in and out and assumed it was the
computer port. Having messed about for couple of days eventually getting
our messages through we rummaged in the box of spare cables and found a spare
USB/serial cable which seems to have soved the problem.
There was another worrying development last night;
whilst looking at the chart plotter the image of the little boat started
to race across the screen sideways at 10 to 12 knots speed over the
ground and when we looked at the log we had done 224 miles in the last
3½ hours. Ella Trout is fast but not
that fast. We turned it off and on several times and did the same with
all the instruments feeding into the chart plotter before it went back to
normal. This instrument is our main means of navigation and it
essential that it is reliable. It's Raymarine C series wide screen
supposedly top quality and not cheap. If you have been folllowing my blog
from the beginning you may recall that when I left Plymouth (Blog: 'Electrics
and Electronics' 15/5/2014) I rrported that the mileage on the chart
plotter had gone up by 61000 miles in the space of 10 miles. Modern electronics
are very good but unreliable or faulty electronics are very
worrying.
Lastly
the atmospheric conditions over the last few days has been such that there
is a very poor signal on the satalite phone compounding our communication
problems.
Progress
is a bit slow; we only did 97 miles today.
Sorry
it is not a very bright report today.
Love
Patch, Sarah and Poppa/Dad/Roger
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