Sunday, January 27, 2008

Ken and Kris move off list for offshore trip south

Ken's other son, Eric, announced that he will be getting married late this year, prompting Ken to withdraw from the offshore sail. Ken still hopes to join me for an extended stay once I am down there.

Kris may not be as interested in the trip as I thought, as he is concerned about the kiting destinations and not as interested in the sailing part of the trip.

Ken has taken responsibility for researching the kiting destinations.

Offshore Update

Just a quick note to let you know what preparations are happening relevant to the offshore portion of our trip:

Safety:
I would like to discuss all safety related issues as a team. Ultimately, I am responsible for the safety of all aboard and I expect to pay for the upgrades to the boat, so I will make the final decisions. But I would like to benefit from your thoughts and research and share the excitement of the preparations with you. Besides, you need to make informed decisions on whether to set to sea with me, so you need to be involved in the discussion.

Advisory committee: I am thinking about asking for one or two volunteer advisers from the Southern Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) to join our team and monitor our discussions. I think we should volunteer to indemnify those volunteers legally.

I removed all lifelines and delivered them to a rigger for inspection/replacement. No discussion or team decisions needed.

I begin a careful inspection of the steering system next. No discussion will be required.

Communications: Does anyone have a satphone?
I bought a new iCom M700 single side band capable of ship to shore communications from thousands of miles out, useful for calling the Coast Guard if we should need help, or to update them if we think we are at risk. It will also receive weather forecasts while at sea. It will not support email, and there are not marine operators to connect us with telephones ashore. I may buy the equivalent of a satellite blackberry with limited bandwidth and delays measuring in tens of minutes.

Investigating other weather products - Bruce and I are going to look at some software for presenting weather faxes on a laptop; I am also looking into XM Satellite weather products at the Boston Boat show.

Looks like we could have old school weather faxes http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/marsh.shtml and Southbound Herb http://www3.sympatico.ca/hehilgen/vax498.htm free. it would be really nice to have XM or Sirius weather, but that would run from $800 for laptop software to ~$2000 for the capability in a new, integrated color chartplotter.

We will need to decide whether I need to buy an EPIRB or if a personal beacon http://www.findmespot.com/ is the better option - pricing new and used EPIRBs, learning more about the SPOT device. The EPIRB is monitored by NOAA, and sends only one message "send help, we wish to abandon/have abandoned ship", the SPOT is monitored by a private agency and emergency messages are automatically relayed to up to 5 designated email addresses of our choice. The SPOT also has the capability of sending an "OK" message and a user definable message, as well and the "send help, we are wish to abandon/have abandoned ship".

Life rafts - New or used, coastal or offshore - New offshore =~$2500 Previously owned coastal <= $700. The differences are primarily in the provisions packed in the raft, and offshore rafts have insulated floors, which are less important given where we will travel. We will need to discuss, as I am reluctant to spend the $2500 for one trip. Previously owned (unused, certified, and repacked) offshore may be a possibility Offshore vests - I am inclined to ask you to provide your own offshore vests and harnesses. I have some big Kapok ones, but I would think you would want either a float coat or inflatable (SOSpenders, for example, see defender.com)


Comfort

Bought parts for engine driven refrigeration, researching solar panels and additional DC refrigeration. I may beef up the house battery bank. I am searching for a battery monitor used on ebay, I have been outbid on several.

Provisioning - Dana will take lead, and my cousin has volunteered to help. We may try canning pre-cooked meals, as they don't require refrigeration (so we can store much more food for the months in the tropics). We will also provision for the If you want particular meals from home, we could send the pressure cooker and canning materials around so everyone can contribute. If not, be happy with what we provide.