Jul 27, 2005 - 1245hrs UTC │Lymington

1245hrs 27 Jul 2005 UTC Lymington

The radio is back in and it seems to work – several moments of near heart failure as various bits of it refused to function but huge relief when it finally came good – haven’t yet had time to test it properly – will send next update from the boat. Icom think the failure was caused by static – we weren’t around lightning when it died so I’m not so sure – would be nice to know.

Next job is to upgrade our stone age VHFVery High Frequency radio. Short range radio equipment for voice and other applications such as AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels.. set so that the ships on AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. can see us and we can see them – this will be really nice if we can get it going – Simon at digiboat has a new application in SoBSoftware on Board, from Digitboat – navigation software used by Alex for both circumnavigations. that feeds the VHFVery High Frequency radio. Short range radio equipment for voice and other applications such as AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels.. signal from other ships via a black box direct into the laptop navigation software – www.digiboat.com/ if you want to check it out. Also a new gribWeather files. Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail. overlay which I’m looking forward to setting up if I can get it to talk to everything else.

And there are still some relatively trivial items on the to-do list – like testing our spinnaker socks and evolving a 2 handed technique for using them. Safety inspection on Friday – not sure what to expect but they are generally less severe and more trusting here than in Sydney. There’s nothing on the list that we are likely to fail on but…

And the logistics of getting to the start line via the briefing at 1800 in CowesSeaport town on the Isle of Wight (UK). A home for international yacht racing. the night before – very difficult unless we can get the boat onto a berth in CowesSeaport town on the Isle of Wight (UK). A home for international yacht racing.. At the end of CowesSeaport town on the Isle of Wight (UK). A home for international yacht racing. week there’s a smidgin of a chance and I’m working on it.

[ed: David Whitworth, Alex’s brother, sent this relevant photo captioned “Might I respectfully remind my dear brother that at the fastnet start ,he may have more important things to do than take pictures and send e-mails on his new toy.” ]