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Thread: What Worked? What didn't?

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by brianb View Post
    Wow, what could be weirder in the Pac Cup than a life-sized crew doll with inflater ?
    No, that was a SHTP deal. The inflated doll was even attached to the backstay for the start - there's a photo somewhere.

  2. #12
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    Got a pic of of the doll up at the masthead with "her" legs around the skipper..... will have to dig that one up.

  3. #13
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    Getting back to the topic (I actually had an inflatable doll but couldn't remember what she was used for and when I did, couldn't manage to blow her up). I can recommend Ensure for the first few days when you feel shitty but need to keep your strength up. On my suggestion Al tried it and was happy with it too I think. If I ever do another SHTP I will report back on the efficacy of Depends. I use a Panasonic Toughbook loaded with Nobletec for navigation. Obviously I have lots of duplication but my AIS is displayed on the Toughbook as well as navigation so it's important. The Toughbook may be tough but a splash of coffee or a drip and it's out of business. Stretch and Seal or one of those products stretched over the keyboard gives a ton of protection. Returning to Canada we had my usual weatherfax info as well as Keven's gribs. I really don't understand this fascination with gribs which as far as I can tell are uninterpreted computer projections. The weatherfax gives the same information interpreted by people who have spent their whole university careers studying meteorology. Now to be completely fair, there were a couple of days when my Weatherfax didn't receive and the gribs came thru' (on the sat phone) but I suspect I just wasn't interested enough to tune the weatherfax.

  4. #14
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    As an ex-military aviator, I lived with weather fax pictures as interpreted by our friendly Air Force meteorologists. After a while, some of their expertise naturally rubbed off, so that's what I use at sea. Never even heard of grib files until I got involved with SHTPers. I'm just more comfortable seeing the whole wx picture, rather than just the winds.

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Harrier View Post
    As an ex-military aviator, I lived with weather fax pictures as interpreted by our friendly Air Force meteorologists. After a while, some of their expertise naturally rubbed off, so that's what I use at sea. Never even heard of grib files until I got involved with SHTPers. I'm just more comfortable seeing the whole wx picture, rather than just the winds.
    Just how friendly are those Air Force meteorologists? Will they share with mere singlehanders or does access require a high (really high) rank? In other words, Sir, is that information available to civilians?
    ?

  6. #16
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    I completely agree Ken. Focusing on GRIB files completely screwed our Pacific Cup effort. We chased those little barbs all over the ocean while our competitors focused on the interpreted charts and left us behind. I've learned my lesson.

    Jackie, these are available to us from a number of sources for free. I suspect the Air Force version focused on higher altitudes - we'd be interested in surface conditions.

  7. #17
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    Sep 2007
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    [QUOTE=BobJ;10072]I completely agree Ken. Focusing on GRIB files completely screwed our Pacific Cup effort. We chased those little barbs all over the ocean while our competitors focused on the interpreted charts and left us behind. I've learned my lesson.

    Boy do I agree, I also learned my lesson. Gribs and software only see a short window 24 hr at best. They gave me a screaming right turn where I sailed faster than the fleet, but I also sailed into nowhere. The next morning they said woops you should have stayed were you were! You must step back, take a breath and look at the big picture. No substitute for experience and Ken has us all on that one...
    Last edited by Lightspeed; 11-03-2014 at 07:57 PM.

  8. #18
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    Jan 2010
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    Jackie
    Any decent book on meteorology is full of info on interpreting wx fax charts...isobars, etc. If you want to get really expert, learn how the 500mbar charts (winds aloft...jet stream) affect the weather by forcing movement of the highs and lows. I have good book on that at home. I'm not so good on that score, so i just try to get the surface faxes twice a day.
    They also publish 24 , 48 and 72 hr forecasts. I sometimes look at these to confirm what I THINK I'm going to see. I think it is important for those of us that are moving at 6 knots, or so to realize that , unlike in an aircraft, we can't make big changes in our current (and therefor tomorrow's) position to modify our situation
    vis-a-vis the forecasts. Makes it all the more important for us "slowpokes" to look ahead. What you are doing today pretty much dictates the next couple of days...We can't react to drastic wx changes since our moves are so slow!

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Harrier View Post
    Any decent book on meteorology is full of info on interpreting wx fax charts...isobars, etc. If you want to get really expert, learn how the 500mbar charts (winds aloft...jet stream) affect the weather by forcing movement of the highs and lows.
    Okeedokee. I'll go to the library and get a children's meteorology book. Seriously. With a liberal arts background, this kind of information eludes me, but I'll start from zero. I listened carefully to Mike Jefferson regarding electrical work on a boat, but it was the book from the children's section with the simple drawing of an AA battery, a piece of wire and a paper clip that finally offered the "aha!" moment. True that, as they say.

  10. #20
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    Nov 2013
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    I was really weather stupid when I started. In fact I was not able to get any weather fax for the first two weeks, until I realized I needed to shut down all the electrical noise on the boat to allow my Sony mulitband receiver, hooked up to my Macbook, to get the signal out of Pt. Reyes. The setup also allowed me to listen to the SSB conversations, until it became to depressing as listened to the position reports and knew I was slipping back further and further each day. Next time out my #1 target will to be far better prepared with respect to receiving, and understanding, the weather faxes and how they relate to my sailing.

    While there were two notable failures on the boat (bolt a the masthead leading to a spreader failure and the Delorme tracker I was using for communication), there were also some success. After reading all the blogs, forums, and books I could get my hands on I learned that the Raymarine ST1000 and ST2000 were not highly reliable. I took one of each, but connected them to a traveler located in front of the vane. Lines from the traveler led to the vane servo blade which in turn provided the power to move the tiller. I tried direct linkages prior to the trip and did not find a setup that worked well. By using the traveler I was able to alter the purchase and come up with a system that worked really well. I never had to go to the second ST2000 as the ST100o worked perfectly through most of the trip, which makes sense as it was under almost no load at any time. Downside - I had the drag of a servo-blade, small though it was, Linking a tiller autopilot to a wind vane servo blade is not a new idea, but I think the traveler set up might be a new wrinkle. I used the wind vane during the delightful first three days as it is a really strong unit.

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