Preparations for the LongPac

[Philpott]

We can do it Webb Chiles' style. I'll have my barometer watch and voilà, weather forecasting!

hahaha! Thank you! You are the best.

[tiger beetle]

Nothing about fluorescent orange...

Orange is *FAST*!

There's a reason all the Open 60's use orange paint on their keels and rudders and foils. Wouldn't want the storm jib to clash with the keel, eh?

- rob

[Philpott]

Orange is *FAST*! There's a reason all the Open 60's use orange paint on their keels and rudders and foils. Wouldn't want the storm jib to clash with the keel, eh? - rob

Hi, Rob! So glad you could join us. Okay, I'll look around for orange paint. I don't know if you have watched the R2AK, but everyone on Shut up and Drive wore orange, and they had orange bicycle tape on their handlebars, too. Such things are de rigeuer on Envolee. Is this because the Skipper is conscious of the coolness factor? Not at all. She don't care about that stuff. The orange color is a nod to Pumpkin, her kitty waiting at home with Sergei. Maybe Nathalie will post a photo of the real kitties.



Greg Ashby texted me out of the blue: Would I like to borrow an extra 50 watt solar panel?



Um. Dunno. Let me check with my tactician.
Monsieur Jamotte's response? "It needs a controller, wiring to the battery, best with a large fuse, a place to put it, a way to solidly fix it there ..."

Um. Okay again.

After our last sail Monsieur sat me down in the cockpit and we "de-briefed". hahaha. Yeah, a de-briefing on DM.



He teaches sailing down in Redwood Shores so I guess they are very thorough down there. He also works down the peninsula, which explains some other things. The clothes, for sure, although no Patagonia vest.

Check, check, check. Called my offsite boat boy, Max Dickey, who ordered up a controller via his Amazon Prime. Should arrive tomorrow.

Greg and I crawled around in his boat and he showed me how the wires are led to the battery on the already inspected Nightmare. Then, just for good measure Chris Case invited me aboard FUGU and we crawled around inside her. Same wires, different controller.

So, what? Am I the only one preparing for this thing?

[BobJ]

So, what? Am I the only one preparing for this thing?

Got the InReach working and the Gale Sail rigged, fully cleaned and vacuumed the cabin, tested the big main reef. Ordering some 3.5 gal water jugs today (S! has 40 gallons but it's all in one tank). I count 13 items still on the list to do.

[SailingNat]

[QUOTE=Philpott;23439]Hi, Rob! So glad you could join us. Okay, I'll look around for orange paint. I don't know if you have watched the R2AK, but everyone on Shut up and Drive wore orange, and they had orange bicycle tape on their handlebars, too. Such things are de rigeuer on Envolee. Is this because the Skipper is conscious of the coolness factor? Not at all. She don't care about that stuff. The orange color is a nod to Pumpkin, her kitty waiting at home with Sergei. Maybe Nathalie will post a photo of the real kitties.


We also had orange water bottles...and orange fairing and a bunch more things orange.
- well orange is the fastest color so that's definitely a big part of it...and and Go Giants. I think that about sums it up.
The orange and black in the AstroCat logo is because of Pumpkin and Hershel - it is AstroCat because Envolée means taking flight so the kitty ends up in the stars. Really fast, so rocket ship style.

Kitties attached as requested

[Philpott]

I'm thinking that others may have the same dumb questions as do I, but that they will mumble to each other instead of asking, so I will ask my questions here and save them the trouble. Or maybe they just can't type as fast as they can think. Personally I type much faster than I think. So here goes. I have borrowed a cute little In-Reach SE.

"During the race, trackers should be set to ping once per hour to tracking@sfbaysss.org"
On the Tracking page, is that "Moving interval"? (probably, huh?) Extended tracking is set to off. I can't figure out what to do from the manual. Should I change that to ON?

I'll have many more questions, so stay tuned.

[Philpott]

My borrowed In-Reach manual advises me that I can have weather forecasts delivered to me. This would please my Tactician. Is this legal? No mention in the LongPac Communication Plan. Can't tell. My InReach is blinking. Does this mean the Russians are interfering with me? I'll admit it! I just ate two oatmeal cookies and there are more downstairs.

I turned it off but the red blinking light continues. What does this mean and how can I make it stop?

[BobJ]

Oh, I missed that part about pinging the e-mail addy - I thought it was all done through Jibeset. I better read the directions again, comm plan, etc.

On mine the blinking red light means it can't see the satellites. But when I turn it off it stops blinking, so that's different.

And I'm biting my tongue to avoid saying that we got along fine for years without these damn things... oops, didn't bite hard enuf...

[Daydreamer]

On the inReach click settings, then tracking,, then send interval and set to 1 hour.

Since I have a charge port onboard I use a 10 minute ping rate, to give a detailed track.

When you click tracking, and click start, it gives you the option to "share".
Enter the email address, tracking@sfbaysss.org
Add anyone else you want to follow you and then click send.

If it is your own tracker, a lot of entries can be made at home.
Entering info using the cursor and tiny screen of the inReach is tedious, but can be done.
Though not fun if prone to seasickness?!?

Also, during the check in period, a separate message needs to be sent to the race committee, tracking@sfbaysss.org
Access from the messages screen.

To power off, push and hold the "check" the screen will change and give you the "power off " option, select.
The red light will stop blinking.

[Philpott]

Great. Thanks, Greg. I'm pairing with my chart plotter (yes, I have one of those) and Garmin will allow me to download a map section. Among the options of NOAA offshore charts are North Pacific Ocean Eastern part, and/or West Coast of North America Mexican Border. I already have these on my tablet. Do I need to download these through Garmin? If so, which one? And Can I please just throw all these contraptions out the window and go sailing instead? My eyes are tired.