Log of SV Wendaway

Courtesy Astronomy-Page.com

What a crossing – left San Carlos at 8:30 pm and crept out through the crowded roadstead and made my way into the Sea of Cortez.  First crossing alone I was filled with the excitement of this old man’s adventure and the spiritual delight of experiencing the wide glittery cosmos.

With the autopilot on, I watched the meteor shower on the foredeck until I fell asleep – yikes, who’s at the helm?  Fortunately a short while later, a brisk breeze and wind direction shift started the jib flapping and I awoke. Moon rising,  darkness lifting, clipping along the wine dark sea at 5 knots!

Where's Norbert?

5:30 pm – It looks like we may have dodged a bullet.

Fred on SV Sojourn just did his 5pm update on VHF ch. 72 and said the hurricane is now east of us and getting easter (I know, bad grammar).

The photo (r) is of Terry and Terry (Hutcheon and Fallis, aboard SV Dream Catcher); they spent the day not only preparing their boat, but a few others whose owners were not here to do it. They illustrate the cruising ideal of altruism. Continue Reading »

Waiting for Hurricane Norbert

It’s 11:30 am Guaymas, Mexico time and we still have about 7 hours before Norbert makes landfall. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has had a fairly consistent story for the last 12 hours – Norbert has strengthened somewhat and will be (probably) a category 1 cyclone when it gets here.

Everybody who is here has been lashing down anything that might become an unguided missile when the expected 50 – 75 knot winds arrive. That includes tying down stuff on boats where the owners are not here. Continue Reading »

Voller RV fuel cell

This is something that sounds great:  the Voller Emerald fuel cell. Here’s the bumf from the Voller website:

Emerald runs from LPG, propane or butane (bbq gas) and provides the functional equivalent of a 5kVA petrol or diesel generator. This product is aimed at the leisure, construction, telecoms and military industries. It is ideal for powering the 12V or 24V circuits on board boats and in Recreational Vehicles and caravans, by using the cooking gas already on board. The advantages of having a quiet generator producing power on board are invaluable. There are, of course, many other applications a product such as this can be used for. Continue Reading »