2002

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Ocean Planet Report
Wednesday, November 13, 2002 1300gmt
Pos: 17 54S, 28 04W Heading 190T @ 12-13kts
Wind E @ 12-17kts

Hi folks! Back in digital contact with the world. The Mini-m is still gonzo but I have gotten the Iridium phone to work. We aren’t sure who it’s being billed to yet…but we’ll figure that out later….;-)

The last few days the wind has been slowly backing more easterly allowing me to ease the sheets bit by bit. This has been offset by the rude interruption to the process by the occasional rain squall, but today is clear at the moment and we are honkin. I have up the heavy reacher (looks pretty much like a classic Yankee high-clew jib), the staysail, and a double reefed main. Ocean Planet loves this setup, almost no helm and zippin along.

The solar panels have been working great. During the day they often put out as much or more power then we are consuming! Which is a lot with the autopilot, the radar, the computer, and instruments all running at once. They save us a lot of fuel and it would be entirely possible to sail a boat around the world with no fuel at all if you set a boat up for it. Of course boats have done that for centuries, but to pull it off with autopilots, modern communications, etc, is another matter. This touches on a subject I really believe in, the development of energy efficient technology. The world would be a lot safer place if we put more effort into this!

Attached is a pic I’ve been meaning to send. A couple of days ago right after a rain squall passed over we had a full view of the perfect double rainbow. Too bad I don’t have a wider angle lens so you could see the whole thing!

Later,
Bruce