25th June 2017
Current Position :00 34.12n /085 74.77WLast night was another wild one. We are a bit over it to tell the truth. A big squall came through around 2100 and as we shortened sail the jib became possessed and went wild. It took both of us to furl it with Liam ending up on his back. By the time we got it put to bed the sheets(lines) had become so tangled from the wind that they resembled a plate of spaghetti.
Most of today has been rainy and overcast but the sea is starting to calm down. The water temp has gone down to 21c so we figure we are now enjoying the chilly ride of the Humboldt Current as it makes it's way from the Antarctic up the west coast of South America and then turns left to the Galapagos Islands.
So what do we do on these sort of days? We check things and today was safety gear checking ,testing and familiarization day.
We have two Epirbs, (emergency position indicating radio beacon) on board. Our main one which lives in our rapid ditch bag is a ACR Global Fix Pro 406Mhz GPS Epirb and we also have an ACR ResQLink+ floating Personal Locator Beacon which we wear on our life jacket. Added to these we have a Kannad Marine Survivor Recovery System, also attached to our lifejacket. This device transmits a man overboard AIS (Automated Information System) alert back to GWTW's onboard Vesper 8000 AIS transmitter /receiver.
This signal is instantly relayed to the alarm to our Raymarine plotter. And believe me those alarms would wake the dead. The thing we like about the Kannard system is that it is an immediate alert to the person on the boat that someone has fallen overboard. It also places a marker on the plotter and gives a reciprocal course to get back to the person in the water.Visual Safety devices include: Emergency Flashing Personal Strobes: Two ACR Firefly Waterbug and Firefly-Pro and a Zenec SL-15. For outdoor use from the deck or liferaft is our Sirius Signal SOSC-1001 Strobe.
All of the above were tested today and are in working order.
Our Lifejackets are Mustang Survival Offshore with replaceable inflation canisters and we have a 6 man Viking Offshore Liferaft, but we can't and really don't want to have to test that one!
We have a variety of handheld day and night parachute flares and smoke flares kept in a waterproof floating canister.
In the rapid ditch bag which we keep in the living area we keep an orange distress V sheet with signaling mirror attached, 2 x Handheld floating VHF radios. Several 60 hour glow sticks, waterproof floating flashlights and two first aid kits.
We also have an Orion flare launcher gun which shoots 12Ga red aerial day /night use flares to an altitude of 500ft, 4 extra Orion handheld orange smoke flares and a Garmin portable gps plotter. We also have a penknife,chap sticks,sun cream, sun visor reading glasses and polaroid sunglasses well as copies of passports and ships documents.
The latest addition to our safety gear is a Delorme Inreach Explorer Satellite Communicator with built in navigation. If you are following our blog you will already know about this device as it is our tracker to our position.
So there you have it...that's what we did today.
Now the day is coming to an end so it's time for a sundowner. The sky has cleared just in time and we are being entertained by a booby bird as he soars and dives for his dinner of flying fish, I suspect he may stay the night on the foredeck.
Follow our position on our tracker at:
https://aus-share.inreach.garmin.com/GoneWithTheWind
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