Since this afternoon, I am 'off' the last chart that only had North America on it. This was a large scale chart of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. But now, being to the east of 41W, the only chart I have where I can plot my position on is "Atlantic Ocean, Northern part". On this chart the daily runs are only a few cm long, so this chart is not very motivating to navigate on. However, having just plotted on this chart my daily runs for this return trip so far, I am already over one third of the distance. Furthermore, if we can continue this pace, it will be the day after tomorrow that I am on the other side of the chart, that is, the side with Europe on it. Then you really develop a feeling of getting closer every day.

Today we have sailed flat out, all day. Perfect conditions, with a WNW breeze of 15 to 20 knots, a pooled out jib and 1 reef in the main. Easy sailing, but so far have averaged over 7.5 today! The counter current of the last few days is definitely gone!

But conditions are not likely to stay as they are now. Tomorrow we will have a high pressure system right over our heads, which means no wind... But after that, another low is coming up, promising more westerlies. Just what we need!

Bart

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This morning I found a flying fish in the cockpit. Too small to eat, though. And when I got in the towing generator, I found bite marks on the propeller! Knowing the force at which the propeller turns, I think the attacking fish (shark, tuna?) needs a dentist! That should teach him!

Around noon a front came through, with fierce rain and gusting wind up to 30 knots. I took the mainsail down for a while, and continued under jib only, still doing 6.5 knots. After the front, skies cleared and the wind steadied again at some 15/18 knots, due west. Perfect, easy sailing.

Bart

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The low pressure system behind me is finally overtaking me. Last night and this morning were terribly slow, as there was hardly a breath of wind. I slept most of the time, trying to relax. The first 12 hours of today, I did only some 35 miles.

Later this morning saw the conditions everybody dreams of: Ocean of the deepest blue, not a cloud in the sky, no swell and a gentle (a little too gentle, to my taste) breeze on the quarter. Seawater temperature 27 degrees. I got some more suntan reading the biography of Peter Blake. Motivating lifestyle, this guy had!

Gradually, high clouds came in from the west, until is was completely overcast. Then the wind started to build, slowly but surely, and at the moment we are broad reaching in SW winds of around 15 knots, with the high aspect jib and full main. The wind is expected to build up to 30 knots tomorrow afternoon, so this promises to be a fast night. No swell as jet, so easy going.

Bart

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Yesterday and this morning have been sort of a time out. I was in the midst of a ridge of high pressure, with little or no wind. Yesterday I made only 92 miles in 24 hours. Now, when racing, this weather is an absolute nightmare. But this time, I just take another cup of tea and continue reading a book. I motored a bit, also to recharge the battery, but an hour or two motoring doesn't help much on a 3000 mile crossing... I also slept a lot, and generally try to come to grips with this crossing.

In a way, it is much less exciting then the ostar. During the race, I was constantly trying to make the most of it. I was also very curious about the others, and looked forward to every report by Nicolette. Where is British Beagle, what kind of weather? How can I catch up with him? What is Dick Koopmans doing? Why does he have wind while I am becalmed?? It was a much more intense way of sailing. I have to get used to the lazy affair that this crossing is. But I have a couple of books left, so I will manage.

And besides, the weather is about to change. When this ridge of high pressure has passed (and that goes very slowly as I almost keep up with it), a new, deep low is coming up. This will give gale force conditions to the north of me, and also a couple of days of nice, maybe strong, westerly winds to carry me east. I can't wait!

Bart

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Yesterday was a lost day. In spite of all the forecasts, grib files and even 'Herb', the wind persisted in being contrary where it was supposed to veer to the southwest. Only at 10 (UTC) last night, the wind veered from ESE to S. I could then lay a course due east, but could only go slowly as all waves were still coming from the east.
Yesterday was a lost day. In spite of all the weather forecasts, grib files and even the prediction of guru 'Herb', the wind persisted in being contrary. It was also very unstable, both from direction and strength. Only at around 10 (UTC) last night did it veer from ESEerly to Southerly. I could then steer due east, but could go only very slowly as all the waves (steep, 2/3 meters hight)were still from an easterly direction.

But finally, early this morning, the wind did veer to the southwest, and increased in strength to over 30 knots. I was sailing under reefed jib and main sail with one reef, and that was way too much sail. Then a squall hit and the boat took off, hitting a top speed of 16.7 knots! I scrambled outside and took the mainsail down. Later, when the wind stabilized a little, I reset the main, this time well reefed!

All in all it is a bit of a stop-and-go game, with the wind changing between 35 and 10 knots. At the moment it is 10 again, and we bounce around on the still steep waves.

Still a long way to go...

Bart

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Oncee past Sable Island, which consist of a long and narrow sandbank running east to west for some 60 miles, and only a fraction of it actually rises above the water, the wind veered to east-northeast, under the influence of a new, tropical depression. I sailed a southeasterly course, trying to cross the depression's path so that, when it overtakes me, the wind will veer southwest. But it seems that the depression is not in a hurry, and it overtakes me only very slowly. This gives me very annoying easterly, now southeasterly, winds of force 4 to 7. Now that I am at the correct latitude, I took the jib down and, reefed main sail only, go slowly and wait for the westerlies to come. Not yet... According to the latest grib files, it will probably not be before midnight tonight that the westerlies set in.

Last night a warm front came through, which changed the wind from ENE to ESE/SE. With it came dense clouds, thunder and lightning. I didn't feel comfortable at all! I guess it will take a while before my nerves will get used to lightning again.

Bart

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The trip to St. Pierre and Miquelon did not go as planned... It started out all right, with a nice following breeze. However, tuesday, the second day, didn't bring a breath of wind. So I motored a long way. By the end of the day I'd had enough of it and tucked into one of the fjords on the very East end of Nova Scotia. It is quite a spectacular coast, with many rocks and off lying dangers, and all very poorly marked with only an occasional buoy. I made my way in through a labyrinth of rocks, escorted by many seals, and tied up along a small floating pontoon in a village called Whitehead. The place was utterly idyllic, but for the mosquitos. They were extraordinary noisy and blood thirsty, and over the bay hang a noise as a Dakota coming in. I realized this too late and had all my doors and hatches open, so before I knew there were hundreds inside.

That night a light wind came up from the east, and fog set in, all according the forecast. It seems that summer is over, here, and a long train of tropical depressions is making it's way north along the gulf stream. Strong easterly and northeasterly wind are expected in the area of Newfoundland. Not very appealing... especially as easterly winds invariably bring a lot of rain and fog.

So I decided to set of from Whitehead. But before I could, I wanted to do some more shopping and also have a haircut. The nearest place with anything of a shop (and a barber) was Canso, some 35km away. So early morning, in thick fog but only a light drizzle, I set off on foot. Within five minutes a car came past and he gave me a ride all the way to Canso. As we went along the roads, I started to realize that this was a bit risky. All the way we only passed a single car going in the opposite direction! For the rest is Nova Scotia (New Scotland) the Christmas tree capital of the world, for as far as you can see.

So I did my shopping in the local supermarket, and met a couple from South Africa, camping in a tent. By that time the rain had set in and it rained like hell all morning. The Southafricans didn't have much else to do in this weather, with their tent pitched at the bottom of a mud pool and an air bed floating around inside, and accompanied me to the hairdresser. The place was most interesting, with all sorts of memorabilia up to original items off Titanic. He also had a passion for hats, and there were hats everywhere.

After me having had the haircut, the three of us had lunch in the local motel, and then they brought me all the way back to Whitehead. We had coffee on board, and while drinking this, the front came through. the wind veered from east to southwest, the rain stopped and the fog lifted (a little). I had to go! I said goodbye to the Southafricans and went up to the house of one of the locals who had helped me the night before with an internet connection for the latest weather forecasts. At his place I could have a shower and filled up some bottles with water.

Back on board, the southwesterly wind started to build and I knew I had to be quick, otherwise the wind would be too strong. I had hardly left my pontoon as the fog came back. As there is fog almost every day in this area, and the strong easterlies forecast, I carried on, carefully finding my way between the rocks. Visibility was less then 100 meters. But I made it safely outside, and started my Southeasterly course in the fog.

This morning I passed to the east of Sable Island, and now I am at 43d46N and 58d31W. Out into the Atlantic, in deep water now, the fog has cleared. But the wind died, too...

Bart

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Yesterday morning I also bought a new map reading light for at the chart table (as the old one has a short-circuit in it that I can't fix), and new LED lamp bulbs for the cabin light. I had two white lamps and one red, as the lamp has a switch to choose between red and white light.

So at sea, yesterday, I fitted all this. It was a failure! The white bulbs turned out to be green(!), and the reading light (also of LED type) is so enormously bright that it's unusable at night as it will blind you completely.

So annoying...

The good news, though, is that I had some strong words with my SPX-5 autopilot, after which the thing steered the boat quite satisfactorily all evening and night. Gives hope!

Bart

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Yesterday, Sunday, was a splendid day. Hot (30 degrees), occasional white cloud, and a nice cooling breeze from the west. Ideal sailing weather if you want to go east (like me). But I had to wait till Monday morning to get the ferrites, and also a new remote control for the autopilot (which had also fried during the lightning). Although not really essential, I have found during the trip from New Bedford to here that it makes life so much more easy, that I wanted to have another one before I set off for the actual crossing. So I played around all day, filling up with fuel and water, and calibrating the different autopilots (again...). Then I bought some fresh tortelini and a big tenderloin steak, and cooked myself an easy but delicious meal, with a mushroom&pepper cream sauce to go with the steak, the tortelini being filled with spinach and fresh herbs.

After dinner I invited my neighbor (on the next mooring) for a glass of wine, as I had heard that he was an inhabitant of St Pierre. St. Pierre has always been on my list of places to go, as it seems so weird that two tiny little islands, only 10 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, are an official French colony. Not only speaks everyone French (and French only!), the boulangerie has fresh croissants every morning, which people eat with brie and a decent glass of wine. And all that on a piece of rugged, barren rock out in the North Atlantic.

It appeared that Bernard, my neighbor, was the son of the lighthouse keeper on a remote outcrop of this desolated place! He was born in the lighthouse and lived there till his 15th, when the light was automated. Amazing! What a solitude that must have been, although he said there were 4 families together manning the lighthouse, living in cottages nearby. Anyway, we had a nice evening and Bernard gave some useful tips on the navigation in these waters and places to go (and not to go).

This morning at 7 I went to the boat of the Becker family, who had borrowed me their dinghy. They had offered to drive me to the different places I wanted to go to. I was a bit early as I saw them struggling with their furling genoa. They had just bought this boat, a 42 foot double ender of 13 tons displacement, and this was their first 'big' boat. So I helped them to fit their genoa and explain how it worked. Then their son Adam drove me to Radio Holland, who gave me a handful of ferrites for free. Then back to the local boat store, where we were at exactly 0900h, opening time. The shopkeeper made a phonecall, I payed him and off we went to the main Raymarine distribution center. At 10.30 I was back on board, and at noon I slipped my mooring.

It is yet another brilliant day. Clear blue skies, Southwest 4 and pleasantly warm. I hope I keep this weather until Ireland! One hour after me, all the Tall Ships left Halifax. For the past 2 hours I am sailing just ahead of Pride of Baltimore, flying all her sails. We are both doing 7 knots, in a very comfortable manner.

Bart

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Yesterday around noon I gybed around an outer reef or bank to the south of the entrance of Halifax harbour. Two hours later (there was not much wind) I sailed into town, which, to my surprise, was packed to the rim with boats, as it turned out to be the Tall Ship weekend. In a way that was nice, because it was quite a happening complete with music festival and lots of people, but it also mend that all ports and marina's anywhere near down town didn't have any space left. So I sailed back around town and up the Eastern side, until the end where Armdale Yacht Club is situated. A nice place, but rather expensive.

The first thing I did was run up to the local ship chandler to buy a small Canadian flag as I didn;t have a courtesy flag of this country. I never buy a flag anymore of a country that I have not actually reached, since I did this the day before the start of the ostar in 2005. I had finished all my preparations and, on the day before the start, bought an American flag. Brought me bad luck! Then, from up in the yacht club, I noticed that I had hoisted the flag upside down. Luckily, before anybody else noticed, so I quickly corrected this.

As by that time is was time for dinner, my neighbor, having heard that I wanted to go down town that night to see the town and the tall ships, gave me a ride. Halifax is a town of a mere 300.000 people, but the urban area is huge! 'Down town is only a couple of streets around the old, English fort. All people, but also all shops etc, are scattered round miles and miles away. You definitely need a car up here!

There are three Dutch vessels amongst the tall ships: the bark Europa, the naval training vessel Urania and an old logger )ketch rigged sailing fishing vessel, designed for herring fishing in the early 20th century) Tecla. Homeport Winkel!! I thought the nearest place to that which used to have a salt water harbour was Kolhorn?? Anyhow, it was nice to see this vessel on this side of the Atlantic. And I doubt if any other logger ever did this. The Europa, after having been a light vessel off the German coast for many decades, looks fantastic and is a true ocean going vessel sailing all around the globe.
The most remarkable sight was the Russian 4 masted bark Kruzenstern, which had lost it's entire forward top mast during a squall off Bermuda. They were just one day out when that happened.

Half way during the night is started to rain. Drizzle first, followed by real rain, so ultimately I took a taxi back to the boat. This morning the rain had stopped, but there was thick fog. This coast is famous for it;s fog, but even the locals complain about the weather this summer. A club member offered to ferry me to the different shops I wanted to go. We did some shopping, hopefully to see me all the way to Ireland, and then went to try and get some technical stuff. As in Newport, it proved to be difficult to find the right place to go, even with this local guy driving me around, himself living in Halifax and being a sailor. Ultimately I found it impossible to get the Raymarine things I needed and also some ferrites to reduce EMI from the HF radio.

Coming back to the boat, we unloaded the local's car and put everything in the cockpit, and then went up into the yachtclub to see another member who is supposed to be a HAM operator (radioamateur) and might know about the ferrites. As soon as we got into the yachtclub it started to rain like hell. All my groceries wet. (have had that before...) It did not make sence to rush back to the boat and get everything inside, since it was already soaking wet. So I accepted a glass of wine instead... It has been raining since.

Since lying on a pontoon in the club marina is quite expensive, and the club also has some moorings which are about half the price, I have just shifted to a mooring. Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day, so I will then fill up with diesel, (luckily I still have my old dip stick, since the level gauge was fried during the lightning), and try to re-calibrate the autohelm.

Bart

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At 0715 local time this morning, with only some 30 miles to go to Halifax and while writing an email to Jurrien, the boat suddenly hit something. I heard a soft bang, followed by the sound of something rubbing along the boat and then the sound of one of the rudders folding backwards. A lobster pot? The boat didn't slow down much (in fact, I was motorsailing as the wind had died after the rain stopped).
I rushed outside to put the rudder back down, so as not to strain the autopilot more then necessary. When I looked aft, I saw a whale, possibly a small humpback (?), wildly splashing with it's fins and tail. It seemed to swim in tight circles. I saw no blood, but I didn't stop and go back to look at the damage. There is not much I could have done for him, anyway. And taking him on tow into port to sell at the market is probably not a very good idea...

Those whales are so slow moving. I've seen many the past few days, and it is little wonder that 18th century people managed to have them almost extinct in just a few decades. Especially as I was motoring, you would expect the animal to hear you coming (at only 4 knots). I can imagine that they can not outrun the racing 60' trimarans that dash the Atlantic at 25 knots or more, but my slow and noisy boat should have been easy!

By the way, the rudders are designed to fold backwards when they hit something. If you have twin rudders, like me, there is usually one rudder well protected deep under the boat. The other, the windward rudder, hangs about and, when heeled well over, only occasionally touches the water with it's tip. Anything afloat that passes along the boat, is likely to rip this rudder straight off the transom. It is a spring-loaded mechanism, and all I need to do to put it back is give the blade a push. It happens once or twice a year to me, and I am glad to have made them so, especially having seen Katie Miller's boat and having heard La Promesse losing one rudder 400 miles off Finisterre.

Bart

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Remember the trouble we had with the autopilots before the start of the race?

Eekels Electrotechniek had sponsored me a complete set of Raymarine's latest, best, autopilot system. Called SPX-5, it is a replacement of the older S1G. Both systems have an integrated solid state giro which really makes all the difference in a seaway. However, the unit did not work as it should. It started out all right, but then suddenly would steer the boat to port. We tried everything: a different compass, sailing in wind mode, but it kept steering to port. Then we found out, that when the boat was moored, the compass heading would suddenly go all round the scale. That was when we sent the unit back to England, for guarantee. Eekels did their utmost, and provided me with a spare computer unit at the very last moment. A new unit was sent by Raymarine, but only after I was already in Plymouth. So Jurrien took it with her when she came to see me off.

The second unit from Eekels was not the new SPX-5, but the older model, and after installation seemed to work quite well. When Jurrien came with the replaced SPX-5, and we installed it, it was not long before we found out that this unit had exactly the same fault as the previous one. The start was coming soon, and I was getting nervous.

Now Raymarine, being world-market leader, send a chap called Mark to Plymouth, to see that everybody with Raymarine stuff had their equipment checked. Mark was brilliant, fixed everything. After concluding that this replacement unit was really faulty, he offered me a reconditioned, checked, S1G computer. I could borrow it, use it, and by the time I got back to Plymouth decide whether I buy it from him or give it back.

This unit was nothing less then perfect. By far and away the best pilot I ever had. Only in the very light, unstable winds could I outperform the pilot, but then only for a short period of time. During rough conditions, broad reaching in 35 knots doing almost 200 miles a day, or running before a 50 knots gale in a high, very confused and breaking sea, the performance of this pilot was unequaled. And best of all, because the pilot was so efficient in giving the right amount of helm at exactly the right time, it was remarkably power-efficient.

Unfortunately, during the lightning strike, this course computer was fried. The print inside is black in places and does not look like it will ever work again. The spare computer, the one that Eekels arranged for me at the very last moment, came back to life after I replaced the 2A fuse inside. Imagine, this unit was stowed in a ziplock bag in a locker, and not connected to anything at all. The electro magnetic field in the air must have been sufficient to blow this fuse! But ever since leaving Newport I am struggling with it. It's not reliable, steering quite well for some time before going in auto-tack, or steering suddenly off course while blaring it's off-course alarm. Last night I gave up and mounted the emergency ST2000 pilot. As it were very calm conditions, this pilot did fine for the night.

At first light I mounted the brand new SPX-5 course computer, bought in Newport. I couldn't get the S1G any more, so settled with this new model, although my confidence in this particular model is almost zero. And sure enough, after a quick calibration run (I know all the settings in the Dealer Calibration Menu, by now) the boat was back on course. But it took only 15 minutes before she went to port... I tried steering in wind mode, but same result. According to Mark this SPX-5 is actually a better pilot that the S1G, but I have had enough of them. I am now steering on the old ST4000+ unit, which (being stowed away in the fore peak) seems to have survived the strike. This unit has always steered the boat, but it's performance in rough weather doesn't come close to the unit Mark provided.

I still have another Atlantic crossing to do and feel bad about this whole Raymarine. At the moment the weather is still fine, although from tonight the wind will increase to force 6, maybe 7 for a time. I am now some 20 miles off the Southwestern tip of Nova Scotia, and still a hundred miles from Halifax. When I get there I may try to arrange something to fix this problem.

Bart

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Yesterday morning, after a peaceful night, I motored through the Cape Cod Canal. It was a splendid day, full of sunshine but little wind. And sailing in the canal is prohibited, anyway. It's a beautiful area, and the canal landscape somewhat resembles the Kieler Kanal, only the houses along the canal shore are New England style and very different from German architecture.

The Canal is only some 7 miles long and with a fair tide (I was a bit early), took little over an hour to pass. Especially from the other side (East to West), it's a strange cut in the sandy beach where you sail in. Nice to have done. After that, I worked my way out of Cape Cod Bay, in only very little wind, as the prevailing southwesterly wind was opposed by a land wind that set in when I got out into the bay. It took me all day to get out, even though I motored some of it. In the evening a NW wind came up and I could set the Code 0. When I got past the North end of Cape Cod (prudently finishing a large bag of Cape Cod potato chips... delicious!), I noticed a whole group of humpback whales right on my track. Slowly they came up to breathe, spouting their colums 4 meters up in the air. Slowly they dived again, sometimes tails high up out of the water as they dove for food. Beautiful sight!

Today is another day out of the brochure; the brochure for cruising the Bahama's, that is. Clear blue sky, warm, light following wind and little swell make it comfortable but slow going. It's another 95 miles to the tip of Nova Scotia, and then another 100 to Halifax. But I might make for one of the many harbours before Halifax first, just to see what life is like in a small Nova Scotia fishing community.

Bart

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And now that the sun is down I notice the great disadvantage of this place: thousands of mosquito's!

Bart

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I finally seem to be back on the road again.

I found the trick to change the radio from HAM to marine (involved some soldering in the main circuit board; scary business!). When that was done I set off, hoping to catch the tide through the Cape Cod Canal. The weather was nothing but perfect: clear blue sky with an occasional white cloud passing by, some 24 degrees, and a stiff southwesterly wind that increased the closer we got the the end of Buzzard's Bay and the entrance to the canal. During the trip I connected all cables back onto the radio and installed the whole lot. Then I collected all my tools that were still lying about everywhere, and did a general clean-up.

The radio could receive and transmit on all frequencies I needed. But when I tried to send an email this wasn't that easy. I first needed to set all the settings in the program; something that I am not very good at! But after about an hour of trial and error, setting baud rates and virtual com-ports, it all seems to be working again. A great relief! And all this while the boat was racing towards the entrance of the canal.

The first buoy I passed indicated a weak tide against me. This was surprising; was I early? I thought I was late (as usual).
With a strong adverse tide I sailed into the entrance of the canal, which has a wide bay on the north side. The wind was now continuously over 30 knots which, in combination with a 4 knot tide, made for steep, breaking waves that I surfed over at great speed. Beyond the bay, named Sonset Bay after the vilage at the end of it, the actual canal starts. At that end there is a railway bridge, that is normally open and closes only if a train is due. (Maybe NS should have a look here?) Off course, when I came closer, the bridge closed. I tried to find a spot a little more sheltered to take down my main sail, but this was hard as outside the channel with it's 1 meter breaking waves, was nothing but shoals. On the very edge of the channel I turned 180 degrees and ran forward to lower the sail, engine full ahead. The sail came down ok, but the boat lay dead stopped and hit the soft bottom on the edge of the channel. Thanks to the wind and the waves I came free quite quickly, but still couldn't make any speed although from the sound of it it was obvious that the engine was trying hard. Fouled propeller. So after another 360 and a slight tough on the bottom, I got the mainsail up again, reefed to 3rd reef. With this, I beat my way back to the other end of Sonset Bay, where a small channel leads to the vilage. This incident showed yet another thing damaged during the lightning: the alarm of the depth sounder; I had set it to warn me and it didn't. Every day I keep finding things!

Once in this small, well sheltered channel, I could make some speed again under power and lowered the sail. I found a free mooring in a small, sheltered inlet and tied up to that. The water was not very cold and I took advantage of the swim to clear the propeller to also clean the waterline and remove some fouling on the rudders. I then took another, better look in the Eldridge almanac and found that I had confused two columns in the table; I wasn't late, I was 5 hours early!

So, lying here with a nice view on the old railway bridge in a setting sun, I send my first email via radio to the blog in two weeks time. Time for a dram of whisky!

Bart

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After a week and a half struggling in Newport, I couldn't stand it any longer and left the place. Everybody in the club has been most helpful, especially the girl in the office and some particular members who brought me all over the place to try to get my things. But after so much time you just need to go.

So I sailed, in the best of weather, up to New Bedford. Marieke, a former colleague of mine, lives somewhere in that area, and she invited me for dinner. Next day I cooked her, and her husband Joe, a large paella. While cooking, Will Sayer joined in! He (another competitor, who had won the whole race on handicap), has engine trouble and a failed rudder bearing on his Sigma 33, and is up in a shipyard a few miles from here. He had borrowed a bycicle and saw my boat!

In the mean time, I have been trying to find out what exactly was wrong with my radio. Ultimately I found out, that the radio supplied to me is a HAM version of the radio, and all marine frequencies are blocked! Now there seems to be a way to get around that, and I hope to find out soon!

Bart

This morning Bart sent me a text that he had left Newport. Everything he needed was more or less working, except for his (short wave) radio. I guess he is heading towards Canada and will visit some ports there. The radio needs sorting out before he starts on his Atlantic crossing.

We wish him a safe and pleasant trip! No more lightning please!
Jurrien, Jiske and Minke (from Chicago)

I get sick of this. It is so difficult to replace all my stuff. Over the years, I have very carefully selected every type of equipment, looking for the specific qualities that I wanted. Now that all is gone, I am forced to replace some of the things with equipment of inferior quality or without the specific merits that I selected the original equipment for.

The latest project is the stereo set. I had a small, kind of high-end Sony set, which I had bought after I found out that, internally, it worked on 12 volt. So after I bought it, I opened it, made an additional power inlet with a 12V connection, a large capacitor to allow for fluctuations in the ship's net, and a zener diode to protect it from overload. The set worked great, with very good quality sound although for some people not quite loud enough. But loud enough for me! It also had timer functions, so that it qould wake you op with music, or would shut itself off after so many minutes. It had remote control, an equalizer, etc.

While waiting for my other, more important things to come (gps, radio, etc.), I set out to try to repair this stereo. The fuse was blown and also a zener diode in the print I had made. First problem was finding a shop that sells small electronic components like transistors, resistors, etc. Anything smaller than an Ipod seems not to be for sale in America. Until I found a small shop that repairs electric guitars and, after looking better, seemed able to repair almost anything else. I put the little component on the desk, and the shop owner, a sort of over age hippy, looked at it and said: 'Looks like a 16V zener diode'. He turned around, opened a drawer and took out a handful. 'How many would you like?' I bought three, to be sure. Three dollars that was, and two minutes! It's finding these people that takes the most time!

Unfortunately, the zener diode was not the only problem. When I fixed the part I had made long time ago, the unit still didn't work. And I found out that the heat sink got hot quite soon without any power being taken off. So I took the whole unit with me and gave it to hippy. He looked at it and found a burn mark on the main amplifyer IC. Fatal error.

So off we went to an audio store to buy a new set. This was the stage when the frustration came back again. Nothing in the shop didn't even come close to what I had. It was all 110V, the salesman didn't know what he was talking about, the functions I wanted were not on the set, etc. Most importantly nothing was 12V. So I then looked at car audio. That was 12V, but didn't have a timer and no long wave radio. And I had to have speakers as well. And where or how to mount a car radio? Unsatisfied I left the place, and ended up in Walmart, where I bought the cheapest set they had, for 28 dollars.

I have given up my hopes to replace everything here. I also bought the cheapest MP3 player, as the cheap CD player can not be expected to work at sea. This cheap unit is suitable to work on 8 batteries, so works on 12V. I connected a wire and am now listening to JJ Baron, a local folk singer.

UPS did not come today with my stuff... maybe tomorrow?

Bart

The latest setback seems to be the EPIRB. At my father's suggestion I checked it, and it did not do what it should according to the text on the unit. Now there is an epirb test facility here in Rhode Island, but they do not cover the brand Jotron. But they could test if it transmitted. It did not... They didn't have a unit on stock, however could have one somewhere next week... maybe. So back to West Marine. Also no stock... Yet another thing to try to get hold of... It all takes so much time! There goes my planned cruise along Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
 
On the bright side, a small computer repair company managed to get the data off the hard disc of my damaged laptop. They couldn't get the laptop going, but still managed to save the data. Glad so, as it contained (amongst others) all the pictures I took during the OSTAR and all my emails.
 
Bart

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Vandaag was een lange, maar productieve dag. Het begon om 6 uur met een telefoontje van Eric Jan, van de verzekering, en het is hier nu kwart over 2 's nachts...
 
De hele morgen heb ik in 'mijn kantoortje' in de jachtclub allerlei leveranciers zitten bellen om te zien wie welke onderdelen had en tegen welke prijs. Dit concentreerde zich vooral op de kortegolf radio, antenne tuner en bijbehorend modem. Het bleek moeilijk om het type te krijgen wat ik graag wilde hebben. Ook een goede spanningsregelaar bleek zeer lastig, merkwaardig genoeg. Nou had ik al gezien dat de Newport Shipyard, de buren van de Newport Yacht Club, dealer zijn van Mastervolt. En ik had ook een Mastervolt regelaar. Alleen heeft de Newport Shipyard de reputatie alles te kunnen maar heel duur te zijn in alles wat ze doen. En inderdaad, ik loop daar binnen om kwart over 8 's morgens, de manager pleegt 3 telefoontjes en vraagt of het goed is als ik hem tegen lunchtijd kan komen ophalen! Maar hij kost 441 dollar...
 
Uiteindelijk heb ik de radio installatie en GPS besteld, en heeft een vriendelijk clublid me de halve middag rondgereden naar de verschillende winkels hier op het eiland. En nu, 's avonds laat, zit er een windex op de mast en kan een (tijdelijk, speelgoed, en tweede hands) toplicht aan en uit met het schakelaartje. De masttop is nu klaar om te varen. En het stoomlicht en zalinglicht doet het weer. God bless de topclimber. Hoe ik het ooit zonder dat ding deed?? Ik ben vandaag weer zeker 10 keer omhoog en omlaag geklommen (ben je net boven bezig, merk je dat je de aansteker bent vergeten mee te nemen om de krimpkous te verwarmen... Weer terug)
 
Bovendien is de spanningsregelaar ingebouwd en afgeregeld, en kan ik dus weer de accu laden. En ik kan de voorlopige conclusie trekken dat de sleepgenerator, inclusief zijn spanningsregelaar, niet beschadigd zijn! Ik heb het ding getest door hem met een boormachine aan te drijven en hij laadde inderdaad normaal; 10A bij 13.5V. Een duurtest moet maar uitwijzen of de diodes en condensators in het ding de bliksemklap echt overleefd hebben.
 
Morgen waarschijnlijk weer zo'n lange dag...
 
Bart

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Just after the boat was hit I took out the multimeter to see if I could get at least some of the equipment back to life again. The meter's LCD screen was pitch black. So the first thing I bought here in Newport was a new multimeter. Two day's later, when I wanted to put the old meter in the box with fried stuff and take the battery out, I switched it on just to see the black screen again. To my surprise the screen was no longer completely black any more, but all digits were 8's. Yesterday I tried the meter again, and it seemed to be working again! But for how long?
 
Bart

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See above Thomas and Arjan at work on the boat... It's still a big mess inside.

I thought that by now my list of broken/fried items was more or less complete, but I still find things; this morning I found that the level indicators on the fuel- and watertank don't work. Not really essential, and for the fuel tank I have a dipstick, but still. And I found that the starboard light has a short-circuit in it, which keeps blowing fuses. But that should be easy to fix.

Today is Sunday and most shops seem to be open still. But they are manned by people who don't know much about what they are doing. The people that do know, well, they are out fishing and back on Monday (can't blame them...). Luckily the weather is beautiful and I might as well try to enjoy being here.

Bart

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The most important thing I bought today was a new laptop.
the problem is that over here this whole weekend is a national holliday and everything is closed, apart from some big consumer electronics shops. But the guys that know are all out fishing so we did not make much progress on the nautical front. But we did find a nice laptop computer. As it had a scratch on the outside and has been the shop model, it was USD150,- dollar cheaper than before, and within the budget that I had set myself. I need a new laptop to get weather information on the way back home and the old one has been fried, and will claim it on the insurance together with all the rest of the nautical equipment. But, especially for items like a laptop (my old one was 2007), I do not want to overdo it and rather have a better computer with a longer battery life time and a scratch on it.
 
Anyhow, I am now sitting in the cockpit, watching the Forth of July fireworks, and at the same time configuring the computer and downloading several programs.
 
Several items on the list of broken itmes seem to be difficult to get. A Sea-Me, for instance, is not available in the states unless on special order. I have tried hard today to get a voltage ragularor for the alternator today, but so far unsuccessful. And so on... This looking for things takes so much time! And I am really lucky that Tom did a lot of work calling dozens of companies trying to find an HF radio, antenna tuner and Pactor modem to replace the old ones.
 
But, after another long day, I can report that a new VHF is working, as are a new Raymarine wind meter and speed instrument. Unfortunately, I have also had to conclude that the display unit of the autopilot has passed away, although on opening it nothing seemed to be wrong and it didn't smell burned. All cables that had to be renewed to the top of the mast have been replaced.

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See above pictures to give you an impression of what a thunderstorm over here looks like. These pictures were taken on the way to New York, and apart from some 15 minutes of strong winds, up to 40 knots, nothing much happened. But it makes me nervous every time, as there is so little you can do when things go wrong. Out at sea you just have to sit it out and hope for the best.
 
Bart

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I left New York last Sunday, sailing all the way up east river. Beating, that is, as the wind was Northeasterly, but that didn't really matter. It was fun sailing through the big city like that. On the East side of Manhatten Jurrien, Minke and Marijn (with whom they are staying) waited for me to send me off. It was nice to see them standing there, waving at me.

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