Recent content by Jonny_H

Matching to the windlass is important. Also, do your own research. I bought chain last year from one of the big suppliers. I told them I wanted 10mm, and told them the type of windlass. They insisted that 9.5mm was what I needed to fit the windlass. I trusted them - the long and the short is...

Its been a while since I posted, getting back into 'land life' is taking some getting used to! I thought some fellow cruisers may be interested in our website which we have just updated. There are a few pages that may be of interest, 'Marinas and Anchorages' gives details of the 150+ places we...

We have an 85W panel and a Rutland 913. From the UK to Australia, I can count 3 anchorages out of over 200 where the 913 was worth having. The rest of the time we chose sheltered anchorages and hence little wind. When the wind genny is doing its thing, its great, but it doesn't do it often. In...

Wow - thats great! Sounds like your having a good time - whats the plans for this year - still heading our way? Jonny

Nick - sent you a message via your website with my email and mobile number - would be good to catch up over a beer!! Jonny

Rabat, Morocco Hi, We went to Rabat on our way to the Canaries last year and it was amazing. We were nervous before we went but it was one of the best stops on our trip to Australia. The river at Rabat can be abit scary but if you radio the marina they will come and guide you down - even at...

Congrats!! Nick, Congratulations! We left the UK in July last year and arrived into Australia about 6 weeks ago. We too made landfall in Coffs - not a bad place to be!! What an achievement - especially single handed and on a 26ft boat - very impressive. If you get down to Sydney look us up...

I hope they are ok - we met them in Tahiti / Moorea this year. Fingers crossed they are well.

John - Glad to hear nothing changes and life is never simple eh!! Sounds like you got it all sorted though and Seraphim looks superb in the pics! Newtsville is now on her mooring buoy and we moved off her yesterday to start 'land life' for a while - been 20 hours now and I am missing the boat...

lots of yachty mags - its amazing how quickly you can read one when there's nothing else to do! You need plenty!!

Interesting to hear you didn't get on with the 802/Pactor set-up. I would say that 90% of the cruisers we have met in the Atlantic / Pacific use Sailmail/Winlink via a Pactor modem for their emails and I no-one seems to have any trouble. We managed to get out everysingle day to do emails and...

We have an Icom 802 and wouldn't be without it. We use Sailmail through a Pactor modem (which you obviously won't use as you have a satphone). Almost all the cruising boats we know with a satphone also have SSB. When we are on passage we have daily nets with anywhere from 3 to 40 boats calling...

I would suggest don't rely on much wind - you choose a sheltered anchorage as its sheltered, ie not much wind. If you find an anchorage with a good breeze for the wind generator then you spend all night worrying about your anchor and those of your neighbours. In over 100 anchorages I can only...

In general (we haven't done Med sailing) we would now choose solar over wind every time - much more reliable output. One thing to think about with the regulator is the wind generator output in squalls. We have a Rutland 913 and when sailing through squalls etc it can easily exceed the maximum...

I would thoroughly recommend Rabat too. We were there in Oct 2008 - it was around €38 per week for 11m mono then. Superb marina, very friendly. Amazing place, and food, travel etc in Morroco are quite cheap (compared with Canaries etc) - a good place to spend some time. Jonny