Forum Member (nigelpickin) Goes Transat

jrudge said:
Sounds good.

I have been looking for a while to make an alarm that goes off after x litres as I think one way or another most of us have had something like this happen. Split, tap left on, knocked one etc.

They must have been horrified!
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I can’t see how an alarm could differentiate between a leak, running a tap by accident and having a few long showers. I think running a tank dry unexpectedly is a fairly good alarm system. If you have two or three tanks and a watermaker then to lose one tank is no big deal.
 
IDAMAY said:
I have had a few updates from Nigel and Ann.

One crew member volunteered to go up the mast to effect a repair on the mainsail hoist (forgive me if the terminology is incorrect). However I think vertigo took over at the first spreader so they have been proceeding under genoa only. I expect it has been supplemented by engine at times.

All is well and conditions are now good. I saw from the WCC website that another boat reported a water temperature of 24.5C which sounds fantastic from a late November UK day.

Ann reports that fishing has been largely unsuccesful but that flying fish have regularly deposited themselves on deck. The day before yesterday the most interesting thing they saw was a lump of seaweed drifting past. Yesterday was a lot better as they had company of a whale (unspecified type) for about three hours.


The only other incident of note was a split transom shower pipe. This deposited one full tank of water before being spotted. Fortunately Saul Goodman has a water maker.


At 12.00 today Saul Goodman had 873nm to go to St Lucia with an ETA of 6 December. She is lying 59th of 72 boats on the ARC+ Rally.
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The thing with heights if you are not used to it is to do it gradually. Get to the first spreader and stay there for a while or at a height that is comfortable, then over the next few days/weeks go a little higher as confidence and trust in the gear rises.It does take time. It sounds like they are all having fun though and things are safe so no worries if the repairs don't get done till they land. Enjoying the cruise reports, keep them coming, great trip. :encouragement::cool:
 
thanks for the updates,

been following regularly, pitty with the mailwhatever, they started way up the classification!
Interesting that in true mobo tradition, they are just keeping a straight line as close as possible to the theoretical red line obviously designed by the arc ppl...
Some other boats are all over the place makes a funny overview of the paths :D
MrB, if they follow your approach (although it does make sense!) they'll be able to fix their problem by the time they arrive in Florida :p

cheers

V.
 
Zing said:
I can’t see how an alarm could differentiate between a leak, running a tap by accident and having a few long showers. I think running a tank dry unexpectedly is a fairly good alarm system. If you have two or three tanks and a watermaker then to lose one tank is no big deal.
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It depends how complex you want to get

First is it how long is water flowing continuously. I would suspect there are few cases where water would flow for more than say 10 min but user can adjust so each to their own.

The acceptable running time can also change depending on if the engines are running or not. Most don’t use large amounts of water when underway

This season I had

- split water connector dumping fresh water into the bilge
- flybrige tap left on in error
- galley Tap hit by chopping board in rough sea turning on tap

Last season a guest left a bidet valve on flooding my daughters cabin

All would have had lesser impact with an alarm
 
vas said:
MrB, if they follow your approach (although it does make sense!) they'll be able to fix their problem by the time they arrive in Florida :p

cheers

Valid point Vas, it does work though lol.:D:encouragement:

V.
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As a supplement to my post yesterday, here is the latest from Nigel received 20.00 on 30 November:

"Mid Atlantic Update

Eight days into the crossing and things are going very well. The wind has been consistently from the East at between 15 and 20 knots and, while the sea has been shorter than we would have liked there's been none of the discomfort that we had feared. We've now covered 1300 nm.

Yesterday we had a whale accompany us for 4 hours - it was caught up in a graceful figure of eight around the boat (Ed's note - practicing a Williamson Turn?) and seemed very happy to wallow along with us . We were sad to see it go.

We've caught and eaten one fish; not quite the abundance that we'd hoped for. Luckily I have some Captain Birdseye in the freezer.

We are sailing along with just the Genoa (triangle shaped flappy thing at the front). The sea has been too choppy to get up the mast and fix the mainsail - it's an easy fix but not worth the risk.

I use the term 'sailing' rather loosely. In reality it's as much like sailing as sticking your car in neutral and hurtling in a straight line down a hill. We are just being pushed along by the prevailing current and wind. It makes you wonder why it took so long to discover the New World.

We run the engines four hours per day to give the batteries a charge, run the water maker and cook. It's the highlight of the day really, sometimes resulting in speeds over 6 kts!!!! Calculations now give us enough fuel to finish the trip (800 nm remaining) on engines alone but crew not wanting to go that way and I need to keep them happy!

Very excited to make landfall in around 6 days from now. We have a boat that could do with a well earned rest and clean, a dog that needs pampering and a wife that needs a really long walk …….or should that be the other way round?" (Ed's note: I think the scurvy must have taken hold or was it the weevils in the ship's biscuits?)


At Midday today Saul Goodman lay 58th overall, was making 5.6 kts and had 740 miles to run. She is still estimated to finish on 6 December but only by half an hour or so.
 
It's a shame they can't get that main fixed, I think it would heighten morale a little bit more but it sounds like they are enjoying the passage anyway. Thanks for the updates IDAMAY, really enjoy reading them. :encouragement::cool::cool:
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
Yep me too. Very jealous! :D
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Very frankly speaking, I can't say to be really jealous, considering that (in NP words) the highlight of the day is reaching 6 kts under power..... :rolleyes: :p
But a very interesting reading anyway, thanks to IDAMAY for forwarding us the reports and all the very best to NP and his crew for the last bit! :encouragement:
 
Here is the latest from Nigel received at 19.00 GMT yesterday:

"We've now covered 1715 miles since leaving Cape Verde. Don't forget we only have one small sail so not too shabby. A little over 400 miles to go.

We are being attacked by squalls pretty much all the time now. We get plenty of warning on radar and then just get the sail in and motor forward as they pass overhead. Winds gusting to 35kts is the worst of it but no problem so far.

Underlying wind is now consistent at 20kts and should bring us into Santa Lucia on Thursday by our reckoning. We have tweaked the sail plan as much as we are able to ensure we make landfall during daylight. That's a priority for me as it's not everday one arrives in a new continent. It would be good to get a photo or three.

We are ready to arrive now. The lookout, eat, sleep, repeat cycle is not growing on any of us, mainly because there is no real skill or nuance to this type of travel. It really is a means to an end. I'm sure a few years from now I will be telling tales of high sea adventure from our time crossing the Atlantic but right now it's lacking the challenge. Still careful what you wish for............"

At 08.00 today Saul Goodman had 371nm to run with an ETA of 21.43 UTC on Thursday 6 December. With a four hour time difference that should mean they arrive just about in daylight I think.
 
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