I have a confession

Have no doubt you'd handle astro nav perfectly well if the need arose skipper, meanwhile I wouldn't bother too much about it. You seem to have found Portugal and G Canaria though it worries me that you claim it was the scent of cheap vodka which provided the final pilotage.
 
Legal requirements for various logs grew out of the Merchant Shipping Act(s) and the WirelessTelegraphy Act, etc. That's big ship stuff. We (?) are mostly exempt from that stuff *except* when 45 feet and over.....

What we *do* need to comply with are the SOLAS V regs - and other nations' requirements when we visit their spaces as guests e.g. CEVNI.

The MCA offer a free CD-ROM on the SOLAS V stuff, and you can view/download it at <https://mcanet.mcga.gov.uk/public/c4/regulations/safetyofnavigation/index.htm> or at the BoastShow.

There's not a lot of point arguing about it now - it's law. We ignore it at risk of a damaged wallet.
 
We weren't that different on our way down either. Fixed GPS gave us our progress against the destination and ETA (which varied by as much as 24 hours given the strange puffy wind). We too had the laptop with the 'you are here' info and a couple of handhelds as back up, one in the grab bag. We plotted on the chart every 12 hours or so (bit depressing to do it any more frequently) and kept a log about every 2 hours. I don't have a sextant though I suppose the Transat is a good opportunity to see how accurate we could be against GPS. The ARC regs demand a secondary means of navigation. I'm assuming that GPS and paper (DR) meet this requirement?
 
I think you're right - paper and electronic, if not it's out with the sextant - they are doing a sextant class in Las Palmas.

How are you doing with no boat here?


Cheers

Ian
 
Re: No boat ...

Keeping busy (sadly!). Moved yougest daughter into her accomodation at uni over the weekend and spent the weekend doing DIY there of repairs which the dozy landlord should have got done (grr). Rest is (paid) work so that I can appear to be much missed when I take two monts off in a few weeks time! It's a strange feeling though not being able to pop down to the boat for a bit of R&R. I'm filling the time with prep lists. I think I've now got a list of lists! Maybe I should stop worrying. The boat is pretty much ready I think.
 
[ QUOTE ]
... they are doing a sextant class in Las Palmas...

[/ QUOTE ]
Please don't assume you will learn how to use a sextant in the 'class' in Las Palmas. It will only be a few tips and nothing at all on how to calculate the result.

Worth going to anyway and take your own sextant along for tips on checking its accuracy.
 
Re: Legal requirement ....

Nigel,

When I worked for a cowboy FOC tanker outfit in the 80's, your list below was the stuff we were to put into the gunny-sack with the 14lb sounding lead in the event of an "incident." That ship is at the bottom somewhere in the Straits of Madagascar, luckily I got off shortly before it's vertical voyage![ QUOTE ]

a) Chart in use at the time - to check position marks
b) Movement Book recording all orders / engine orders etc.
c) Log-Book - not official one but the watchkeepers log.
d) Skippers / Masters Night Order / Deck Orders Book
e) Who was on watch / what were their duties ... written and verbal
f) Watchkeepers notebooks or jottings ...
g) Scrap pads !!


[/ QUOTE ]
I saw the photos of it going down, very messy with a cargo of soya-oil!
 
FOC .....

Funny - spent cadet years and few as 3rd Mate etc. on Brit flag .... boy were some of those ships awful !! One boat was a Bitumen carrier ...... deck was so bad that we had wooden blocks to carry around to stand on ...

I left Brit flag and worked vi Silver Marine Liverpool .... a lot of my old pals still on Brit flag reckoned I made a mistake going FOC .... best decision I ever made ... Ships were generally better, less bull, better equipped ..... then later in search of even higher earnings ... I sailed on a few 'buckets' .... one in particular via Singa Ship Mgmnt .... 'orrible is an understatement ..

Yep there were and still are some awful ships around ... but luckily fast disapearing as Port Authorities ban them etc.
 
Re: FOC .....

This one was a shocker after P&O! Let the sea into the ER and pump-room as fast as it let the cargo out to the sea. Carried gasoline from Shanghai to SF without an inert-gas system, went round the Horn with carbon black, couldn't get it cleaned out, bribed the inspector, loaded edible molasses on top of it....on and on. Arrested for two weeks in San Francisco, chased by port authorities out of Durban. At the time I thought it was fun, especially for the money, but with hindsight....
Outfit was called Grundstad, ships all called "Gogo" something - Gogo Runner, Rider, Rover.
 
Brit flag ....

A LARGE Oil Company with its own vessels .... I was 3rd mate carrying Fuel Oil around UK coast ..... 19,000 ton midships accom. tanker built about 1955 ...... (thats enough for those clever enough to know which co. !!) She was taken off Bitumen trade for having total engine failure of West African coast .... then limped to Hamburg Dry-dock for repairs ....

Anyway .... we loaded up a mixed bag of IMFO, HMFO etc. in separate tanks .... with about 100 tons astray .... Found it ! It had filled the midships pump-room ...

Who needs FOC for bad ships ?>>?>
 
Not at all ... on my trip from Portsmouth to Croatia this summer we used paper charts and GPS only (1 main and 1 spare) and it worked a treat. GPS is great for fixing your position and then comparing it to where you think you are on the paper charts.

GPS really came into its own during a two + day beat in Biscay as you tend to lose track of all the tacks after the first 8 hours in huge seas and howling winds.

The log was done every 4 hours during the day and every 3 hours at night and sometimes less frequently during the really rough stuff (12 hours was the max time for no log entries).

We did however manage 3000 Nm in 30 days exactly and it was a trip to remember
 
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