The Big Trip

Well, the "Big Trip" is looking more official every day. Our plans to cruise to New Zealand, which have been over 10 years in the making, are finally taking shape for 2009-2010. I notified my boss shortly after the New Year and was VERY pleased with his positive response (big sigh of relief). Our Preliminary Itinerary is as follows, of course boats hate schedules, so it is certainly subject to change. The dates are really only used to keep track of time and to review weather patterns. We are keeping our actual schedule fairly flexible other than some dates that will need to be met in order for flights etc.

Depart Newport, RI mid May 2009 bound for San Salvadore Island, Bahamas, arrival planned May 23, 2009.
May 23 Arrive Cockburn Town, San Salvadore Island, Bahamas 24.03.1 N, 74.32.1 W
May 27 Sail San Salvadore Island, Bahamas to Cartagena, Columbia 743 nm
June 1 Arrive Cartagena, Columbia 10deg 25’N, 75deg 38’W Crew change in Cartagena, 3 week stay planned.
June 21 Cartagena to San Blas Islands 180 nm
June 22: Arrive San Blas Islands, Panama 9.34 N, 78.57W Cruise San Blas Islands for 6 weeks heading west to Colon and Panama Canal
Aug 9 San Blas Islands to Colon, Panama 75 nm
Aug 10 Arrive Colon, Panama 9.23.8N 79.51.8W Visions of Johanna to berth at Shelter Island marina for 1 month. This allows Mom & Bill to go home and work for August and me to Sail (end of August & beginning of September) in the Six Metre World Championships with Toby and Hank on Alana. Zak will also be joining us in September after staying home in Maine for a final summer with his friends before everybody heads off to school.
Sept 23 Transit Panama Canal -- We would like to try to stay a few days at BCI Island with my best friend from high school (and nursery school) Meg, but will have to see if this is possible.
Sept 25 Arrive Balboa, Panama
Sept 26: Balboa, Panama to Las Perlas Islands 35 nm
Sept 26: Arrive Las Perlas Islands Cruise Las Perlas for 5 days
Oct 1: Sail Las Perlas Islands to La Libertad, Ecuador 700 miles
Oct 6: Arrive La Libertad
Berth at Puerto Lucia Yacht Club for 7 week stay. Vessel will likely be manned full time through this interval. Alternatively, the Puerto Lucia Yacht Club is an exceedingly safe marina to leave boat with local caretaker.
Nov 30: Sail La Libertad to Galapagos Islands 540 nm
Dec 4: Arrive Academia Bay, Galapagos Island 00.45.05S 90.18.08W Cruise Galapagos Islands for 1 month

This is where we have a choice to make....do we take the normal route to the Marquesas or the southerly route to Easter Island and Pitcairn, and then do we double back north to visit the Marquesas as well.

Passage Details 2010 – Potential Southerly Route
Allow 3 days for clearance and maintenance upon arrival and 2 days clearance and provisioning outbound. Assume average speed 6 knots = 144 nm/day. One of two routes to Tahiti are contemplated. Routes coalesce May 18 in Papeete, Tahiti
Jan 4: Sail Academia Bay to Hanga, Roa, Easter Island (Rapa Nui) 1945 nm
Jan 18: Arrive Hanga, Roa, Easter Island 27.08.7S 109.26.2W Plan 10 days Rapa Nui
Feb 2: Sail Easter Island to Pitcairn Island 1200 nm
Feb 10: Arrive Bounty Bay, Pitcairn Island 25.04.0S 130.06.0W Plan 1 week at Pitcairn Island. This stop will be weather and seas dependent and it may be necessary to move directly to Gambier Islands
Feb 17: Pitcairn Island to Rikitea, Gambier Islands 290 nm
Feb 19: Arrive Rikitea (Mangareva Island), Gambier Islands 23deg 05’S 135deg 05’W Plan 6 weeks cruising Gambier Islands
April 1 Sail Gambier Islands to Papeete, Tahiti via Tuamotus archipelago 890 nm
May 18 Arrive Papeete, Tahiti windward group Society Islands 17.32.5S 149.45.35W Explore Tahiti/Moorea 2 weeks

Passage Details 2010 – Potential Westerly Route (Traditional "Milk Run")
Jan 4: Sail Academia Bay to Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands 3050 nm
Jan 25: Arrive Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands 9.24S140.03W Plan 2 months cruising in Marquesas Island group.
Mar 23: Sail Marquesas to Papeete, Tahiti via Tuomotu Archipeligo 755 nm
May 18 Arrive windward group Society Islands Papeete, Tahiti 17.32.5S 149.45.35W Explore Tahiti/Moorea 2 weeks

2010 Passage through Polynesia -- This is the same for either route.
June 5 Moorea to Fare, Huahine in Leeward group Society Islands 80 miles
June 6 Arrive Fare, Huahine Island leeward group Society Islands 16.42S 151.02W Explore Leeward group, Raiatea and Bora-Bora 3 weeks
June 30: Sail Vaitape, Bora Bora to Suvarov Atoll, Cook Islands Approx 685 nm
July 4 Arrive Suvarov Atoll, Cook Islands 13.20’S 162.40’W Explore Cook Islands National Park 5 days
July 11 Sail Suvarov Atoll to Pago Pago, Tutuila Island, American Samoa 550 nm
July 14 Arrive Pago Pago, Tutuila Island, American Samoa 14.17S 170.41W` Cruise American Samoa and Somoan Islands for 6 weeks Crew change
Aug 25 Sail Pago Pago to Savusavu, Vanua Levu, Fiji ` 620 NM
Aug 29 Arrive Savusavu, Vanua Levu, Fiji Cruise Fiji 1 month
Sept 29 Sail Vuda Point, Viti Levu Island, Fiji to Port-Vila, Efate Vanuatu 520 miles
Oct 2 Arrive Port-Vila, Efate Vanuatu 17deg 45’S 168deg 18’E Plan 4 weeks Vanuatu
Oct 30 Sail Lennekai, Tanna Island, Vanuatu to Opua, New Zealand 1095 nm
Nov 6 Arrive Opua, New Zealand

Our plans once we reach NZ are still really up in the air. We would like to spend some time there, maybe even ... work a bit. This probably won't start to be worked out until late 2009 at the earliest.

Winter World Cup Practice Week

Just got back from a wonderful week in the other Newport (Newport Beach CA) sailing with Hank and Toby aboard Saint Fransis V, Hanks wooden modern 6 Metre (pictured at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club). Toby was heading out to visit the in-laws for New Years and was kind enough to fly me out, and Hank was generous with housing and his boat and time for the week of practice sailing in prep for next September's World Championships in Newport, RI.

We flew out Tuesday morning and finished a long day with a few hours sailing tour of Newport Harbor. Wednesday saw light wind with Fog rolling in and out so again we stayed in the bay, but had a nice training session allowing Toby to get some upwind and tacking practice. Thursday Hank and I drove down to San Diego to sail on a classic 10 metre with a great family. The fleet was probably 150 strong with our class ranging from Stars & Stripes '92 at PHRF -111 to us and the Flying Tigers at +48. It was a beautiful sunny day with good breeze building through the afternoon. Friday we were back to afternoon practice in Newport and the breeze came up enough for us to head out into the ocean, but then shut started to shut off with us about 3 miles off the beach. It was a slow spinnaker run back, but we got in before it got too dark or cold.

Saturday was a more stead breeze and little warmer with mostly sunny skies and again we got offshore for some good practice, then Sunday was race 3 of the Sunkissed Series (first Sunday of each month in the winter) where we were joined by Greg Stewart (NA/ME from Nelson/Marek)who owns 6m Sprig and is coming east for the World Cup and another of Hank's local friends. We unfortunately chose the wrong side of the coarse, but it was a beautiful sunny day with about 12 kts of wind, so we didn't care. After dinner I caught the red-eye back home in time to take a quick nap, shower, shave and head to work. Exhausting finish, but an AWESOME day and a great week.

Nav Comparison

When sailing last weekend in Fort Myers Beach I was able to test the full spectrum of Nav programs available for the iPhone. The only program I don't have is Active Captain as they haven't ported it to the iPhone yet. I was able to compare iNavX with NOAA Raster Charts, iNavX version 2 with Navionics Vector Charts, Navimatics Marine Maps (Now Charts and Tides), and Fly to Maps Water Map Navigator. By far the best chart data available was the Navionics Vector Data.

As this product hasn't been released and Navionics is handleing the PR side of things I can't show you a full screen shot, but here is the chart portion of the screen shot. The raster chart above was usable, but due to the low scale of the Raster, the free chart was not great for navigating the narrow channel (not that it really mattered as we still bumped a sand bar heading out due to the unusually low tide even though we were dead smack in the middle of the channel). My understanding of the plans for iNavX are that when version 2 comes out (free upgrade) Navionics will have a method to purchase and download their Vector charts (in addition to the free NOAA Raster charts). No word yet on regional packaging or pricing, but if I lived up this inlet, I would spend the money for the Navionics Vector chart as it fills in nicely for the less than stellar Raster of the region.

I unfortunately forgot to load the correct region of the Navimatics charts, an inherent flaw in a system with separate programs for different regions. That said, you can load more than one region at a time and the icon shows the active chart region. Below is what the Navimatics chart of the region looks like.


Certainly workable, but not really as good as the NOAA raster let alone the Navionics Vector. It doesn't show all the Nav Aids that line the channel, just the larger Piles at the entrance. It does show the location of the channel with a different water color, but without the smaller posts shown, it would be harder to follow.








Fly To Map's product uses the free NOAA Vector charts (S57 format). Unfortunately, there are still ~30% of the raster charts that have not been converted yet. Also, they aren't the prettiest things in the world by any means. Clearly this is a region where the detailed charts haven't been converted to Vector format yet making the software completely un-usable in this situation. Sure it only costs $10, but if you lived or sailed in Fort Myers it wouldn't be worth 10 cents.

Overall, I am very excited about the partnership of Navionics and iNavX. The iNavX software is by far the most powerful, with the new features of waypoint and track import/export just adding to the functionality. They also keep developing with promises of eventual Grib weather overlays and several other features on top of the added support for Navionics Vector charts. The Vectors are sure to be somewhat costly, but hopefully they will be priced fairly and reasonably or at least in a way that you can pick and choose the charts you want to buy to fill in areas where the rasters aren't that great, or for international use.

Leukemia Cup Fantasy Sail Weekend

Scotty was kind enough to let me take the Rumours/Unplugged spot at this years Fantasy Sail Weekend in Fort Myers Beach Florida. Electronics problems delayed my Friday morning flight, so I missed out on my planned Friday afternoon by the pool and the opening cocktail party, but was checked in by 8:00 and walked into town for some wonderful oysters and garlic crab.

Saturday morning started in the dark as we had breakfast at 6:45 and dock call at 7:30 for the morning race session put on by Steve Colgates Offshore Sailing School in Colgate 26's. My boat only had 3 total (most had 4 and some had 5) which put us at a serious disadvantage in the steady 18 gusting to 22+ kts. Still, it was a blast and we were a very steady 5th in the fleet.

The afternoon was a sunny 72 degrees and I found a great spot by the pool to relax and read. I partook in a wonderful massage at four and took this shot just before leaving for dinner at six. Gary Jobson put on a wonderful show throughout dinner with a mix of old an new boat video and his excellent humor. Overall a very enjoyable and relaxing weekend. A real winter treat.

Fly to Map - Water Map Navigator First Look

Fly to Map was nice enough to let me test their new marine mapping program (Yeah Apple Promo Codes ... way easier than AdHoc distribution) for review. The program is cheap and simple (just $10) and displays NOAA ENC charts. I got the US Eastern region which covers the coast from Maine to Mexico although my understanding is that NOAA is not yet completed turning all the charts into ENC's yet so coverage detail may vary depending on region. The chart rendering is nice enough, although not nearly as pretty as the Navimatics Marine Maps, fairly similar to the Navionics charts on iNavX Version 2. Zooming and panning is quite jumpy, although smoother than Navimatics marine maps, not anywhere near as smooth as iNavX V2. Pushing the location button plots your position, and moves the chart to put you in view, but does not rezoom, so when you start the program and it shows the entire east coast, you must manually zoom in or search to your region to actually see any detail. The search function does work but is essentially the only function the program has. There is NO WAY this program should be used for navigation, or really even trip planning, but it does provide a fairly cheap way to view the ENC charts on your phone. For anyone serious about iPhone navigation, this isn't worth your $10, at least not yet. Better to save your money for iNavX or the upcoming iNavX Version 2 (with Navionics vector charts).

By the way, iNavX V2 is coming along nicely. The search that I love in the Navimatics marine Maps is finding its way into the software. If you want a sense as to what this will look like, you can download the free Navionics viewer and roam around south Florida or Italy. Picture those charts with iNavX's instruments, waypoints, etc and you have a pretty good idea of what is to come. I haven't gotten a clear sense of what will happen to the raster version of iNavX when the vector charts become available. I generally prefer raster charts, but the ability to search for a harbor by name when dealing with the small screen of the iPhone may be enough reason to favor vector charts.

--UPDATE-- from iNavX -- Apparently both the raster and vector charts will be able to exist side by side within iNavX Version 2 when it is eventually released. Thus far the alpha version I have been playing with doesn't have access to the raster charts (which makes sense at this point as he is working out the vector parts of the program) so no word yet on exactly how this will work, but if past performance is any prediction of future results, it will be a smooth integration from the folks at iNavX.

Reading through the iNavX forums I found this bit of useful info:

"All current owners of iNavX will receive version 2.0 at no additional cost. iNavX version 2.0 will add these features to iNavX..

- Download purchased Navionics charts & maps in addition to the free NOAA US waters
- Navaid inspector
- Waypoint upload/download (GPX and KML file support)
- Pinch zooming (Easy to use zoom slider will still be available)
- Available on ALL iTunes iPhone app stores

Prices have not been finalized on the top quality Navionics cartography, but I understand they will be very reasonably priced. Even with the additional features, iNavX will remain priced under US$50. "

Eight Bells

Photo Credit -- Morris Yachts

We are sad to learn today that Tom Morris, founder of Morris Yachts, and builder of "Visions of Johanna" lost his fight with Cancer last Sunday. Bill and I last saw Tom at the Pre Marion-Burmuda race dinner in 2007. We both commented that night that Tom didn't seem to be himself that night and our fears where confirmed the next morning when he and his doublehanded partner pulled out of the race. I believe he was diagnosed soon thereafter.

He will be in my mind this coming weekend when I travel down to Florida for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Fantasy Sail Weekend -- reward for the impressive fundraising I headed for the Leukemia Cup Regatta earlier this year where we raised over $56,000 in less than two weeks.

New Wifi and Computer System Update

I finally got all my tools and parts back from Shane in Florida and got a decent day on Saturday to finish the wifi install. The new WiFi antenna is the white one on the right (furthest outboard). I ended up needing an antenna extender since there was just no way to get the LMR-400-UF SMA connector down inside the hoop. Luckily West had all I needed in stock so I was able to finish before snow flew last night....thank god. I sure wouldn't have wanted to be climbing on my rather precarious ladder arrangement in the snow. It is quite difficult finding a location in a cockpit to place a 8' stepladder. In the spring I will need to re-rig my ladder in order to install a GPS antenna opposite the WiFi antenna on another Edson Rail Mount for the AIS unit we plan to install.

The Port Networks MWB-250 system by Alan Spicer Marine Telcom is working superbly. Looking at the site survey on the left (click for bigger), you can see signals about 1.5 miles away (Sail Newport) in a rather "Noisy" environment of downtown Newport.


Further long distance testing will have to take place in the future when there aren't sooooo many signals, but my initial reaction is that the system works quite well and is very easy to use. In the few minutes I played last night, I was able to connect to several access points around town, most of which aren't visible on my laptop even when in the pilothouse or out on deck.

The MWB-250 unit which is located in the pilothouse with a Power over Ethernet (POE) equiped Cat-5e cable connecting it to a POE injector and then to the Linksys WRT54GL router running an open source firmware DD-WRT. A LED equiped switch is located in the back of the desk flip-top to allow turning off the WiFi reciever to save power offshore as it runs on the same circuit as the Cell Phone Booster and Globalstar SatCom.

I love this router and firmware for its low cost, high power, and extreme flexibility. There is a great community providing support and sample scripts to allow many customizations such as multiple WAN ports and data shaping. I can certainly recommend Alan Spicer and Port Networks to any interested in a high powered WiFi system with a remote radio. If you are very savvy, you could probably buy direct from Port Networks and put together the antenna, cable, connectors, etc yourself, but if you want some direction, Alan's services and in particular his service contracts (which he is supplying to my client Shane) can be indispensable. With the service contract, he was incredibly price competitive on the parts.

I am also in the process of upgrading our computer system with a new Nav computer, moving the Nav computer over to Communications work and moving the 8 year old Com computer off the boat for Home Theater use. I will update on this and our entire onboard computer system in the near future.