Sydney to Hobart race

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Chris 249 said..

Okay, this I do not understand. Surely one can prepare an electronics system that, in extremis, allows you to just run wires from the batteries to the stuff you need. And surely one can have a separate battery, charged before the start, to run the radio and (in short handed boats) enough autopilot to get you there.

This is something that always bugs me with amateur mariners. They will spend a fortune on matching deck clothes but will not invest in a modern VHF.
I have one of these;
www.standardhorizon.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=83&encProdID=27C38D916BB23B1B8A53F18ED6C711B7&DivisionID=3

Water proof and with GPS/AIS hooked up to an AGM battery and an emergency aerial. I also carry jumper leads.

Quality AGM batteries are cheap. Portable lithium jump start batteries are cheap.

If your going to sail in the two handed division with a tillerpilot carry a couple of spares!

To lose a race because you can not communicate is just embarrassing.

Thanks, Ramona.
What is approx cost of yours:
www.standardhorizon.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=83&encProdID=27C38D916BB23B1B8A53F18ED6C711B7&DivisionID=3

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lydia said..
There no finding that the equipment was faulty or did not work by the IJ

That's true. I think 13 accidental activations of PLB's might be worth an enquiry. The whole thread on Sailing Anarchy of the race is really worth reading, not just because of the politics but there are some real pearls of wisdom for people that go down to the sea in ships.

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Ramona said..

MuttonBird said..
Thanks, Ramona.
What is approx cost of yours:
www.standardhorizon.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=83&encProdID=27C38D916BB23B1B8A53F18ED6C711B7&DivisionID=3

I paid about $800 for the radio. The backup aerial came with the boat. It may seem a bit steep but I use the radio GPS and AIS to drive the 20-inch plotter with OpenCPN and the radio also has its own inbuilt plotter.

It's a nice radio, but I think it still runs on the old NMEA 0183 which could be limiting for those who want to integrate into the other toys with NMEA 2000.

Shane Kearns comes across as a really nice bloke.

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tarquin1 said..
Beat me too it. I just watched that and thought I would post it.
How many times has he done it?

Not sure. I'm guessing 6 times! First Syd/Hob was 2014. Probably 6 name changes too! Not sure whether she did earlier Syd/Hobarts under her old name, Shenandoah 2. Interesting story about Shane finding her sinking slowly and buying her with a credit card!

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lydia said..

Ramona said..

tarquin1 said..
Beat me too it. I just watched that and thought I would post it.
How many times has he done it?

Not sure. I'm guessing 6 times! First Syd/Hob was 2014. Probably 6 name changes too! Not sure whether she did earlier Syd/Hobarts under her old name, Shenandoah 2. Interesting story about Shane finding her sinking slowly and buying her with a credit card!

He has to be close to 25.

Interesting comment by Shane Kearns about the performance of the SS34, and echoes the latest episode from Ran Sailing (). Shane says that the SS34 gets criticised for only doing 7 knots, but "... she was still doing 7 knots when it was blowing 30 ..." (or was it 40?). Ran sailing says the same thing per the title of the blog - Performance is nothing if you can't use it. If I understand it correctly, Ran2 covers more ground than Ran1, despite Ran1 being designed to a higher performance spec. The reason is that these "lower" performance boats track along at their max of 6 or 7 knots under a wider range of conditions with a small crew, than the higher performance boats. The higher performance boats can be faster than the lower performance boats, but you need double-digit crews to sail them to their potential. With a small crew, they might actually be slower (something that had not occurred to me, before).

The lesson for us lower mortals, who might dream of doing longer passages but find it difficult to fund a big crew, is to get a "softer" boat that will track along comfortably at 5, 6 or 7 knots, and not to get seduced by the performance numbers.

In any case, these observations make me feel less intimidated about my little Cav28.