Electronic Charts-WOW!

Claudia and I have had the opportuntiy of teaching "Cruise Planning" with the San Diego Sail and Power Squadron for the past few years. We really enjoy teaching this class. We average about twenty students in each class and teach for about twelve weeks during the winter. One thing we emphasize over and over to our prospective cruisers is "Practice, Practice, Practice"!

To that end we have recently purchased some electronic charts for our trip to Mexico. We used only paper charts for our cruise to Hawaii and Canada. So this is a new experience for us. We purchased and hand held Garmin GPS and linked it to our laptop computer. Also from Garmin we purchased Blue Charts which we loaded into our laptop computer we keep on board. By linking the two we see the nautical chart of where we are with the precise location of our vessel. WOW!!! We continue to be just amazed in this electronic world.

This is all good, but could we figure out how to work it all? We listened to our old adage-"Practice" and went out into the shallows of San Diego south bay. Here the water depths are commonly 1-3 feet at low tide. However, there is a narrow channel about 10 feet wide called Emory Channel that leads to Emory Cove at the extreme southwest end of San Diego Bay. The total distance of this channel is about 2 nautical miles.

We looked at the tide tables, worked out our positions, waypoints, courses, on paper charts and then on the electronic charts. We were ready! Off we went and had a wonderful time exploring the southern end of San Diego Bay. We stayed right in the middle of the channel, depth never more shallow than 7 feet. We made it there and back never touching the bottom.

Are we ready for Mexico? With a little more practice we maybe.

T&C

Only an oil change????

We should change our diesel engine oil in our boat every 100 hours, or one time a year. May is the month we change our oil and the time had arrived. We drained the old engine and transmission oil, changed the oil filter and added the new oil. It all looked rather clean as it had only been 31 hours of use for the year. As I started the engine to insure the new added oil was at the correct level I noticed the engine was shaking a little more than usual. I shut the engine down and checked the nuts on the motor mounts.

A couple of the nuts had worked themselves loose!!!!! It is hard to believe, but the evidence was there. I went to the nut and bolt store and discussed the problem with owner. He said they make nuts that will not loosen. I purchased four. I tightened the new nuts with their new lock washers and placed a double nut on each motor mount.

This should not happen again.

T&C

Summer Musings

When I was growing up our family vacationed during the summer on Balboa Island. We would walk around the island and watch the boats cruising the bay and returning from a day of racing in the ocean. How I longed to be out there with them.

Occasionally we would have a summer vacation where we rented a cabin around Lake Arrowhead, Lake Gregory and I longed for a boat ride cruise around the lake. Our family would walk along the piers and floats and beach and see sailboats and motor boats for rent. Paddleboards, kayaks, and foot propelled pontoon boats could be had for smaller fee. We always discussed renting a fancy boat, but dad being thrifty we more often than not we ended up with a paddleboard rental for an hour or two. Oh how I longed for a ride on the water on a "real boat".

Forty years have passed and things have changed. Last week was a wonderful and exciting. Monday and Friday, as a USCG licensed captain I was asked to help with a sailing regatta on San Diego Bay. I would leave home around 11 AM, drive 25 minutes to the bay to pick up a boat and sail on the bay with a group of six people. We would spend four hours sailing and then return to the dock. Each day I have a different boat, different people and changing weather. They pay me for this and I accept tips too. Monday four hours sailing on the bay, Wednesday eight hours of working in the office, Friday four sailing on the bay and getting paid for it all. WOW!

My longing for a real boat ride on the bay is being realized.

T.

Skype? or Hype?

Communication is very important while we travel. We might want to get in touch with our children, grandchildren, or friends. Emergencies can arise where we need to talk to someone immediately. We are looking into many modes of communication: ham radio, cell phone, satellite phone, phone card, email with Sailmail, email with a Pactor modum and Skype, among others. We wonder what will work best for us.

The important thing is see what will work while we are still in the US. Once we leave it will be very difficult to do the research and determine what will work best. To that end we have obtained our Ham license and listen to the ham frequencies daily. We listen to all the nets which deal with Mexico. We listen at 7:30 AM to the "Chubasco Net", at 7:45 AM "Keels and Wheels" and at 8 AM to the "Baja Net". We are doing mostly listening, however we are doing some transmitting. The Lord looks out after us in strange ways. The radio was not working well and He sent along a new friend Virgil Pattin, an expert ham radio operator into our lives. He helped me set up a new antenna and has worked with me on techniques of how to use it. THANK YOU Virgil. We could have not done it with out you.

Captain Mark uses Skype so today May 4, 2008 we downloaded it off the internet and are trying to determine if we can use it. We need to send it to all we might want to talk to within the next year and make sure they have Skype then hopefully we can talk with NO CHARGE. Sounds pretty good.

Let's see if it works.

T&C