Testing the Aquair

Photos show the Aquair being trailed behind. The prop streams aft on 100 meters of line and as Ampair advised I installed a switch in the wiring so once spinning you can cut in the charge to the battery. You can see the cut-down funnel that works so well when pulling back in the prop.

Sundays' shakedown sail

The sail on Sunday was fab. Mostly grey but a force 3-4 gusting 5 from the SW gave a chance to test Cookie to windward with Harry steering again and m getting them balanced. Harry did what he does so well and the new sails gave a good shape and set - so no worries there. As we sailed across Torbay the wind picked up a little so checked the main with 1 x reef in and good shape too. I tested the Aquair charger and it worked a treat.Easy to stream the prop and rope and my custom lashed-up funnel works great to snuff the prop for me to haul it all back in after. The battery was up to 14.4V after only 1/2hour of charging, sailing at 5.5kts. No large effect from the slight drag and Harry held his course well. All smiles. The AIS radar display certainly worked fine with the alarm going off every few minutes as we sailed through the big ships anchored in Torbay!! The new Musto drysuit is gorgeous. Very warm and very light to wear - not restrictive at all. The biggest test of the day was to see if I could pee with the suit on..............and if I bend over like quasi modo all works great!!!! Brilliant!! The only failure was my 15yr old rubber sailing boots that perished and disintegrated all over the boat. Time for a new pair. I didn't expect any bad surprises but was a great day out and good to see all the new stuff aboard working well.

Testing, testing.............

Rowed out to Cookie yesterday evening to stow my clothes that are sealed up in big ziplock bags. Thought it a good time to push the button on the Spot Tracker and see how it loads into this blog. So click the link below and it will give Cookies position on a map. I will give position updates once a day across the Atlantic so folks can track the progress if interested. Cheers, Rory & Cookie.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=50.64917,-3.43696&ll=50.64917,-3.43696&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

All jobs completed!!

It's been a great week of progress with lots of good dry weather again. Each morning I've been trudging through the mud and shallows to Cookie on her mooring and get a few hours work on the last jobs. A VHF antenna is installed at the masthead now to receive signals for the AIS (Automatic Identification System) to alert me of nearby ships. I got the GPS talking to the AIS and all seems to work OK. The roll-down dodger flaps are sewn into place with bungy loops to keep secured - essential for keeping dry below and giving enough headroom to sit upright!!
Aquair charger is now all wired up to the battery and we will be testing it out on Sunday. Also managed to buy a satphone on ebay which will be a whole lot cheaper than renting. Otherwise lots of time spend on the mundane tasks of sealing all wiring connections with sealant, wiring shackles secure, whipping ropes secure and stowing spare parts. Can't wait until the test sail on Sunday to blow the cobwebs out and feel Cookie come alive again. We haven't sailed together since last October in Belize!

The Small Jobs

Hi folks. Its been a good week of tidying up the loose ends and getting some of the small jobs out of the way. Been running around buying the last of the 1st aid supplies. Got a waterproof box to stow the flares in. Fitted the canvas storage pockets inside the cabins. Secured the barometer, thermometer, sextant etc. Mounted the extinguisher and fire blanket in the galley. Today I spent an hour up the mast fitting a VHF antenna to hook up to the new AIS ship alert system. WOW!! Cookie is really gadgeted up now!! The last thing to get is a satphone for the trip and I am trying to decide whether to rent or to buy a used one off ebay?? Nearly all the boat gear is aboard now. The plan is to do the last boat jobs next week and then as the tides are good, it will be a test sail next weekend to make sure everything is working as it should :-) Anyone fancy a sail??

Big help from Mum!

Special thanks to my Mum, Liz Robins, not only for lots of support but for sewing up custom fitted canvas storage organisers for Cookie. This will be a big help to keep all the important gear in its rightful place. I had only one organizer before and now I have six. There's no excuse for a messy boat now!!!!!

NOW RAISING FUNDS!!

I have now set up an easy to donate JustGiving webpage to raise funds for the Sir Francis Chichester Trust. So I am asking everyone to please show their support and to make a donation of any size so that I can try to reach the goal of 5,000 pounds. The Trust allows disadvantaged youths from Devon to attend Outward bound courses to discover themselves through adventure and personal development. This is perfectly in line with my aims to motivate young folks to "reach for their dreams".
PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY, Thanks - Rory & Cookie.

Setting up the Aquair on Cookie

After the test day it was time to see if the stainless frame I made on Cookie for the Aquair water charger was going to work. The charger is to be mounted on the port hull as that's the side with the battery and all the electrics set up. All went well and will have to find time in the next 2 weeks for a test sail. Thanks again to Ampair for their support.

Aquair Test

On Thursday, Frank the engineer from Ampair came down to Exmouth and we went out to help test their prototype new experimental Aquair unit with the fantastic assistance of Richard Crisp and his motorboat Curlew. Of course we had to pick the only rainy days for the past month, but that didn't stop us and we were very lucky to have a flat calm to make it a lot easier to get the test towing done. Frank is a great guy and knows everything there is to know on the Ampair wind and water chargers, having been with the company for 30 years!!
Top pic shows Frank and I about to depart on Curlew for the testing and lower pic is Richard at the helm.

Support from Ampair

Many thanks to David at Ampair for their generous loan of an Aquair 100 towed water charging unit. With this I will now be able to generate electricity during the Jester Challenge for the few lights and couple of gadgets that are now aboard Cookie.