Jordan Series Drogue

Hi everyone,

We haven't spent all our time here at Monkey Mia watching the world go by.  We've also been working on the to-do list.

The biggest job has been assembling our Series Drogue.  These are assemblies of small nylon cones attached to rope in series.  The drogue is designed to be deployed over the stern of the boat to slow it down in very rough weather.  We purchased a set of 107 cones from Series Drogue Australia.  We saved $1000 on a fully assembled drogue but had to attach the cones to double-braid line for form the drogue.

Ready to start!

The finished product is about 45m long (without cone-less "leader")

Stowed ready to deploy

The only issue we encountered was the company not shipping the latch-hook recommended for attaching the cones.  They didn't even after we complained.  By experimentation we found that Nic's crochet hook worked very well.

To put credit where it is due, Nicki assembled 106 of the cones!

Other jobs done while here include:

• assembly of a new Y-pattern anchor snubber to suit our new bow roller and bow cleats
• re-attached side screens using shock-cord to help them survive the Indian Ocean
• lots of HF radio testing, including contacting several boats over 1000nm away
• Topped up water (140 litres) and diesel (20 litres)

The to-do list for Carnarvon is now reduced to fitting those items we've ordered recently and are now waiting there for us.  We'll top up water again of course and do an engine oil & filters service.  We expect to depart for Carnarvon in the early hours of tomorrow morning.  The plan is to catch the tide up the channel to the fascine tomorrow afternoon.

Preparation for Cat 2/3 Offshore Safety Inspection

Hi everyone,
The last few weeks have been busy, fitting boat work into gaps in real work.  The focus has been on preparing the boat for offshore racing in the upcoming season.  Exactly how many races we'll do remains to be seen, but we like to prepare the boat well.  After all, the main difference between racing rules and cruising guidelines at FSC is that the former say "shall" and the latter say "should".

Both autopilots now mounted in the quarterberth

Like our earlier preparation for Cat 6 inshore racing this exercise hasn't been trivial.  The work done included:

• Labelling countless items from boxes to cushions to floorboards
• Buying more flares
• Buying a new GPS-equipped EPIRB (since the battery on one of ours had expired)
• Arranging for service of our Great Circle liferaft
• Upgrading our manual bilge pumps
• Replacing our danbuoy and lifering with an automatic inflating unit
• Setting up new jackstays
• Having our sail number sewn onto our side dodger panels
• Further renewing and upgrading our first aid kit
• Rearranging the area behind our instrument panel to make room for an AIS transceiver
• Installing and configuring an AIS transceiver

The AIS transceiver is something we've done without until now.  We have had an AIS receiver for several years but a transceiver is recommended for offshore racing and far more effective than the radar reflector it notionally replaces.

The unit we chose is a Vesper Marine XB-8000.  This unit supports both NMEA0183 and NMEA2000 interfaces and has a WiFi access point.  We haven't used NMEA2000 on Zen Again previously but decided to try it out between the AIS, the VHF and one of our chart plotters.  We also feed our NMEA0183 instrument data into the AIS to make it accesssable via WiFi.

Vesper Marine XB-8000

The installation process was straight-forward.  Initially I tried connecting the NMEA2000 devices together without power applied to the NMEA2000 backbone.  This didn't work, so even if the devices on the bus don't need power from it the power is still necessary.  With that sorted out everything talked to each-other nicely.

We installed the AIS's GPS antenna behind the instrument panel, close under the side deck.  This is giving good signal strength and avoids yet another external antenna and long cable run.  The AIS's VHF antenna is dedicated to the AIS and is mounted on the pushpit.  The AIS receiver built into the VHF radio uses the masthead antenna so it will be interesting to compare their performance.

Connecting to the XB-8000 via either USB or WiFi is simple and effective.  We'll use USB for the laptop and WiFi for our iPads/iPhones.

XB-8000 AIS data overlaid in OpenCPN

OpenCPN showing data on one AIS target

On the iPad we run Vesper's WatchMate app which shows AIS information and allows configuration of the XB-8000.  We also use the iNavX chartplotter which supports AIS overlay.

WatchMate app on iPad (outer range ring is 8nm)

iNavX app on iPad with Navionics charts and XB-8000 AIS data overlay 

iNavX app on iPad showing instrument data from XB-8000 via WiFi

A consequence of installing the AIS was the relocation of our primary autopilot course computer from behind the instrument panel to the quarterberth.  That puts it above the backup course computer, so both are readily accessible.  Seemed to me that easy access to the autopilots is a good thing!

Preparation for Cat 6 Safety Inspection

Hi everyone,
This week we've been getting our act together in preparation for our Category 6 safety inspection.  Cat 6 is hardly onerous - the boat was equipped to Cat 3 when we were in NSW - but some work is required.  We haven't raced for several years so there were a set of items needing attention...

• Replaced gas system to meet WA regulations
• Replaced Dyneema rope lifelines with 4mm s/s wire
• Replaced out of date drugs in the First Aid kit
• Replaced out of date flares
• Replaced out of date fire extinguishers
• Inspected and serviced all life jackets, including 48 hour inflation test
• Replaced batteries in all personal torches
• Tested EPIRB
• Wrote boat name on various new loose equipment
• Checked heavy equipment tie-downs
• Fitted lanyards to buckets
• Searched unsuccessfully for our Distress V Sheet - will have to buy a new one

Not a trivial list!

Other work this week included making and fitting a new outboard motor bracket.  The old one was plywood and needed revarnishing every year.  That didn't happen so it was rotting.  The new one is made from a couple of plastic kitchen chopping boards...

New outboard motor bracket at left

The bracket also mounts the gas regulator and cut-off solenoid.

Finally, Precision Shipwrights in Phuket has added Zen Again to its web site Show Cases.  See it here.  Nice photos.  Precision certainly did a great job, and provided good support following our problem with the mast brackets.

Rescue 481

Hi everyone,
Zen Again has been running the rally HF radio skeds since Sunday because propagation from Darwin was poor. After each sked we send an email (via HF radio like this message) to the rally organisers so they can upload the latest positions to the web site. Although most of the racing yachts use SPOT messenger units to send their position, most of the cruising yachts are using HF. It's been fun running the skeds and it has shown our radio is performing well.

After this afternoon's sked I received an email from the rally organisers saying the yacht Colleen had lost its steering and needed spare parts. At the same time I heard Colleen on HF and got the same information directly from them. The organisers had contacted RCC Canberra and they tasked a CoastWatch Dornier aircraft to air drop the parts. Within two hours the aircraft (callsign Rescue 481) was on the scene. When I told Colleen via HF that an aircraft was en-route they could scarcely believe how quickly it had been organised.

Apparently Rescue 481 is very good at "bombing". They dropped the box of spares squarely on Colleen's deck. Timely, efficient and dead on target. The drop was made at last light. Fantastic to witness (listening on VHF ch 16) such great professionalism. When I spoke to Colleen on HF after the drop they were delighted.

Rescue 481 went on to the rally yacht Ala De Oro which was closest to Colleen. Ala De Oro was asked to stand-by Colleen which I believe they are doing now. Colleen is fitting the dropped parts to repair their steering.

During all this Cutting Edge and Zen Again kept in touch with the rally organisers via satellite phone and HF email respectively. We connected via the Winlink station located at the Sunda Straits and remotely controlled from Jakarta. Very good signal.

Interesting afternoon and evening.