Research research research. Write write write. As the post on ditch kits a week ago ably demonstrated, our focus is narrowing down on preparing for the Puddle Jump. I can not stress strongly enough to my non-cruising friends and family how very much DrC and I are aware that we are "taking it to the next level." It's a big ocean. Some bits of the trip are ugly. We get it.
We really really get it. So much so that we've doing some pretty heavy research on topics we've largely been able to fudge in the past when we were traveling along the coast line. Granted, certain planning myopia was just stupid (e.g. pathetic ditch kits), but a lot of it was simply unnecessary. For example, why worry about climbing the mast to keep a reef and coral head watch when there are neither reefs nor coral heads?
The results of our research are interesting to another set of the readership of this blog, our fellow cruisers. Many of them are providing the raw data that inform my posts while others are preparing for their own cruises. A very special few are getting ready to Puddle Jump with us next year and will no doubt be reassured that Don Quixote is planning on taking care of herself. Mostly.
So anticipate the periodic posting of incredibly dull articles. The next one in the queue, for example, is on the exciting topic of registering beacons for international search and rescue services. Try not to fall asleep... or better just delete it in bound. I'll tag all these as "Coconut Milk Run" and "techtip" if you want to do some agressive filtering.
Cruisers, all of these technical articles BEG for your input. I may Write Confident (which is somehow analogous to the infamous "Fly Casual"), but DrC and I are fully aware we are missing bits. We received some very useful input on the ditch kit post. Keep the outstanding information coming! We need it, we appreciate it.
4 comments:
Hi Toast, you mention you had received some useful info. re your ditch kit after you wrote the post on it. Could you sometime post what your amended ditch kit would be (assuming there is one)?
thanks
liz
Liz, the one most commonly mentioned was a book, of all things. http://www.amazon.com/Adrift-Seventy-six-Days-Lost-Sea/dp/0618257322 is a book about someone who was adrift for months. Apparently it is not just an accident/adventure story but also includes many useful diagrams and instructions on how to survive at sea.
Don't think for even a moment that we're bored! Your posts are the best. We crave detailed information to help us prepare for our own cruising and your blog is one of the best at giving it to us. Keep it coming!
Deb
S/V Nomad
www.theretirementproject.blogspot.com
Thanks for the book recommendation -i'll check it out.
We have a cat too (we've "met" on various lists :-) ). We've spent the last couple of years in a boat yarn and the other day a boat in the marina next door caught fire (candles). We just happened to be on the spot when it happened. It literally took about 10 minutes to go from a teensy bit of smoke to bare hull. I never realized fibreglass would burn like that, but it was an inferno. The foreman at the yard here said that fibreglass creates it's own oxygen as it burns, thus feeding itself. I've always understood that the last thing you want on a boat is a fire, but now I *really* understand why.
liz
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