I’m confirming 100% with the WSSRC but it looks like we have agreed on a course that’s much more practical than what I had originally proposed. This new course gives us much more freedom to follow the best sailing route across the South Atlantic. I am now almost 100% committed, having had two interviews. I may show up in Latitude 38’s sightings section, and there may be a podcast at : outthegate.podbean.com/ My take is that until I’m a 1,000 miles offshore, I haven’t really left. Here’s to hoping that wind conditions will improve: it’s been very light out there.
Satellite comms
I have activated my Iridium GO! using PredictWind’s unlimited data plan. It looks like it’s all working good, including GEOS, which I’m hoping to test tomorrow morning. In fact this blog post was sent using the GO!. There is a problem with the primary tracker (YB3I), which was also supposed to act as the backup plan in the event that the satellite SIM card would fail or get compromised. The YB3I supports messaging, but only through an app and a Bluetooth connection. Well, Bluetooth doesn’t seem to be working anymore. We tried a hard reset, multiple devices, clearing cache, resetting Bluetooth, etc. Nothing gives. So I’m going to activate another (secondary) tracker, which also supports messaging. Hopefully that’ll do it.
What’s left?
Testing the W&S converters, testing the new spinnaker, loading clothing, loading water, and I think that’s it.
