Emails can be sent directly from on board
The Passat means well with the ARC sailors this year. Since the start of the fleet on the last weekend in November, the constant northeast wind has been pushing the boats across the pond
After the first dramatic days with a sunken yacht and a recovered crew member (see YACHT news archive), the fleet has apparently found its rhythm. The first ships are waiting for the weekend in St. Lucier.
On board the German yacht "LLuna", which reports live for the YACHT, the crew uses the routine for experiments with and without electronics:
"In the last few days our Etmal has been constant at 160 to 170 miles. Our ship reliably takes us across the Atlantic.
In view of the increasing shower clouds during the day and the resulting gusts, we take our spinnaker down at night. I don't want the good piece to be damaged by tax errors when the wind blows and tiredness at night. However, special weather disturbances are not to be expected in the next few days.
On our modernly equipped ship, we have a CPN Iridium satellite telephone and a notebook, which gives us the ability to constantly check our current weather. By the way, we use this equipment to communicate with home every day. Simple emails are the cheapest option. However, as soon as digital images are added, the transmission time increases and the costs increase at the same time. One minute of transmission costs 3.85 marks.
The text mails still only add up to pennies, especially if you collect several and send them off at the same time. We therefore limit the photo transmissions and have our on-board photographers Henrik and Sabine print the most beautiful pictures on glossy paper for the family album after we return.
In contrast to satellite telephones, a GPS navigator is now standard on all yachts. Without these devices, most ARC yachts would have great difficulty finding their destination. With us on board, too, a quick glance at the GPS is sufficient to determine the position.
But tomorrow I'll turn off the electricity, let's see how we manage then. I will probably not embarrass Kuddel, our professional navigator, but for some other crew members navigating with the sextant will be a journey into the recent past Navigation of navigation."