"We felt a bit like interlopers calling in from our "vacation cruise" to
folks who are really out cruising."
People in Mexico are just as thrilled to be able to talk to someone in
California. Something about how far their signals can go and keeping in
touch with the rest of the world...

"I have no illusions that I'll ever need to use celestial for real, but I
think it's good for my brain and it gives me a nice feeling of being
part of the universe that I don't get from the GPS."
We just came back from Hawaii doublehanding a Swede 55. The thing leaked SO
much that we called it a Sieve 55. About 500 miles out the engine instrument
panel shorted out, so the engine was hors d'guerre. About 400 miles out the
electric control panel shorted out, disabling everything electrical on the
boat. We were able to rewire the autopilot and keep it working and tore down
the headliner in the cabin and direct wired the LED running lights on the
mast to a small glass mat battery. Not enough wire on board to do anything
else. %#$@*! racers, no spares. Nothing else worked, including the fancy
integrated radar/GPS system. Ergo, no position fix. No sextant or almanacs.
We immediately joined a more ancient "Age of Sail". The owner did put
onboard a little Gekko handheld GPS, about the size of a flash drive, which
ran on a AAA battery, and we used that to find the Farallones and from there
our way into the Golden Gate. But I would have much preferred to have had
the sextant. And it does make one feel more connected to the universe...
Michael & Elizabeth
S/V Cambria
Sonora, Mexico

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Received on Fri Sep 29 11:06:00 2006