LinoCat

Today we tightened the bow-net, went to IKEA for some shopping and to Corte Ingles to pick up the meat and the last stuff. Also there was a radio check but we missed that but i am certain our equipment is up an running. The 12V socket which i added at the outer helm station is working and also the Icom M71 charger which i added. The two 22L Jerrycans (additional Diesel) were filled and i topped off the Diesel main tanks with another 22Liter. In total we carry around 300Liter of Diesel. Another yacht was just at the fueldock and filled in 850Liter. WOW. So we do not have the option to motor to much or run the engine to charge the batteries. Tomorrow i will clean the solar panels so that they give maximum charge current. We also stored the Scubatank which got a new hydro test and was filled. There is some growth on out hull due to being in the marina for 3 weeks but this might be removed tomorrow. There has been an oil spill outside the harbour and this was then washed into our basin. So...

Some snaps from the helicopter rescue demonstration and the flare demonstration

The parcel received with the new lids. Thanks to Andi, Tanja and Kirsten for sending it! I installed one and it stopped to smell ugly in the boat. GREAT. Also thanks for Lagoon and Siggi Straub for sending them for free! The new ones are softer but still more stable. So they are less likely to crack like the one one to the lift on the above picture.

After safetycheck today there was a rig check done by "Jerry the Rigger". He checked really everything and was happy with our boat. He said that it was one of the view without any issue. Nice to hear. He just gave us the hint to tape of all the safetyrings that hold the cables to the stanchions. This i have done today. Thomas from Istec checked the Parasailor and i did the position report check for the boat. Tomorrow there will be one last hose replaced at the engine and then the engine check.

This morning it was raining heavily. The water looks like what we usually pump over board from the toilet. The reason is that in our basin an overflow channel from the local sewage system is coming out. YUCK! Then the truck from Corte Ingles arrived and we started provisioning the boat. Now it is 16.30 and still not everything is stowed away. Our boat is heavy like hell and so i guess we will only do a little over 2 knots :-) Then i was in a seminar about the radio communications and net control and i volunteered as a net controller. Jerry the Rigger checked our rig and i was happy that all was OK since i have done that before myself.

Hi, yesterday i changed the reef line of reef 1. A reef is when you make the sailarea smaller because there is to much wind. So it is an important safety feature. The old line was chafed through as you can see on the picture. Good, that we found that out before the crossing. This morning went to El Corte Ingles for the first part of the shopping and spent 2.5h in getting food for the Atlantic crossing. We spent 522,67 Euro for that and the shopping list was more than 1m long. And this is without fruit or meat, which will come shortly before the crossing. Lets see if we can compile a food list later :-) I have just glued the hole in the Parasailor and got some good tips from Thomas Wibberenz from Istec even though we used that sails already for 4 or 5 years. Now the engines are next in the loop. Lets see....

Hi, yesterday and today we continued with the preparations: Loadtesting all 4 housebank batteries That means we took 800A current out in 10 seconds and then measured the voltage drop. They all came out as "good". The drop is substantial, like from 13,5V going down to 11,4 during the measurement and after that back to 12V. Put new fittings and connectors to the water hose Charged all batteries Produced new safety equipment list Installed some equipment like whistles, drogues at the DAN bouy and also a light Restack the Espresso supplies :-) Put LinoCat on the starbord side Reflective 3M tape on all safety equipment Bought 2 22Liter Diesel canisters (calles Jerry cans) checked water in starbord engine room tried to discuss with a spanish technician (unsuccesfully)

Hi, our windvane has stopped displaying wind data, so another topic on the 2 do list. We met with Norbert and Erika yesterday in Purto de la Cruz. They live in Venezuela and invited us for a lunch. Extremely friendly people and we had a great afternoon. After that we drove to Santa Cruz to give back the keys we had from the marina and to get our first flags for the Caribean. so we are now having courtesyflags for St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the the Grenadines. Of course Lani played with them immediatly. In the evening we were having a wine with Liz and John from Jalan-Jalan and we tried the rum which we got from Norbert and Erika. It tasted very good. Today we will get the Linocat letters so we will have our name at the bows also and we will do some more washing and so we have to dig for 2 Euro coins again. Also we sent emails to a few marinas in Gran Canaria to reserve a space and we are waiting for good wind to sail over. Jalan Jalan and Forty-Two have left this morning but we will...

We have to think about Wind, temperature, waves and currents. So we need different information sources. The easiest is the internet where you can find maps like this to the left. There are current maps and predicted ones for up to 72hours and some even up to 90 hours. We also download GRIB data, which is then used to calculate wind strength and direction in 3 hour steps. The Software for this is free at www.grib.usw so you can play around with it. Seastate and winds should be OK and so we might leave if the work on the trampoline is finished today.

Hi there, once in a while a cruise ship is passing by. Its funny, they are clicking pictures of us and we are clicking pictures of them. Always when the Pilotboat from our marina leaves it is obvious that something big is either coming in or going out. They also blow the loud horn when they leave and so nobdy is missing the spectacle. The support for the solarpanels are now also fixed and so only the electrical works needs to be done. The Dinghy halyards, the ropes to pull up the rubberboat (called Dinghy) are also fixed and some gelcoat work have been done. Gelcoat is the white shiny surface which covers the glassfibre material on the boat. Well, it used to be white and shiny a few years ago :-) Also some parts have been cleaned and waxed and the choke knob on the outboard engine of the rubberboat has been fitted again. It came of and so i had the pleasure to have first look inside the 2-stroke engine from Yamaha. Reminds me of my old motorcycle times when i was 16 :-) Inshallah tom...

Here are some pictures from inside LinoCat. I decided to leave most of the stuff in boxes because next week there will be a BIIIG cleanup session and then the stuff will be unpacked and stored. Nevertheless i am scared about the amount of gear and especially the weight. Catamarans are very sensible to weight and so maybe i have to get rid of 10kg at least to compensate for that :-) The shower is cramped with boxes and so is the salon bench. The carpenter has done a great job and so LinoCat has a new cupboard in the owners cabin and a new table outside.

There was the need to bring some heavy stuff to the boat which can not be carried on the plane. So i had to drive the 2600km (one way) to Portugal. Good that my dad agreed to help me and good that Chritoph offered me to use my old van which he has purchased from me 2 years ago. So we loaded the bus with the portable generator, food, diving gear, clothes, maps, laptops and other equipment. On Sunday night at 23.30 we started via Paris and then to the atlantic coast at Bordeaux. After crossing France we entered Spain near Hendaye and then we crossed Spain and reached Portugal. Our course was heading into direction of Lisboa and then south. Diesel (gasoline) in Portugal was only 93 Cent, fairly cheap. We arrived at the hotel Tivoli Marina in Portimao at 2 in the morning and slept until 8. After a nice breakfast on the terrace with a view on the marina we drove to the boatyard. Some was work was already done, like the new layer of marine coating but most of the work was delayed. Amazing af...

One part of the preparations was a cooking course. YES, a course on how to prepare fish. The course was held by a renown cooking school in Mannheim and held by Timo Beckert. The course was about "Steinbutt", Seawolf, Lobster and Jacobsmussel. Also Salmon and Tuna was covered. We started with a Carpaccio from raw Seawolf and Tuna followed by a pasta dish called Ravioli filled with Lobster. The next course was the "Steinbutt" made in the oven. The course started at 18.30 in the evening and went on until midnight. Interestingly one participant will move to Mumbai in India for a few years from the 1st of October onwards. A small world isn´t it? Lobsters are killed by putting them in boiling water alive. Cruel but it is the only legal way to kill them in Germany. If you want to have a lobster carpaccio then this does not work out since the meat needs to be raw. You then have to kill him with a method where you find the weak spot at the shell behind the ne...

From the old to-do list in this blog http://linocat.blogspot.com/2009/02/equipment-planning.html many things are done: Honda 20i Generator 2000W approx. 1800EUR (DONE) Bauer junior dive compressor with Honda 4 stroke engine (i have it already at home) DECIDED NOT TO BRING IT Watermaker Spectra 200 AROUND 6000eur DONE LED navigation light with anchorlight (Lopolight) on the masthead (580EUR) DONE LED strobe light (82 EUR) NOT YET stronger alternators (from 60 to 80A) with smart charger (Sterling) WILL BE DISCUSSED Halyards and other running rig parts (480EUR) DONE Add 2 more 210Wp solar panels to the existing Sanyo 210Wp (1000EUR) IN PROCESS Change the stainless steel frame for that (400EUR) IN PROCESS repair bow net and some gelcoat work (400EUR) (DONE, needs to be checked) For the HONDA Generator i also purchased a carrying bag and a 12V charger cable. On Sunday night i will drive to Portimao by car. It should be around 2600km and will go via Paris to the atlantic then south to Bilbao...