Bill Hatfield has embarked on his 3rd attempt to complete a solo non stop unassited westabout circumnavigation. in the 40 foot class.
his tracker is here.
gis.ee/leaucommotion/
His last attempt included an epic 35 day attempt round cape horn from the 12th of Jan to the 16 of Feb. he was just pounded by low pressure systems relentlessly and his track was agonising to watch. If you go to his blog for that period its a pretty good read.
www.sailblogs.com/member/leaucommotion/392264
He is one tough salty old sea dog.

What is the minimum (reliable) gear required to automate the upload of position info. Do people just keep a mobile+irid-go on charge and use a background gps uploader or is there a better way?

I used yellow brick which was ok but costs something like 4 cents per ping
I changed to irridium go because it's free and just left on the charger.
not sure how the windy tracker bill uses works.

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andy59 said..
I used yellow brick which was ok but costs something like 4 cents per ping
I changed to irridium go because it's free and just left on the charger.
not sure how the windy tracker bill uses works.

Part of his plan he pays $125 a month everything included calls data
(on his blog)

From the blog, 79 years old, in a Northshore 38! Wow

Andy's description of a "tough old salty sea dog" starts to sound like understatement.

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Zzzzzz said..
Part of his plan he pays $125 a month everything included calls data
(on his blog)

Ahh, not cheap. I had a quick look at Garmin's Inreach and it looks half reasonable, but there'd have to be a way to send a unique SMS/email and the weather data would need to be grib1 or something equally universal. Otherwise an Irid-go with a mobile seems more flexible.

Good luck Bill, hopefully luck has only a minor part.

Andy ........... thanks for posting . i just read Bills blog , what a legend !!!! . Just amazing . I was wondering , did you you write any diary notes/ for public consumption on or after your trip ? I,m sure it would be a great read for us weekend sailing hacks !!

Hi Sand S I was a bit slack in that department so I didn't write much at all
in hindsight I should have but I struggled with power the whole time so basically I just never turned the laptop on because it chewed so much power.

Does anyone know what is the best timing for this trip ? I think Andy was traveling much later in the year for his trip.

It would seem that Bill is going to be passing the capes during winter/early spring. Is this the ideal timing ?

A

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Andrew68 said..
Does anyone know what is the best timing for this trip ? I think Andy was traveling much later in the year for his trip.

It would seem that Bill is going to be passing the capes during winter/early spring. Is this the ideal timing ?

A

I have done a fair bit of research on this. It would seem summer is the best time of year to be in the southern ocean. I don't know why he is attempting in winter.

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andy59 said..
Hi Sand S I was a bit slack in that department so I didn't write much at all
in hindsight I should have but I struggled with power the whole time so basically I just never turned the laptop on because it chewed so much power.

HI Andy,
Out of interest, if the laptop power was infinite, was it an easy and natural thing to do?
The image of someone sitting at a nav table writing a blog of events looks different to different people.

My darling wife would image an elderly chap, beard and hair neatly trimmed with a pipe contentedly clamped in their mouth wearing a knit woollen jumper that's clean sitting absolutely bone dry in a snug dark wood panelled cabin with a old fashioned lantern swinging from a hook to read by. And he's writing with a fountain pen in a nice leather journal. Writing is impeccable of course and there's hundreds of neatly written pages.

I image what looks like a drowned rat shedding sodden clothes as he enters the cabin, salt encrusted glasses fogged hopelessly from the poor sod wearing them sweating like a pig from wrestling a loose reef back into place. He falls rather than sits into the nav seat, brusing some ribs on the chart table for good measure. Opening the chart table, a sudden wave slams the table down on his left hand evicting a stream of curses and hand waving, which results in the pencil being flung into the bilges. Scrabbling finds a pencil that's more wood than lead and he opens the damp journal. Taking a deep breath and counting to 10, he tries to relax and clear his mind. Another angry swell lurches the boat and his coffee he's just carefully taken the lid off spills, burning his hand and soaking into the journal.
Cursing at the Gods, he jumps up in pain and cannons off the over length screws from the cabintop winch he's been meaning to cut off for a while now, opening a nasty gash across the top of his head. After a few minutes the stabbing pain subsides and rubbing his head gingerly with his burnt hand, not the one with the bruised fingers, he opens his eyes to find the journal has taken a dive into the bilges. The paper has already started to come apart and scraps are being sucked down into the bilge pump drain he'd just turned on, clogging it hopelessly..........

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shaggybaxter said..

andy59 said..
Hi Sand S I was a bit slack in that department so I didn't write much at all
in hindsight I should have but I struggled with power the whole time so basically I just never turned the laptop on because it chewed so much power.

HI Andy,
Out of interest, if the laptop power was infinite, was it an easy and natural thing to do?
The image of someone sitting at a nav table writing a blog of events looks different to different people.

My darling wife would image an elderly chap, beard and hair neatly trimmed with a pipe contentedly clamped in their mouth wearing a knit woollen jumper that's clean sitting absolutely bone dry in a snug dark wood panelled cabin with a old fashioned lantern swinging from a hook to read by. And he's writing with a fountain pen in a nice leather journal. Writing is impeccable of course and there's hundreds of neatly written pages.

I image what looks like a drowned rat shedding sodden clothes as he enters the cabin, salt encrusted glasses fogged hopelessly from the poor sod wearing them sweating like a pig from wrestling a loose reef back into place. He falls rather than sits into the nav seat, brusing some ribs on the chart table for good measure. Opening the chart table, a sudden wave slams the table down on his left hand evicting a stream of curses and hand waving, which results in the pencil being flung into the bilges. Scrabbling finds a pencil that's more wood than lead and he opens the damp journal. Taking a deep breath and counting to 10, he tries to relax and clear his mind. Another angry swell lurches the boat and his coffee he's just carefully taken the lid off spills, burning his hand and soaking into the journal.
Cursing at the Gods, he jumps up in pain and cannons off the over length screws from the cabintop winch he's been meaning to cut off for a while now, opening a nasty gash across the top of his head. After a few minutes the stabbing pain subsides and rubbing his head gingerly with his burnt hand, not the one with the bruised fingers, he opens his eyes to find the journal has taken a dive into the bilges. The paper has already started to come apart and scraps are being sucked down into the bilge pump drain he'd just turned on, clogging it hopelessly..........

You should start writing romance novels shaggy.

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Shanty said..

shaggybaxter said..

andy59 said..
Hi Sand S I was a bit slack in that department so I didn't write much at all
in hindsight I should have but I struggled with power the whole time so basically I just never turned the laptop on because it chewed so much power.

HI Andy,
Out of interest, if the laptop power was infinite, was it an easy and natural thing to do?
The image of someone sitting at a nav table writing a blog of events looks different to different people.

My darling wife would image an elderly chap, beard and hair neatly trimmed with a pipe contentedly clamped in their mouth wearing a knit woollen jumper that's clean sitting absolutely bone dry in a snug dark wood panelled cabin with a old fashioned lantern swinging from a hook to read by. And he's writing with a fountain pen in a nice leather journal. Writing is impeccable of course and there's hundreds of neatly written pages.

I image what looks like a drowned rat shedding sodden clothes as he enters the cabin, salt encrusted glasses fogged hopelessly from the poor sod wearing them sweating like a pig from wrestling a loose reef back into place. He falls rather than sits into the nav seat, brusing some ribs on the chart table for good measure. Opening the chart table, a sudden wave slams the table down on his left hand evicting a stream of curses and hand waving, which results in the pencil being flung into the bilges. Scrabbling finds a pencil that's more wood than lead and he opens the damp journal. Taking a deep breath and counting to 10, he tries to relax and clear his mind. Another angry swell lurches the boat and his coffee he's just carefully taken the lid off spills, burning his hand and soaking into the journal.
Cursing at the Gods, he jumps up in pain and cannons off the over length screws from the cabintop winch he's been meaning to cut off for a while now, opening a nasty gash across the top of his head. After a few minutes the stabbing pain subsides and rubbing his head gingerly with his burnt hand, not the one with the bruised fingers, he opens his eyes to find the journal has taken a dive into the bilges. The paper has already started to come apart and scraps are being sucked down into the bilge pump drain he'd just turned on, clogging it hopelessly..........

You should start writing romance novels shaggy.

Dear God.
All my heroines would be in dry suits looking like blimps.

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shaggybaxter said..

Shanty said..

shaggybaxter said..

andy59 said..
Hi Sand S I was a bit slack in that department so I didn't write much at all
in hindsight I should have but I struggled with power the whole time so basically I just never turned the laptop on because it chewed so much power.

HI Andy,
Out of interest, if the laptop power was infinite, was it an easy and natural thing to do?
The image of someone sitting at a nav table writing a blog of events looks different to different people.

My darling wife would image an elderly chap, beard and hair neatly trimmed with a pipe contentedly clamped in their mouth wearing a knit woollen jumper that's clean sitting absolutely bone dry in a snug dark wood panelled cabin with a old fashioned lantern swinging from a hook to read by. And he's writing with a fountain pen in a nice leather journal. Writing is impeccable of course and there's hundreds of neatly written pages.

I image what looks like a drowned rat shedding sodden clothes as he enters the cabin, salt encrusted glasses fogged hopelessly from the poor sod wearing them sweating like a pig from wrestling a loose reef back into place. He falls rather than sits into the nav seat, brusing some ribs on the chart table for good measure. Opening the chart table, a sudden wave slams the table down on his left hand evicting a stream of curses and hand waving, which results in the pencil being flung into the bilges. Scrabbling finds a pencil that's more wood than lead and he opens the damp journal. Taking a deep breath and counting to 10, he tries to relax and clear his mind. Another angry swell lurches the boat and his coffee he's just carefully taken the lid off spills, burning his hand and soaking into the journal.
Cursing at the Gods, he jumps up in pain and cannons off the over length screws from the cabintop winch he's been meaning to cut off for a while now, opening a nasty gash across the top of his head. After a few minutes the stabbing pain subsides and rubbing his head gingerly with his burnt hand, not the one with the bruised fingers, he opens his eyes to find the journal has taken a dive into the bilges. The paper has already started to come apart and scraps are being sucked down into the bilge pump drain he'd just turned on, clogging it hopelessly..........

You should start writing romance novels shaggy.

Dear God.
All my heroines would be in dry suits looking like blimps.

The journal getting sucked up by the bilge pump had me in stitches . Imagine screwing your pump over because of a journal. Same with the over length screws.

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shaggybaxter said..

Dear God.
All my heroines would be in dry suits looking like blimps.

That could easily become a 'thing'. Don't write it off.

Regardless of whether there is paper in Bill's bilge pump or not, he certainty seems to be screaming along and will be rounding Africa in several days.

There is a bit of discussion about whether he should be hugging the coast to get sling shotted by the current or not. Right now he is a bit far out to get the full benefits of the current.

It is a little disturbing that he has a long way to go and minor things are breaking ......

gis.ee/leaucommotion/