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Ramona said..
Probably planning to cross the Indian Ocean at a higher latitude. Heading into the prevailing winds and heavy seas in the 40's would not be much fun. Watching the Vendee boats the last few days at the same latitude going the other way, they still had a hard time of it.

Possibly, although it doesn't explain heading into the wind now when he could get north with the passage of the front nor the dead straight track. Mysterious!

He should have had SW change for past 12 to 24 hours that would explain his course. Blown through now and heading into another short high

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southace said..
He should have had SW change for past 12 to 24 hours that would explain his course. Blown through now and heading into another short high

This latest BOM sea level chart www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/synoptic_col.shtml

indicates he should be hitting the front now. He has been tracking perfectly straight on the last two legs. Doesn't look right to me.

Windy TV makes it look ok where he is the low is a lot lower by windy TV
www.windy.com/?-38.479,134.517,6


yb.tl/impulse?ignoreUA=true

Dunno about that windy tv in South oz it's been blowing SE to SW 15 to 22 for the past 2 days only just dropped out this arvo and now tending E to NE before the next W to SW chance arrives.

Does anyone know Andy's wife / family? He has a sat phone and would be in touch - would save us guessing.

his facebook page last update.


www.facebook.com/andy.lamont4

Andy Lamont
I don't know what it is with wind generators and me. This one exploded yesterday. Since then my satellite arial has stoped working hopefully its something that I can fix when the sea state is a bit calmer

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nods said..

his facebook page last update.


www.facebook.com/andy.lamont4

Andy Lamont
I don't know what it is with wind generators and me. This one exploded yesterday. Since then my satellite arial has stoped working hopefully its something that I can fix when the sea state is a bit calmer

I see that post is on 9 December. I don't see a FB post since indicating he has changed his plans.

Still heading sort of NW towards the coast.

Maybe he has decided to keep as far Nth as possible to be Nth of the next High that is coming across...??

Looking good now.

Would the dead straight runs just be the Tracker catching up after a period of no communications i.e. just drawing a straight line between two fixes say 24 hours apart?

If he has charging problems he might not have everything on constantly.

I have become addicted to watching the daily Vendee video feeds. It's the technology I'm interested in. I notice the absence of wind generators. These boats have fairly high electrical demands from the nav stations and autopilot. If I was to contemplate a long distance voyage I would emulate the Vendee fleet as much as possible. I know what I would do with Andy's wind generator.

Watching the vendee boats I can not see any nav lights. Anybody seen any on?

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Ramona said..
I have become addicted to watching the daily Vendee video feeds. It's the technology I'm interested in. I notice the absence of wind generators. These boats have fairly high electrical demands from the nav stations and autopilot. If I was to contemplate a long distance voyage I would emulate the Vendee fleet as much as possible. I know what I would do with Andy's wind generator.

Watching the vendee boats I can not see any nav lights. Anybody seen any on?

There is a big difference between a normal yacht and the Vendee mob. They are all doing high speeds, so their hydro generators work efficiently. Wind power would take up a lot more deck room, and be vulnerable to the seas that sweep over the decks of these speed machines. Big variation in wind over the deck might also be too much for wind generators.

Hope Andy is doing OK.

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Ramona said..
I have become addicted to watching the daily Vendee video feeds. It's the technology I'm interested in. I notice the absence of wind generators. These boats have fairly high electrical demands from the nav stations and autopilot. If I was to contemplate a long distance voyage I would emulate the Vendee fleet as much as possible. I know what I would do with Andy's wind generator.

Watching the vendee boats I can not see any nav lights. Anybody seen any on?

Hi Ramona,
The nav lights could be mounted on the pushpit, mine are like that and an older Imoca I saw in Brittany was the same. Tricolor up the top, and nav lights on the stern.

Not sure how many are using hydro electric systems. All the links seem to go to older races a few years back. This is interesting though.
www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/15527/the-whys-and-watts-of-conrad-colman-100-natural-energy

Still appears to be heading for the coast. Edit. No he doesn't. Must be reading this!

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Ramona said..
Not sure how many are using hydro electric systems. All the links seem to go to older races a few years back. This is interesting though.
www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/15527/the-whys-and-watts-of-conrad-colman-100-natural-energy

sailinganarchy.com/tag/ocean-planet/
more to come
sailinganarchy.com/tag/lithium/

Good reading in this one below coupled with a few daigrams
www.bruceschwab.com/advanced-energy-storage-systems/ope-li3-marine-lithium-battery-systems/
www.bruceschwab.com/uploads/ope-li3-diagram-1-bank-1-bms.pdf
www.bruceschwab.com/uploads/ope-li3-diagram-dual-bank-dual-controller.pdf
www.bruceschwab.com/uploads/ope-li3-diagram-2-series-banks-1-bms.pdf
sailinganarchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Dual-Buss-Diagram.pdf

I'm not fussed about the lithium battery systems. I'm watching all these videos looking for the hydro generator. Years ago there was the occasional leg on the stern but watching various videos where the hulls are exposed there does not seem to be any appendages apart from foils and keel and rudders.

Don't they have small gensets?

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southace said..
Don't they have small gensets?

Yes. I think they have a variety of power generating systems but so far I have only found the one with hydro.

This thread has gone sideways, but OK, sideways is interesting.

If you are running a small frig, auto pilot, instruments, AIS, communications, intermittent computer and some lights you won't get much change from 200 amp-hours of battery consumption so if you are using a hydro generator I guess you would like it to replace that. So you need about 8 1/2 amps 24 hours a day. About 110 watts at 13.5 volts or 1/6 horse power.

If you got 25% efficiency I think you would be delighted, so make that 2/3 horse power needed from the sails. At 5 knots (8.5 ft/sec in the old language that I understand) that is going to create about 40 pounds of drag. Not a lot in a big powerful boat, but quite a bit in a 35 footer. (I don't know what Andy is driving)

Of course solar and wind will cut down the time you need to run a hydro, but if you are comparing bang for bucks maybe the hydro is not the best deal. I know sun and wind can fail, but if the wind fails then so does the hydro.

Andy complains of wind gen failure. There are wind gens that are used in Antarctica that are almost bulletproof - I had one on Double Shuffle and it was expensive but super reliable and almost whisper quiet. Didn't put as many amps as the noisy ones.

The purists can have a ball with my figures - I plead rusty mental arithmetic and pray for mercy.

go for it Phoenix (Vendee globe boats)
Its hard to find good data on what there using .
One I did noticed was using new solar cell from solbian solar
and one video I saw the skipper trying to power up his boat motor and it appeared to have twin high amp alternators.
To run hydraulics like they have the motor would nearly have to be used
I'm talking Vendee globe boats.

By the way , where is Andy ?

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SandS said..
By the way , where is Andy ?

+1

Almost certain this is him ... Going very well by the looks of this !

Wind genaration is bascicly crap. Mine is off when in the dock . Off when sailing and on when I'm holed up in a bay with a 20 knot plus change. Solar is the go when the sun is shining!

Yes Andy has made good progress

just off Albany, now hes going ok

He is right over my favorite fishing spot, I was planning to sail out and see him but I can't get out until, xmas day, he should be past the Cape by then

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Jolene said..
He is right over my favorite fishing spot, I was planning to sail out and see him but I can't get out until, xmas day, he should be past the Cape by then

That would be cool ! I wonder if the rules of the record attempt allow for a roast turky to be collected from the cockpit floor if it just landed in there ! ,

Doing well. A slow passage at times. I reckon it will take Andy 8 months, about the same as (Sir) Robin Knox-Johnson in 1967. They both look like averaging 4 kts or so.