KiwiCat in the Med

BOW TRAVELER
Life is full of experiments, some successful and some not so. But that's how we learn..

So this year we have made a couple of changes to Kiwi so that we can get more sail up.
We sail most of the journey each year on our own and sail changes can be a handful or just not worth the effort.. After all we have all day so whats the rush to get extra speed...

Then I read an article recently that intrigued me. I was thinking about fitting a conventional roller furling Gennaker that I could easily manage on my own and had been thinking ahead to when we join the ARC and travel across from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean around 2020 or 2021 depending if we have had our desire of the Mediterranean quelled...
The article talked about a Bow Traveler that allowed for a variable tack position for the Gennaker which allows the tack to be taken all the way up to windward or dropped all the way across to the leeward bow. It was designed by Gino Morrelli one time winners of the Americas cup..
When winds are favorable, moving the tack across to one bow and sheeting in across the other bow you could turn your Gennaker into a Parisailor...

Set as a Gennaker and with the speed of a cat moving the apparent wind forward we could end up with a very versatile sail that is totally controllable when short handed.

So here we go. I ordered the hardware to be installed and just received the photos.
The sail-maker is beavering away so that we have our new setup when we arrive at the boat at the end of the month.
Basically the hardware is two pad eyes on the bow extremity, a spectra line held reasonably tightly across the bows with a traveling block that allows me to control two lines that come from the block down the inside of the rail and back to the port and starboard winches. This gives me control of the tack position.

The sail sheets run outside as normal...

If it fails.... I guess I own a large Gennaker but have already have most of whats needed for the Parisailor or Spinnaker

we are often asked how we cope with Data and Phone costs while travelling.

Communication with the outside world is a must these days if you wish to Cruise while maintaining a business, need to download weather information or just want to keep in touch with the family back at home.

For the first couple of years we went the cheap way of hoping that a Taverna would have reasonable internet coverage so that we could use Whatsapp, Skype or some other app of the day to call home and chat with family. Tavernas in Greece offer free WiFi with any order of food or drink..
But we realized that emergencies happen on the water and at home and sometimes we need communication now !!

We run two iPads, two smartphones an onboard NUC computer plus those devices guests may have with them and there was never a hotspot or cafe on hand when you needed it.

At home Vodafone has a deal which includes coverage in the Mediterranean where you can use data from your cell phone coverage back home while you are away for $5 per day.
We are away for around 60 days when we travel to the Mediterranean so cop an additional $300 on top of our account when we get home plus a bit extra if we go over the monthly data cap.
We have looked at local sims but even they are expensive for shorter stays like ours. Once we head up to the Med for 6 months at a time we will look at one of the deals our London based cousins get where roaming throughout Europe costs the same as if you were at home and we may look at opening an annual account and using the device as a hotspot while on board.
We recently dumped our iPhones for one of the Oppo R11s dual sim smartphones so that I can have my work phone and personal phone all in one device rather than carry two phones and when we are away will leave the work sim at home for the relief manager and use the spare space for a local data sim. These phones allow you to decide which sim you use data from and which sim you normally dial out on so this has made life simple.

The issue then becomes how much data you can afford to use. So we supplement that with WiFi hot spots from Taverna's. Often the service is slow but hey.... its free.
When we arrive in a port we look on the phones for a WiFi signal and try to park close to that Taverna so that we can receive emails etc during the night which is day time back home.
But there are times when we cant park where we want so I looked around for a solution and came across Digital Yacht

Their WiFi solutions were just what I was looking for and we installed a long range WL70 IKconnect WiFi router kit and connected it to their WL510 WiFi access.
This is brilliant and I have regularly connected to hotspots around 2 nautical miles away albeit in a direct line.

Now we get weather in direct to the Garmin 7408 chart plotters, connect all our devices to it and bingo we are connect to the world...
This year we will add in the iKommunicate NMEA signal K gateway so that our iPads can watch how the boat is performing and avoid the constant requests for information about time of arrival at the next port as everyone has it in the palm of their hands.

During the design phase for Kiwi, Garmin gear was chosen for the fit out.
At the time I did prefer the Navionics charting and secretly still do, however Bavaria had just purchased Nautitech and they specified Garmin.. So Garmin it was.

Who would have known that not only did Garmin purchase Navionics but they also purchased Active Captain which has really put Garmin at the forefront. It will be exciting to see how the product develops now that the superior charting of the Navionics is on board.
So pleased with the way the Garmin system works and how easy it is to add devices on to it that we have fitted our launch back in New Zealand with the same Garmin gear.

I have suggested to Garmin that as they are integrating systems then to utilize the features of a NMEA 2000 and record engine, log, wind, AIS etc etc which is all available on the network or with the addition of a few sensors into an automated printable logbook that has a pre determined long term maintenance plan included that would remind you to change the oil, filters, stern leg gland etc etc.
It would be a great selling point for their gear as well as for the sale of the boat if full maintenance records are stored on board as well..

So to the gear we have on board.

VHF 300 AIS
Initially I chose this as I thought it was two way. That is send and receive but somewhere in the translation talking to French boat builders this was not the case.
I believe that's its as much about being seen as seeing other vessels and that was certainly the case on the initial delivery run in early 2015.
The unit is fitted with DSC calling and with our chart plotters almost one touch SOS.
Being able to track other vessels and knowing what the likely hood of a collision and how long until the other vessel will arrive certainly took away the guesswork and made navigation a breeze.
See here for GPSMAP 7408


We chose two units and when Kiwi comes out of charter in 2019 we will add a third unit on the chart table.
Currently we log into the system with an iPad and I place that on the saloon table so guests can keep an eye on progress but the limitation is that it becomes a clone of one of the helm char plotters so if your guest plays with the iPad they are changing the helm station as well. This isn't good when you want info in a hurry and its looking at something line sonar or radar instead of navigation.

GMI 20 Instruments
All the wind and GPS information we need are displayed at both helms with a series of GMI 20's in strategic places.

Side-view and down-view transducers look after underwater navigation. Side- view being a favourite when docking on a town Quay and not sure what they used as footing or how far out it juts from the quay face itself. Many a hidden rock or concrete blob that got away on them while they were pouring the quay has been discovered with sideview..

GC10 Camera
Up the mast we placed a GC10 camera that basically sees most of the tramp and out to just below the horizon. If you see the actual horizon you can get sun flare on the camera image which blows out the picture. The idea of this camera was so that I can see the bow as we are coming into port and better judge distances. The added bonus is that if I have missed a signal from Sandy as she is laying the anchor and for what ever reason she steps away from my view I can see what it is she is trying to do and take action.

Virb Ultra 30 Camera

There are times when the season is over and you are back at home talking to family about the journey and words just don't describe the beauty or perhaps they don't understand what is involved in Med Mooring a boat. The Virb Ultra 30 is a net workable camera that will display on your chart plotter and record the moment. It has a quick release clip on it that clips onto a selfie stick and we take it with us to get the shots we want for the photo album or the movie we want to make when we get home.
Fusion Stereo which links to the chart plotters is a nice feature as I can control almost anything from each Helm.

Quatix Watch
On the delivery run I purchased a Garmin Quatix watch . 1. Because I like toys and 2. I justified it as a safety tool for a MOB situation. If the plotter detects if the watch is missing it send out an audible warning and hopefully the crew can come back to find me
The main use it gets is being able to see depth info, course and most importantly while sailing along and sitting on the tramp watching the world go by while on auto pilot I can alter course with the touch of a button on the watch. Great for dodging junk in the water or just to come off the wind a degree or two to help the sails.

Flyby wire engine controls (not Garmin) are mirrored at each station completing the package.
This has distinct advantages over traditional cable throttle systems but can cause a few tense moments if you change from forward to reverse too quickly as you drop into neutral and rev the engine as much as you like... nothing happens. We were coming into dock on one occasion with a concrete jetty on port side and a concrete quay directly in front of us. A gust of wind was coming across from starboard side which would have slammed the bow into the jetty. I powered up to full throttle to allow the full length of the boat take the hit as we were well fendered. I then came through too quickly to reverse to stop the boat before crunching into the Quay ahead and hit neutral instead. Its hard to move the throttle into neutral, wait 2 seconds then hit reverse when a solid wall is heading your way...

Radar is on the list of items to come and this will occur once out of charter so that we can better track storms and those fishing boats at night that don't use AIS and just for safety at night lets add on a FLIR night vision camera...