Well, it had to be done but I cannot say that I am looking forward to it!

Western Training Association, Plymouth are going to take me through the theory and practical aspects of surviving at sea. It includes a pool session in full gear so I can taste first hand a little of what it would take to help me to survive should I need to abandon ship.

Look in again after 11th march and see how I get on!

Contact:

On Friday I visited the National Boat Caravan & Outdoor Show at the NEC Birmingham. What a good show that is. Less pretentious than the London or Southampton shows and small enough to get round in one day!

Good timing too as I am in Motor Boats Monthly (page 5) which was on sale at a show special price…

After fitting the fuel flow sensor last week the winter sunshine enticed me out to try it out… what transpired was very encouraging for the trip.

This has been a productive week.

On Tuesday I had a SEA Check on the boat by the RNLI. I have to say that the boat is currently not up to scratch either for this trip or for normal operation. A load of things came out of the check most of which I will implement and most of which won’t cost much in either time or maoney but the boat will be much safer for it.

The rest of the week has been spent either talking to potential sponsors or installing the fuel flow sensor on the boat.

The fuel flow sensor is now installed and sea trials are starting next week. Once that is calibrated I will start fuel runs testing out the two pitches of propeller to see which is going to be the one to use on the trip. One is 19" and the other is 21". I will publish the results on this site when complete.

I would like to welcome Garmin as a sponsor. They are providing me with Bluechart Electronic Charts for the second Chartplotter. Thank you so much to them for their generosity.

Next week I plan to complete the passage planning and risk assessment.

More later in the week.

Welcome on board to Garmin

Garmin have agreed to supply me with Bluechart Electronic Charts for the UK for use in the second chartplotter. This is a Garmin GPSMAP 76CS. It is a super handheld GPS/Chartplotter. I have had mine for over 2 years using it as a second chartplotter on the boat and with City Select maps in hte car. I have even toured all over the USA with this unit and it has never let me down in any respect.

Please take a look at the newest range of Garmin products by clicking on the logo.

Yet more good news…

Gill have agreed to supply us with clothing for the event

Marine Electronic Services are supplying us with the latest in AIS transponders.

Now I have had advice from the RYA legal department.

The RYA Guidance Notes are at:

http://www.rya.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/F36E0464-90A2-44B5-84B4-2C8CCB1027F6/0/CARRIAGEANDSTORAGEOFPETROL.pdf

I have now spoken to someone in the RYA legal department and they confirm the following:

• Different regulations apply to transport of petrol in a car if the fuel is going to kept in the car or if it is being transported for use elsewhere… such as on a boat.

  The following applies to me in that petrol will be transported in a car from a garage to the boat and then immediately transferred onto the boat and NOT stored in the car or elsewhere.

• Largest metal container - 23ltr, must be fit for purpose and appropriately marked
• Can use a purpose-made, proprietory, plastic outboatd fuel tank - Max 30ltr
• There may be local restrictions so I must check with each garage prior to departure
• There should be a suitable (powder or foam) 2kg extinguisher in the car and the driver (or other occupant - i.e. ME!) properly trained and able to handle any incident.
• On the boat I can have a full main tank, a full aux tank providing it is connected to the engine AND a second aux tank, up to 30ltr not connected to the engine.

On that basis I can take just 2 x 30ltr outboard tanks, one permanently connected. This will give me:

• Main: 136 ltr
• Aux 1 30 ltr
• Aux 2 30 ltr

Or a total of 196 ltr

Ideally I would devize a sensible and safe way to permanently attach two of these together to the engine so that I could then carry a third and that would give me 226 ltr on board and a better way to refuel as I could then carry all three to the garage and get 90 ltr in one car trip.

If anyone has an idea how to connect two outboard fuel tanks to a single engine please let me know.

Stargate has now moved about a mile from Yacht Haven Plymouth, where she has been in the water since May 2007, to Yacht Haven Quay where she will be dry berthed until departure day.

The big advantange of dry berthing is that I can prepare the boat with her out of the water without incurring the costs of frequent lifting out.

Also, this weekend saw the first part of the installation of the fuel flow sensor. The network cable has been run forward from the fuel tank to the rear of the instrument panel. It is a Lowrance NMEA 2000 network and so adding the EP-60 should be very straight forward. The connections have been made and the chartplotter recognising the EP-60 so all that remains is cutting of the fuel line and installing the sensor itself. I expect this will be done this week.

Once this is installed I will be running fuel consumption runs at the first weather window. More on this soon.

GRP Services of Plymouth are the latest local sponsor to come on board.