Month: April 2016


Hola 2016

Qué ? What’s going on?

Last time we spoke Filibuster was in France, and now Martin, está hablando español….

And, quel horreurs, on a boat without sails! Not even any visible means of supporting such sails.

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Has Martin taken leave of his senses and gone to the dark side?

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To suffer warm, private sandy beaches, full sunshine, clear waters in the Med?

In April, where back home was a)chuffin cold b)wet

Well, actually folks, you can rest assured. The boat belongs to our good friends Ian & Judy and they have introduced us to the temptations of Menorca. And what a tempting place it is:

  • 300 days per year sunshine
  • excellent food and drink at very reasonable rates
  • beaches, coves, walks to die for
  • crystal clear, warm,  sea (well it was a tad cool on the day highlighted, but Ian & I swam ashore)
  • Largely unspoilt and civilised with strong connections to the UK
  • Unbelievably friendly locals who cannot say a word without a smile

If you have never been to Menorca I can thoroughly recommend it.

Navigation

Ian’s nav system comprises of:

a) a Garmin GPS chart plotter with a faulty screen

b) an Apple Iphone that has the tendency to fall on the floor (clonk) at inappropriate moments

To avoid getting lost at inappropriate (clonk) moments I decided to purchase an upgrade to the system.

No batteries or screen required, doesn’t clonk when it falls on the floor. Superbly accurate with AIF (that’s a new piece of tech called Automatic Identification by Finger).

A prototype of the system was tested back in France here.

It is of course the highly reliable, patented, TTNS:

TTNS (Tea Towel Navigation System)

TTNS (Tea Towel Navigation System). This is an upgraded version with AIF indicating current position, compass, wind directions and instructions on what to eat (Old Menorcan cheese) and drink (Gin) in an emergency. Can also be used to cover modesty of naked sailors and sailoresses.Reversible screen. Can be used to communicate over long distances. Beat that, Apple…(clonk)

 

Welcome to Sailing (or should I say Boating) 2016