Navigation #6 About the inReach

Among the tons of electronic gimmicks that we seem to be accumulating for this trip there will be a DeLorme "inReach explorer". This is a little GPS, satellite email connection, way point and chart plotter, and emergency SOS rescue beacon. It is about the size of a deck of cards and has its own solar cell so it is independent of the boat batteries. LINK 

You (And anyone that you tell about it.) can go to the “Share” page https://share.delorme.com/Shadowside . That will show where we are at the moment (Out in the ocean.), our track, our plans, etc.

Go there. Check it out. Use the Track Filter to get rid of the mess of track points. If you want to get fancy, set the filter to:

Then the Chart should look like this:

Pretty cool? A little sail on “Yellow Bird”.

There are lots of different ways to use the inReach to (crudely) communicate with your fans.

For example, if I choose the "Location" display, it will ask me if I want to share the information. If I say yes and pick names from a contact list, it will send everyone an email with my location, course and speed, etc. There will be a link to web site where there is a chart showing my position and a pop up window where you can send me a short reply. This will be a similar webpage to the one above, but not identical. The web site is:

It only works when you click on it in a message from me, so don’t plan on going there directly.

The unit is so small that it is kind of a pain to type on. Consequently, most of our outgoing mail from this device will consist of pre-planned notes that we just pick from a menu.

Any questions? This is just one of many ways we will be using to stay in touch.

Navigation #4 About the Blog

The most important communication tool that we will have along during the race is this blog.

The blog's name is "Shadowside Pacific Cup 2016", and it is located at:

http://shadowside2016.blogspot.com

We can post contributions every day giving the boat's latitude and longitude, course and speed, weather and morale, adventures, made up stories, etc. We can even post pictures. All this is possible using email over the Single Side Band Marine radio.

What's equally important is that anyone who wants to communicate with us only needs to submit a comment to the blog and it will be relayed on to us, also by email. Of course, all these communications are public and not suited for private subjects. So, go to the blog and check it out. Make a comment.

Post a contribution if you want. Just send an email to:
navigator.bill.shadow@blogger.com The subject line will be used as the title.  The body will be used as the blog content. Any photos (dumbed down to 96dpi) that are included in the text or attached will also appear in the blog. Using the blog at sea is WAY simpler than everyone trying to send and receive individual emails from a list of friends every day.

For reference, my website nav.org has links to seven completed Pacific Cup blogs and two Transpac blogs.

It also has a "celestial" link that you might find interesting, and a "FAQ".

If the blog is really good it can be inverted into a published document. I did this in 2007 and the book is available at:

 http://www.blurb.com/b/413669-cirrus-transpac-2007

Navigation # 8

Satellite Phone

For the Pacific Cup 2016 race we will have an Iridium-Extreme, 9575 Satellite Phone. LINK

Our phone number is  881632663215 

 We will be able to call you, send emails and text messages, and send you a link to a web site where you can view our position on a world map. Since we are not planning to leave the phone on all the time you will NOT be able to call us, but you can send us email. 

Either go to the Iridium website and use the convenient form there  LINK  or just send an email to 881632663215@msg.iridium.com

It is important to keep your email messages to the sat phone brief. Just one or two sentences. We have to read them on a very tiny four line screen.

If your message is to a specific person, start it out with some sort of routing info, like “To: George”.

Remember, an easy way to communicate with us (publicly) is to just make a comment to any of the blog posts. Here there are no restrictions on length and a couple paragraphs is okay. Besides appearing in the blog your comment will be sent to us on Shadowside by email.

Photos from Farallones race

Rather than dumbing down the photos, I am posting a link to my Flickr
page. I have created an album of the Farallones race and a few of
Shadowside in the marina.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/falkenburg/albums/72157667099824503

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Farallones Race 2016-06-11

The race was a good test of boat and crew.  Winds were light at the start and we had our usual difficult time getting out of the Gate and getting clear of point Bonita.  Wind came up in the afternoon first 10 - 15 then stiffened to 15 - 20 out of the NW. We then had a great sail out and around the SE Farallones Island which we left to Starboard at about 2035.  Unfortunately do the light air at the start and the direction of the wind, it was a long trip out.  We were chugging along on a broad reach when the wind died after sunset.  We knew we couldn't make the time limit so we called the Coast Guard to relay a message to the Race Committee that we abandoned the Race and headed home under power. Had a nice hot lasagna dinner! The wind picked up substantially as we approached the Gate and we had a great sail in 15 - 20 winds from the Bridge to Berkeley.  We had a bit of trouble finding the Berkeley Pier.  After a challenging docking at BYC due to the position of a boat at the guest dock and the wind, we landed at 0330.

Introducing myself and test

This is both a test of posting to the blog and, by the way, me
introducing myself to other crew members. I will be on the return
voyage only. I live in Washington state and enjoy cruising the Puget
Sound and Inside Passage of Canada. Photo submitted here is with my
previous boat, a Baba 30. No photos of myself with my newer Beneteau
36CC. Looking forward meeting the rest of the crew.

Don Van Valkenburg