Sans Souci has completed its first passage on the long run north. This was a short ride, but an important one. The boat has been sitting in a hot humid climate for six months, and my concern was that the first trip could be a shaky one.
We did have a few gremlins…
– The sat tv positioning unit seems to have welded itself into one position. They lost television the second they lost the docks. The crew wanted to watch the Presidential debate and couldn’t .. oh well
– The 16kw generator was running, but not putting out power. They flipped to the 25kw and all was well. I just spoke to the crew and gave them tips on resolving the problem. My guess is that it is just a blown fuse.
– The a/c stopped working, and they fought with it for five hours. It is REALLY hot and humid there, and the crew was miserable. The a/c has never worked right on the boat, and will be fixed soon — but, not soon enough for the crew. They finally got it limping along, and will work on it today.
This really is not much given how long the boat sat. I’m impressed!
And, on the positive side, they had smooth calm seas, and arrived several hours ahead of plan (they were in the dock by 1am last night).
The weather forecaster has said that their next leg, a 1,200 mile passage to Hualtuco Mexico, should also be a smooth ride, if they’ll wait until Monday to leave.
So…. all is good on Sans Souci, and the ship is ready to go as soon as the weather window opens.
-Ken W
We did have a few gremlins…
– The sat tv positioning unit seems to have welded itself into one position. They lost television the second they lost the docks. The crew wanted to watch the Presidential debate and couldn’t .. oh well
– The 16kw generator was running, but not putting out power. They flipped to the 25kw and all was well. I just spoke to the crew and gave them tips on resolving the problem. My guess is that it is just a blown fuse.
– The a/c stopped working, and they fought with it for five hours. It is REALLY hot and humid there, and the crew was miserable. The a/c has never worked right on the boat, and will be fixed soon — but, not soon enough for the crew. They finally got it limping along, and will work on it today.
This really is not much given how long the boat sat. I’m impressed!
And, on the positive side, they had smooth calm seas, and arrived several hours ahead of plan (they were in the dock by 1am last night).
The weather forecaster has said that their next leg, a 1,200 mile passage to Hualtuco Mexico, should also be a smooth ride, if they’ll wait until Monday to leave.
So…. all is good on Sans Souci, and the ship is ready to go as soon as the weather window opens.
-Ken W
Post Views: 264
3 Responses
Dave … thank you! I’m looking forward myself to seeing how the map evolves…
Rod:
I’m not sure what Jeff is doing for provisioning. I suppose I should be an expert, because ultimately, I’m the one paying.. but, I’m just not focused on those kinds of details. Plus, more importantly, I trust Jeff. He’s more likely to be organized with the food than I would be. I think provisioning policy reflects the person doing the provisioning.
For instance, on the few trips where I’ve been responsible, I tend to think in terms of cans of Pringles, bags of popcorn, cans of nuts, and other junk food. When Roberta is along, I add some steaks, some hamburger, some buns and some tortillas.
Roberta is much more organized, but still not super-organized. She’ll wander the aisles at the market, and say “That looks good, I think I can do something with that.” When we began our big trip south, she loaded up on everything. We wound up with far more than would fit, and had to buy an extra freezer just to store the food. As a demonstation that she was overly exuberant, we wound up throwing away at least half of all the food that was bought.
Jeff, I think, has a third approach. He’s a “real” professional captain, used to dealing with a wide variety of owners, many of whom think in terms of a food budget and “per diems”. Jeff takes the time to plan meals, count steaks, and think about “how many people, how many meals, and how many days.” He believes in good meals for the troops, and is fairly official about it. I can’t imagine interfering with his system. I don’t know that he plans out his menus in advance, but he might.
I’m not sure if any of this addresses your question… I do think there are boats that are very disciplined in their planning process, and even plan out meals for weeks in advance. Judged on this standard, and on a scale of 1-9 I’d be a zero, Roberta would be a 5, and Jeff a 7…
As a side note: One reason that Roberta and I throw away a lot of food is that I generally prefer exploring the local restaurants when in port. Thus, we really only need to have enough food on board to address nights at anchor. Plus, when it is just Roberta and I, we normally are together for dinner, but generally fend for ourself for breakfast and lunch. We load on enough food that we know we won’t run out, assuming we’re not going to find any restaurants or decent groceries.. but, then we generally find great places, and don’t need the food.
-Ken W
Thanks-a-lot Ken…
Adding the map is a neat feature….we’ll be watching
Ken:
How ‘formal’ is your provisioning? i.e. do you make lists of what is in what freezer and then log all the ‘ins’ and ‘outts’?