Archive for February, 2009

We're all in limbo

February 25th, 2009

I am still determined to leave personal diatribe out of this blog, I do enough of that nonsense on Facebook afterall, but in this particular case it’s very much connected with my plans for Kudu, so I thought I would issue a little update on where we’re at.

A couple of weeks ago I resigned from my job at TradeDoubler, for reasons which will remain constrained to my rantings in the pub, but this has put a small kink in my plans for the Jester. It is no doubt ultimately a positive thing, but it does present a few fresh challenges.

Before two weeks ago my only concern was time. I had a steady stream of money coming in and could fund all the work required, but I didn’t really have the time to carry it out. Between accumulating all the sailing experience I possibly can this year, while also performing some fairly extensive refitting to Kudu, I was pushing the limits of my annual leave allowance at work. This situation has now done something of a U turn and I have all the time I need, but no funds to do it.

I have renewed my mooring so I have three months left in London. Hopefully I can get some contract work during that time and leave London for the summer with some cash behind me. This would be the ideal scenario since I’d then have both the time and the money to carry out all the work required… also the weather since Winter does make me procrastinate so. :)

That said, I have been working for nine years now and haven’t had a proper holiday for a very long time – all my holiday last year was spent traveling up North to work on Kudu whenever possible – so I think I’m about due a couple of weeks off. My final day at work is the 6th March, so I’m going to spend the remainder of the month finishing the jobs I’ve accumulated over the winter; fit new Harken winches (thanks boatshow!), fit the Eberspacher (just in time for summer), and finish the repair to the stern locker.

That’s the plan anyway. My ideal March, dotted with days of relaxing and tinkering with the boat at my leisure. The sobering reality is I’m not exactly sat on a huge pile of cash so I expect I’m going to be getting quite nervous towards the end of the month so you could see some drastic action from the adventures of Kudu. Come April I might weigh anchor and sail off into the sunrise with my last thousand quid, chasing the wake of Shrimpy… if only. :D



No comments »

Posted in Jester Challenge 2010

Tags:

Refitting the Corribee, in pictures

February 11th, 2009

I’ve had these pictures laying around on my laptop for a while now and keep meaning to post them up here, I just never seen to get around to doing it. Well, I’ve made the effort to stop procrastinating so here they are!

This is basically the graphical story of what I did to Kudu before she got towed to Essex and put in the water.

No comments »

Posted in Uncategorized

Shameless plug

February 10th, 2009

From the 6th March 2009, I will be unemployed.

This is a bit of a problem for the immediate future of myself and Kudu.

If you need any digital media work doing (web sites, search marketing, or bigger projects) then please get in touch. I’m located in central London and have been at the forefront of this industry for nine years.

From small web pages to promote your business, to full scale internet applications, I am capable of producing it all to market leading standards. I was, after all, the lead programmer for one of Europe’s largest digital marketing companies.

So feel free to ask me if you’re interested. I’ll build smaller sites for very competitive rates and even arrange a domain name and hosting if you wish. Large scale, in depth work will be charge at a reasonable market rate, which considering my experience and ability, is very generous :)

More information available at nathanwhitworth.co.uk

No comments »

Posted in Uncategorized

Tags:

Standard Horizon CP180i & Jeppesen

February 6th, 2009

I bought a Standard Horizon CP180i chart plotter from the London boat show a few weeks ago. I managed to get quite a good deal, and when I was into HAM radio a few years ago (yes, even I have a geeky side) I always had Yaesu radios. They were bomb proof, feature packed, and compared to the competition just a much better deal.

Standard Horizon CP180i

Standard Horizon CP180i

Standard Horizon is the marine brand name of Yaesu, also known as Vertex Standard, so I knew what I was buying was gong to be good quality kit.

The chart plotter is fantastic, and was fitted to the nav station of my boat within a few hours of getting it home. ll wired up and ready to go… almost. The CP180 (and 180i) have built in global cartography to a resulution of 2nm. Out of the box this makes the unit sort of useful for measuring the rough distance between two countries (which I spent a while playing with), but that’s about it. The plotter can’t really be used for anything useful – like navigation – until you add a proper chart package.

Now, the charting cartridges (C-MAP MAX) are quite expensive, almost half the price of the chart plotter itself, so a deciding factor in the deal was the fact that the CP180i came with a free cartridge of an area of your choice.

These things are never without a catch though, are they. It turns out you get a voucher for a chart of your choice and have to send it off to Jeppesen, the folks being C-MAP. You can’t post it to them and are given only two other choices, fax, or email. Now, I don’t have a scanner (nor does work) so I had to opt for the fax. Unfortunately the voucher is printed on card and wouldn’t fit through the fax machine, so after a few email exchanges with the Italian (head) office (aided by my Italian friend at work), I arranged to take a photo of the voucher and email that over.

Now, usually in these cases you have to wait an age to receive your claim, 28 days seems to be the default period, but to my great surprise Jeppesen had sent the C-map cart via airmail the very day I sent them the email. I sent the email yesterday, the map arrived this morning.

Now that is service for you!

No comments »

Posted in Uncategorized

Tags:

A World of My Own – Robin Knox-Johnston

February 5th, 2009

I am not sure I am capable of giving this book the review it deserves, but I shall give it a go.

In the unlikely case that you are not aware of the basis of this epic tale, let me start with a brief synopsis.

The late sixties were, I imagine, a fascinating time. Some people were attending festivals and consuming copious amounts of mind altering chemicals, some were planning to put the first man on the moon, some were globalising the world by inventing digital cameras, cash dispensers and the internet!  A small handful of people, however,  were about to prove something of equal importance, that man can take on mother nature in her most vile mood, and just about get away with it.

In the Summer of 1968, nine men set off in their boats in an attempt to be the first ever human being to sail around the world, nonstop. Well, one thought he was a cosmic being, but I’ll leave that for another book review.

This is not only the epic account of Robin Knox-Johnston’s journey around the globe and into the record books, but also the last time mankind ventured into the absolutely unknown.

In a sentence, you absolutely HAVE to read this book.

Buy it from here for £6.99

No comments »

Posted in sailing books

Tags:

Robin Knox-Johnston – Force of Nature

February 5th, 2009

Having read Sir Robin’s classic, A World of My Own, his account of the first ever journey solo nonstop around the world, I simply couldn’t wait to read another of his books, and this, his second, leaves me with the same opinion.

When Robin first sailed around the world he was in his twenties, in a wooden boat, and it had never been done before. Things were very different then to the satellite guided, shore supported, carbon fibre powered races of today. He was also a few year older, at 69.

The essence of the story is the same as any other documentation of a modern global race in an Open 60. From the token introduction, to the struggle for sponsorship. If you’ve read any of the modern Vendee accounts, then this will be familiar territory, but it’s not quite the same.

Robin’s writing style seems to have, almost surprisingly, not changed since the late 60’s, and that is certainly no bad thing. The man is capable of holding your attention throughout, while avoiding too much emotion. This book is about what, in my opinion, sailing is about; a love of the sea.

There’s no tales of despair, or emotional diatribe, just pure unadulterated passion for what he’s doing. He does encounter problems, serious problems, but like the true seaman he proved himself to be in the Golden Globe, he just get’s on with it then celebrates with a whiskey and a smoke.

In the 40 years since his original venture around the globe, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston has lost not one ounce of his mettle, and this book proves it.

Buy it here for £6.99

No comments »

Posted in sailing books

Tags: