New Stuff for the New Year

I've been abnormally busy this winter season, and as a result, I haven't been on Aquila too much.  I started out with three weeks aboard Aquila in Punta Mita, but then went to Hawaii (flying) to work on the Safari Explorer for three weeks.  Then I was back for one week, but then went away again.  This time to La Paz (Baja California) for a 10 day trip up through the sea of cortez.  It was a great trip, but I left from there to go back to Bellingham for Christmas, and only got back to my precious sailboat a week ago.  

So thats 5 weeks of being home so far this winter.  

Now that I'm here, I'm trying to do some improvements.  I made some Banana Bread, with cinnamon and sugar on top!

Here you can see it going in the oven.  I have a special recipe that uses no measurements and always

seems to turn out well.  I'm rather proud.  

Here is the secret:

1) Lots of Bananas.  Mush them up in a big pot or bowl

2) Add some eggs, one or two, or maybe three if you're so inclined.

3) Put in enough pancake mix to make it pretty stiff.

4) Add a bit of oil, and salt and sugar

5) stir it up and add water until its the "right" viscosity

6) put in a pan and then add sugar and cinnamon

7) put in the oven and pray

In addition to my baking accomplishments, I got a new sail.  An Asymmetrical Spinnaker, of size 2.  Or an A2.  The sizing on spinnakers is complicated, but the sail can be made very flat (shaped like a triangle and good for going at and angle sideways to the wind more) and used to reach, or shaped more like a parachute and very round and designed to go more downwind; or to run.  

A reacher usually is best for winds of 100-120 degrees and sometimes even as high as 60 degrees if its light, so its kind of like a jib.  A big jib.  Like a genoa.  And sometimes people call these Gennakers.  (Genoa + Spinnaker)

A runner is designed to go further downwind, and has a much larger rounder top to it.  Here is a picture of my old A2, and it was really big.  Look at the huge curvature of this sail at the top

Now contrast this to the older A5 I have which is much flatter:

The A is for Asymmetric, and the odd numbers are for reachers, so A1, A3, A5.  The A1 is the biggest, and the A5 is the smallest (and designed for the highest winds)

I don't have an A1 or A3.

So I have the biggest running sail, designed to be flown from the top of the mast, and designed to have high curvature so it is efficient at angles of 120 to about 160.  So not directly downwind.  

Going directly downwind is difficult, and for this boat it is slow, so I go at an angle and then jibe back and forth.  

The new A2 is the same color as the A5, because I wanted it that way, but that will make it hard to tell them apart in pictures or video in the future, but if you see a sock at the top of the mast, that is the A2.  It doesn't roll up because its too curvy.  The A5 can roll up because it is flat.

In addition, I also got Starlink.  I'm using it right now, in fact.  A friend of mine had an antenna and didn't want it anymore, so she gave it to me, and I finally got it all hooked up and running.  Its very useful, but also it is very power hungry.  I didn't set up the antenna permanently yet, so its just sitting on the deck, and I put it away when I am not using it.  

Another look

I also got a second solar panel and so now I have two.  Before I had just one, centered in the middle of my solar arch, but two fit quite nicely.  Both panels are 400 watts, and 1x2 meters, but they are not exactly the same model, so they look a little bit different.  Mostly the looks are going to show up from a top view.  

From underneath there is a lot more shade, and I also have them wired to independent charge controllers.  The new one connects to the controller for the Watt and Sea Hydrogenerator, which now can supply power from the spinney thing and also from the solar panel.  Whichever is making more power.  

Its been cloudy the last two days, so I haven't been able to test out the power making too much, but even on a cloudy day they have been charging the batteries enough to keep the fridge happy.  

I have another two weeks here before I start to sail over to La Paz to go back to work again for a month, so I am excited to have these things done before the sail over.