Syzygy Sailing

Karen and I have been really excited by the number of people sending a drink our way, cheering us on, and we intend to put up pictures etc for each one under the “Drinks” page.  We’ve been busy taking care of logistics still, so we have a lot of catching up to do, in the way of drinking, but I want to say thank you to everyone out there who has sent a drink our way, and eventually we’ll get to all of them!

I think it’s appropriate to kick off the drink links section with a donation of Belgian beer from Jon (Haradon, one of the other owners of Syzygy), and the toast he wrote to go with it (which he asked Karen to read to me).  Jon wishes he could be on the trip currently, and is planning on joining us in June, but in the meantime he sent us to a pub in San Diego with Belgian beers on tap (he emailed us with two location choices).  Thank you, Jon, for the Belgian beer and the kind words as well.

The footage makes Karen and I seem ridiculous.  And maybe we are.  But it was a fun evening.  (please stay tuned for the toasts from other drink donors, and thanks again to all of you we love you!)

News flash from Vicki, Karen’s mom!!  Vicki put up a comment on the last post, that I felt deserved it’s own special attention. Syzygy has made the local TV news in Las Vegas! Next come the broadcast networks, then a little cable documentary, all leading up to Hollywood big screen! Or maybe not.  Either way, check out the blurb on Syzygy at Las Vegas Channel 13 ACTION News!

Thanks Vicki for sharing.  So cool!

Pete and I believe that we fixed the engine, and Pete replaced the capacitor and rebuilt the fried portion of the ssb circuit board (our long-range radio), so barring other obstacles, we will be heading over to the fuel dock in an hour, and then departing.

As we leave, you should be able to watch us sail out of the bay in real-time on this website.  Stations on shore pick up our AIS signal (while we’re in range) and track us.  I added a link to the sidebar that will take you to our AIS signal (if there is one at the moment that is).  Whenever we are within range of one of these stations on the coast, you’ll be able to see exactly where we are, what direction we’re headed, and how fast (or slow!) we’re getting there.

Disclaimer: I don’t know how many other stations there are down the coast, or how often we’ll be in range, so don’t worry about us if we rarely show up on the tracking site.  Mainly, I don’t want family and friends fretting about us on account of this AIS thing.  The AIS takes power to operate, too, so we may power it up only occasionally.  But see if you can catch a glimpse of us leaving the bay at the least!

Just cooked a great meal with karen on the boat on an uncharacteristically balmy calm day and watched the sunset go down over the water while sitting on the soft green grass splitting a bottle of cold white wine and eating chocolate mousse out of a plastic container from the corner store to mark the longest day of the year.  Glorious!

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A sailboat’s transportation is clean by design: we move by harnessing the wind. But modern life – even sailboat life – demands energy for lights, computers, fans, a refrigerator, and a stereo, as well as a watermaker, which turns saltwater into drinkable fresh water. And the sailboat requires still additional energy to run a GPS, RADAR, and radio, among a dozen other instruments. Typical of modern life, the list of convenience items that consume energy is distressingly, shamefully long.

Our daily challenge — beyond figuring out life at sea — will be to collect more energy from nature than we consume. We’ll be using solar panels and a wind generator, which epitomize renewable energy. If, on the balance sheet of natural energy, we come out in the black, we will live clean, quiet, inexpensive lives. If we use too much energy and our balance sheet comes out red, then we will be forced to run our diesel engine to recharge our batteries and make up the deficit.

The cost of running the engine is manifold: we pay in the form of excessive noise and heat, we pay in dollars to buy diesel, and we pay indirectly by polluting our immediate world — we do, after all, live right above and beside the engine, and on top of the sea. It is the power source of last resort – and, in a sense, an alarm indicating our failure to live within our energy means.

To succeed on our journey, we will need to change the way we live. We’ll need to maximize energy capture and minimize energy consumption, and our journey around the world aboard Syzygy is as much about documenting this effort as it is about adventure and travel and sailing. In that way, our tiny energy challenge is no different than modern society’s enormous energy challenge.