Tuesday, May 10th, 2016.
Some days are better. Some are less.
Today was leaning towards less.
As i received my absentee ballot and subsequently had to find a post office to cast my vote. The next office is some 8km from the marina, so i used it to make a short field trip with my bike (and also buy some groceries). On the way back i was fairly irritated by the back wheel of my bike. So i decided to stop by a bike shop along the road to get it fixed.
It took the expert 2 seconds to see that it was not worth fixing. And i saw it 10 seconds later. Basically half of the spokes were broken. To replace the wheel would be at least some 70€. And then the rest of the bike would still be in the shape that it was (i.e. bad). So i will buy a new folding bike…
At home, i went to hook up the wind instrument. For this i needed to connect the wind vane (sensor) with the instrument. And, to be able to compute the “true wind” i also need to connect the (old) speed instrument to the wind instrument.
Short explanation: when sailing/moving the wind that you feel (called “apparent wind”) is a combination of the wind blowing (“true wind”) and the wind created by driving. While sailing only the “apparent wind” matters to you, as you have to set your sails into the wind that you feel and experience. But when you want to change the course it is quite nice to know where the real wind is blowing from. Also it is great to know how strong the real wind is, so that you can reduce the amount of sails and not be surprised by it’s strength. To compute the “true wind” the instruments needs the information about the “apparent wind” and the information how fast you are driving (and in what direction – usually it is assumed “straight forward”, which is not 100% precise, but close enough).
Well, so i went to connect everything and then powered it on. The wind instrument started beautifully moving. But only showing the apparent wind. As i have a really old speed instrument i need to use a converter to translate the old signal for the new instrument. And apparently there is no signal coming to the converter.
In addition i also only have screwdriver’s with a diameter of 8.5mm. And the cable for the wind instrument has a diameter of 11mm. So i could not drill from the deck into the cabin. Even worse: my drilling machin only fits drills with a diameter of up to 10mm.
So without having accomplished much, and also with my bike “gone” i went to bed. The state of my ship made matters worse. After having finally got order into it and woken up to a tidied boat, i went to bed in total chaos again. And chaos for unseccessful work it was.
Let’s hope tomorrow turns out better.
(Cover image: chaos on board after an -unsuccessful- repair attempt)
Update (11.05.2016):
Oh yes, and i manged to buy a homoepathic salve. What a shame. I think i do have an allergic reaction…