Boffins on Board

OK, I admit it. I bought every toy in the shop and as if from some sort of electronic house of Bable they don't always talking to each other. Here Bob (at the base of the mast) and Mike (looking aloft) replace the cable to the VHF radio. That's the one where you shout for help as you sink not the one where you catch up on what's happening in Ambridge.

The problem turned out to be a defective aerial - water had got into the 'waterproof' moulding and run down the inside of the cable as if it were a pipe destroying its electrical charateristics en route. We were barely able to pick up Solent Coastguard in Portsmouth let alone anything further. Now with a new aerial and cable we can eavesdrop on French coastguards - which at least makes us feel as if we are in France even if secuely tied up in Blighty.

Bob from Greenham-Regis (an electronics company not a port on the south coast) also upgraded the autopilot software and for the first time the Raymarine kit now behaves more like an autopilot and less like a demented helmsman. Why do companies release half-finished software and then let customers discover the bugs?

The replacement Furuno cockpit plotter is now readable thanks to a new 'double-glazed' upgraded screen technology and the chartroom plotter is now talking to it's friend in the cockpit and exchanging 'sentences'. Techies reading this will know what that means - the rest of you may smile and look indulgent.

So we are all set - all systems are go - and as soon as we feel able to leave Mum and dad we'll be off.