Last week there was a 45 degree heat wave in Sydney.

Gaiasdream for the first time ever hat an electronics problem as that is in, we almost run out of electricity despite it was a nice sunny day for the solar panels.

The cause was because it was sooo hot the fridge could not cope and was running continuously for almost 24 hours on top of our normal electricity usage.

This illustrates on a small scale what happens in the normal electricity net, with every ones fridges and air-conditioners running.

Lesson learnt for me and every one else, change the settings on your fridge on really hot days and reduce electricity usage as much as possible.

In the end of the day the energy needs to come from some where.

Happy holidays and happy new year for all the Gaiasdream friends and followers.

A Christmas present for me was a great 7 page spread in Australian multihull world magazine.

Written by my close friend Simon Bradshaw.

It is in the new January February issue.

Looking forward to keeping you posted with news of our adventures in the new year.

new wheels and autopilot

Had a great day on the ocean today, trying out the new equipment, rudders, wheels and autopilot.
It all worked like a dream. Gaiasdream is so much easier to sail and shunt now. The autopilot keeps a razor sharp course even when we did 15 knots on a broad reach. Shunting is also much quicker now. One shunt was so quick the girlfriend had her up to 7 knots when I looked up from finishing of the ropes.

All in in all, a great day and a great result, worth all the hard work of the modifications.

Happy Holidays to everyone and hope you have a safe and fun time

looks like the boat is levitating

steel support frame

gaiasdream above the beach in morning bay

Gaiasdream had her annual haul-out these last few days.
She was on the beach for 3 days, sitting on steel frames to get access to her bottom, and now has a nice new coat of antifouling.
Also the topsides of the small hull had a new coat of paint.

Instead of the tillers I have built and installed a set of steering wheels which are working very nicely.

We took GaiasDream for a spin today to refill the tanks with water in the marina.
She is now amazingly easy to steer with the bigger rudders and shunting is much easier to with the new wheels, especially when we go ‘back wards” into the marina.

Most yachts that have two wheels have them side by side. On GaiasDream the wheels are at each end of the yacht, which clearly confuses people as they sail past the mooring, but most seem to work it out eventually.

The next item due for an upgrade is the auto-pilot. The plan is to get a more powerful system installed before Christmas and I am now just waiting for the parts.

This week I will take her for a spin under sail, can’t wait….

Congratulations to Australian Paul Larsen in setting the new world sailing speed record at 59 knots or 109 Km per hour. I’m sure here in OZ they would have given him a speeding ticket!

Well done Paul!

It was great to have Paul visit Gaiasdream a few months ago and it is wonderful to see him achieve his dream and an example of perseverance paying off.

If you are interested in checking out his record breaking run, have a look at http://www.sailrocket.com/

Last Tuesday evening I had the chance to share my stories and outline my proposed expeditions with a group of fellow explorers. Thanks to an invitation from Chris Bray, I had been asked to give a talk at the Australian and New Zealand chapter of the Explorers Club. The special guest speaker was John Cantor who talked about his traverse of the Brooks Ranges in Alaska, solo considered to be one of the toughest solo expeditions of its kind..The other speakers included myself, Chris Bray and Jess Taunton who talked about their trip through the north west passage in a wooden junk- rigged yacht, complete with close encounters with polar bears and arctic fox cubs and our friend Dave Pryce, talking about the crazy re-enactment of the Bounty voyage, a very long-trip in a very small boat. The talks were held in an inspiring location, the Boat Shed in Balmoral and it was a great night, with a delicious BBQ looking out over Balmoral beach, and we met lots of inspiring people. For me it was a trip down memory lane as we had anchored in Balmoral when I arrived in Sydney ten years before and had to find ice cream at 6 am for my son Joshua, which was our tradition when coming into a new port. Chris and Jess are now off to the Galapagos and we look forward to hearing their stories and videos when they get back.

new wheels

the beginning of a wheel

extension of rudders

rudders almost finished

It still will be a while before the new wheel system will be installed, because it also means we have to use different autopilot drives.
Both of these, will be a major upgrade for Gaiasdream.

Gaiasdream is planned to go on the beach for her annual anti-fouling in the next few weeks.
If you are in the Sydney area, contact me if you want to help.