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| Greg and Chris in San Diego |
The voyage of s/v Gemini will depart sometime on Wednesday March 7, 2013 from San Diego, California for Okinawa, Japan via Honolulu, Hawaii and Chichi jima Ogasawara islands. On this awesome adventure, Chris Rohe will join me, Greg Martin as crew at least to Hawaii and maybe all the way to Japan. Of course everyone else is invited to join in spirit and will be in our thoughts along the way.
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| s/v Gemini at SWYC |
s/v Gemini is just a 35 ft sailing vessel but we have done our best with what we have to make this as safe as possible. If you ask ten sailors I'm sure you'll get ten different opinions on what is "essential" to bring and do to prepare. We've read all the books and talked to a lot of experts and quite a few people who have done this kind of trip. What we consider essential first and foremost is to have a strong and seaworthy boat, which s/v Gemini, a full keel Alberg 35 with new standing rigging certainly is.
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| Wind Pilot |
Also important is a good self steering wind vane system. s/v Gemini has a Wind Pilot Pacific Plus which operates an auxiliary rudder to steer the boat independently from the boat's main rudder. Not only will this act as the boat's autopilot, which doesn't draw any power, but it also serves as an emergency rudder as a simple redundant backup system. We will also carry some of the latest technology in navigation and safety.
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| Solar powered satellite communications |
We have four separate GPS units operating on two different navigation platforms. We will keep in touch with a new satellite communication system called InReach that uses the Iridium system to allow us to use our regular smartphones and Nexus 7 Android tablet to send and receive text messages via satellite in the middle of the ocean.
Everyone is invited to follow the adventure as we track our voyage online at this link: https://share.delorme.com/GregoryMartin
When we get to Hawaii we will upload details and photos from our voyage. Until then... Sayonara San Diego and Aloha Hawaii...
