Planning

Safety Equipment

During the build we had placed a direct order with Plastimo to provide all the safety items, including Life Raft, emergency provisions, safety knives etc, etc. Unfortunately due to supply chain issues several items were not available. JB recommended stopping by UShip as they would probably have what we needed and if not would typically be able to get it within a couple of days.

List of items:

• Life Sling, Life ring, Life Raft, Dan Bouy

• Lifejackets

• Inflatable lifejackets, lights and safety knives

• Tethers, single and double

• Head lamps

• Personal EPIRB

• EPIRB

• Throw bags, including flashlight, spare batteries, knive, reflecting mirror, flares seasick tabs, sunscreen etc

• Food and water rations in dry bag

Other Equipment needs:

The list never seems to end. We need tools, engine maintenance kits, watermaker spare parts, spare rudder cables, spare line, soft and hard shackles, hose clamps, soft wood plugs etc.

Also need to think of how much fuel we need. Calculate an approximate fuel consumption. So we decided to carry an extra 200l of fuel in 10 separate containers. Easier said than done. Were the jerry cans available, then figure out which diesel to buy at the petrol station. Which color handle is the correct one….. all very confusing especially in french.

Do we have enough fuel for cooking. Oh yes, its butane and not propane. Ok, order another tank as we have no idea how long it will last.

Food:

We should plan on food for 3 weeks at least.

Electronic Equipment:

Setup the plotter, one problem the electronic charts were not ordered. We need paper charts for section of the French coast, Azores, Nova Scotia and East Coast of USA. Fortunately I had brought the charts for Nova Scotia and the East coast, so just needed the others. UShip came through with getting those for us. Downloaded charts for Opencpn, which still needed to be setup and have the Pi installed and configured. Also needed the laptop connected and setup. Downloaded all the charts for Opencpn and for Navionics for my iphone.

Setup, MMSI number and AIS in the VHF. Fortunately I had already applied and received the ships station license and documentation number before leaving for France.

I had provided my SSB radio, Icom 706mkiig with the antenna tuner to Julien in our last visit in early March. He did a great job of the installation but the through deck insulator still hadn’t arrived.