Hybrid hiccups

Calypso is fitted with a very exciting piece of kit - a diesel electric hybrid engine from Hybrid Marine . The idea of this is that we should be able to use the electric drive for most of our motoring needs - silent and pollution free, with the large bank of batteries necessary being topped up by a number of different methods; the solar panel, the wind turbine or the propeller when the boat is sailing. The generation from the propeller is fairly experimental on a sailing boat and we've had a few teething problems with this side of things. With too little pitch (that's the angle of the blades, in case you were wondering) the regeneration mode simply didn't work, too much pitch and the regeneration mode worked fine, but the engine stalled when being motored in reverse. So, last week Calypso was hauled out of the water once again so that Darglow, the propeller manufacturer could change the pitch again. Hopefully by trial and error we will find the perfect compromise between propulsion and regeneration.

Fingers crossed!

When the cat's away.......

For various reasons too complicated to explain I ended up stranded in Portsmouth recently and Kit decided to come and collect me in Calypso. It was the end of an Easter holidays of beautiful weather and Kit and the boys, including Sweep the dog, set off via Newtown Creek on the Isle of Wight to Portsmouth Harbour to pick me up. My absence meant that the boys had to rise to the occassion; ten year old Jonah steering, Inigo (8) on ropes and fenders and the five year old twins on the bow on lookout as they negotiated their way up into the busy naval port and across the shipping lane. The marina in Portsmouth is right underneath the impressive Spinnaker Tower and in the middle of a busy shopping centre. I arrived by train and found the boys roaring up the pontoon to meet me, followed by Sweep. I had been away for quite a few days and they had taken the opportunity not to change their clothes during this time. They looked SO out of place in the middle of a city centre - filthy, sunburnt but so happy, and very pleased to see me. Before taking them off for an ice cream I asked them to clean up a bit. Turns out that Kit had taken the risky decision to get them to pack for themselves which meant there was an excess of teddies in Rex and Kai's cupboard, fishing tackle in Inigo's and books in Jonah's - but no clean shirts. Cleanliness is overrated anyway!
(Kit didn't pack the camera - this is picture of clean boys)