JesseMartin.Net
20th July 1999
THE wind is turning westerly and I'm moving at a respectable speed towards South Africa.
My weather adviser, Roger, tells me I should drop to about 36 degrees south, so I'll slowly angle my way down but keep heading mainly east.
Without being too exact, if I average 100 nautical miles a day I'll be home at the end of September. If I average 120nm, as I hope to, then I'll be back towards the beginning of September.
I was asked by Bryan Stamp at Camberwell Grammar about the electrical requirements for everything on board.
I have a 12-volt electric system. A digital read-out tells me the charge within the batteries. When they are full it reads 00Ah (amp hour). I can let it drop back to -240Ah before I have to stop using everything.
This would take about three days if I were generating no power at all and using a liberal amount of energy.
The instruments drain electricity and their consumption is rated in amp hours, which means how many amps they draw in an hour.
If, for example, the batteries are full, then I will run whatever I need for the day. In 24 hours time I can expect the batteries to be around -60Ah to -80Ah.
But don't forget I am generating power nearly all the time. Another digital read-out tells me how many amps I am receiving from either the solar panels or the wind generator.
Two of my three solar panels no longer work because of the knockdowns, but the wind generator is enough when there is a steady wind blowing.
Bridgett and Ashley at Leopold PS, near Geelong, ask what Lionheart is made of.
The outside fittings are made of stainless steel, which doesn't rust easily, and the interior is made of teak, timber which comes from Indonesia.
The trees are cut down, then lie in the swamps for 40 years to mature before they are milled.
It is a very good timber for boats because its natural oils aren't affected by salt water.
Lionheart's hull was constructed about 20 years ago in Perth from fibreglass out of a mould. These are actually thin fibres of glass arranged into mats which are set together with a hard resin into the shape of the design.