We’ve been hanging out on the hook in Nantucket, a bit to the north of the summer mob scene. In spite of dreadfully slow internet service on both AT&T and Verizon, this is a lovely spot. The sunrises, as you can see above, have been wondrous. And by getting up at 0445 for the start of the morning twilight show, internet bandwidth is available.
Between bouts of relaxation, we have had a chance to test a few items, including our new Rigid LED bow lights, here in rain. They put out less light than the huge AC unit we removed, but the minimal current drain makes it a lot easier to use at anchor for keeping an eye on sea state when required. But to equal the previous unit’s output we are guessing four to six more Rigid spots will be necessary.
What we like best about cruising is the people we meet. In Nantucket we caught up with old friend Gary Jobson at a book signing he was having, and had dinner with another friend last seen in Svalbard at 78 degrees North. Then there was a third whom we’d met in Auckland, New Zealand in 2005. And a new pair of friends, anchored nearby in this handsome stinkpot.
The weather has been overcast, cool, and damp. We’ve been wearing heavy shirts and there is an extra blanket on the bunk. In this thick overcast–cloud base being less than 3000 feet/900 meters–the solar array puts out between two and two and a half kWh. Overcast can be dull photographically, but in black and white it sometimes pops.
But as cold as it is, this hardy boardsailor is out for his early AM constitutional.
Yesterday turned clear, and after dinner ashore with old friends, we were astonished to see a lovely moon and a few stars. Thinking it probably wasn’t clear enough for a good shot, we almost didn’t drag out the big glass. However, being out of practice at shooting 800mm of lens on deck, we decided to get in a few shots.
We were astonished to find amazing clarity, and this from the deck of a gently moving yacht in a tidal harbor at anchor. A look at the solar array output meter in the engine room informed that 7.8kWh were accumulated during an almost cloudless day.
We were up this AM at first light, to get to the whaling grounds off Cape Cod in time for a few photos with hopefully decent light.
Over the years we have learned to shut down the engines, turn off electronics, and float. The whales will come a-calling. And as you can see here, they are a-calling close!
We have been observers of bubble feeding–at a respectful distance–but having these cousins chowing down adjacent to our topsides is a new experience. Incidentally, the photos above and below are barely cropped.
We performed a propulsion test between Nantucket and Cape Cod, burning 25 US gallons of diesel over 4.5 hours, running at 1650 RPM, doing ten knots through the water, at full load, with alternators putting out 150 amps between them (or ten HP). This works out to roughly five US gallons per hour for propulsion at ten knots, which sounds reasonable to us. We’ve dropped the hook at Provincetown, Cape Cod, to get connected for the weekly conference call with New Zealand (today with Todd in Seoul, Korea). Weather permitting–it is blowing and raining right now–we’ll be off on a jaunt to blueberry country in the AM (that’s Maine for those of you who only think in terms of lobstah).
And now a query. These are the largest photos we have ever posted. Some feedback on load experience – good or bad – would be mightily appreciated.
Post Script: Thanks for all the feedback. We are wondering if anyone is having problems with really slow connections?
Posted by Steve Dashew (July 31, 2012)
August 1st, 2012 at 2:03 am
Amazing pictures!…photos popped up immediately on my 55 Mbps connection.
August 1st, 2012 at 11:16 pm
Great shots and I love the larger format. Keep them coming
August 1st, 2012 at 2:50 am
Works great on the mobile network here in Australia.
August 1st, 2012 at 4:41 am
Really great that you are back at sea. The photos are so clear and even the largest at 99.57kb loaded amazingly quickly on a 1.71Mb/s broadband connection.
Thanks for the sharing
Sid Fisher
August 1st, 2012 at 5:34 am
some of my favorite cruising grounds…..great photos…..no problems
Thanks
August 1st, 2012 at 6:30 am
Hi Steve
No apparent difference in load speed (Comcast is my provider). I have also up sized the photos on my blog. With all the features in Lightroom 4, I no longer bother to take them into Photoshop. LR4 has just about everything I will ever need (and more). On export from LR4, I compress them down to around 250K – what size are your pics?
Best
Pete
August 2nd, 2012 at 2:38 am
About 40 to 50K on average for these bigger pics.
August 1st, 2012 at 7:36 am
Didn’t even realize they were large … absolutely beautiful…
August 1st, 2012 at 7:50 am
No speed issues here in Australia on normal broadband Steve, popped up without delay.
August 1st, 2012 at 8:18 am
I am traveling and at a hotel with really poor wireless. The photos also popped right up.
Great shots by the way!
I am anxious to hear more about your new exhaust and what difference it made?
Thanks,
Steve Cowart
August 1st, 2012 at 8:48 am
Steve,
No problem loading the pictures with the 10 mbps cable internet connection I have at the dock in Ventura. Thanks for sharing them with us – dozens have found their way into my screen saver !!
Cheers
August 1st, 2012 at 8:51 am
Hi Steve.
You got your Whale shots – Great Photos! I was a real pleasure meeting you and thank so much for showing us around ‘Wind Horse.’ She is a pretty impressive vessel. Have a great trip. Thanks again – Chad Hudnut
August 1st, 2012 at 9:22 am
Hi Steve,
Great pictures and download instant. Looking forward to experiencing some similar adventures on our own FPB64 Grey Wolf.
Mike
August 1st, 2012 at 9:46 am
Wonderful photos as usual. They posed no problems with my ADSL2+ connection.
August 1st, 2012 at 11:06 am
Loving the whales, Steve. As for image file size, they came through just fine on 3Mbps DSL.
August 1st, 2012 at 11:43 am
Popped up immediately on mine also. How beautiful this earth is (and moon)and how lucky we are that you share your genius with us. Thank you both.
August 1st, 2012 at 11:54 am
Love the pictures 🙂 No problems at all with the picture sizes!
John
August 1st, 2012 at 1:12 pm
photos popped up super fast on my 3G mobile connection. some stunners! great your on the move again, keeps me inspired. where are you heading? St Kilda?
August 1st, 2012 at 1:47 pm
Took about five to ten seconds to full load the page on my iPhone (Sprint service).
By the way the first picture is stunning.
August 1st, 2012 at 2:01 pm
Very quick refresh (one second, or less) on a fast connection at work. The server seems to be doing its job.
Stedem
August 1st, 2012 at 2:46 pm
Brilliant photography, brilliant clarity and very fast download even here in NZ.
August 1st, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Popped up very quickly with my Cox cable connection.
Great photos!
August 1st, 2012 at 6:51 pm
Steve, no problems with pictures all the way down here and great photos! Can’t wait to take some of our own!
Mike
August 1st, 2012 at 7:13 pm
No problems here on a slow to middling’ connection in rural NE.
August 1st, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Great Pics Steve.
On a healthy broadband connection in Australia, they are up in no time at all. (The new-ish server is plenty quick)
August 1st, 2012 at 8:50 pm
Picture size is perfect – loads fast as well.
August 1st, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Hi Steve,
Lovely shots and they loaded right quick on my 3G cellular data service.
I’ve been looking st those Rigid lights for some clients in Rhode Island. They look to be a well made product.
There are a couple others you might want to look at if you’re really wanting more light.
We’ve been putting FRC (http://www.fireresearch.com/lighting.php)LED “scene” lights on a number of the fireboats we build.
The Fire guys like them because it’s a name they know, but they have worked really well in the marine environment.
I also see a number of requests for Magnalight’s products (http://www.magnalight.com/c-277-led-boat-lights.aspx) which have also performed well so far.
‘Tis nice to read posts from your cruising after such a long time.
Cheers,
David
August 1st, 2012 at 10:00 pm
No problems with downloads at this end Steve.
Great pics.
I’ve had similar experiences with whales of the Australian west coast.
Once sighted, shutting every thing down, and they come over for a look.
Cheers
Scotto
August 2nd, 2012 at 12:38 am
Photos came up very quickly on my iPad. Didnt notice any speed issues at all. I have yet to take any good whale shots. Yours in this post
are impressive but I thought the ones from the Sea of Cortez to be equally compelling.
August 2nd, 2012 at 12:54 am
I had no problems loading on my medium speed WiMAX connection.
August 2nd, 2012 at 1:22 am
I have enjoyed viewing the pictures in the larger size. Load times are imperceptible on a 20 Mbps connection, so no problems there. The only thing that i noticed is that i am unable to view the wonderful picture of the full moon at one time without scrolling up and down. I have an LCD with a resolution of 1920×1080. I would cast a vote for a slightly smaller size picture size. I have been an avid reader of Setsail since 2006. Thanks for keeping us up to date on your travels, and the great info you provide about cruising, and the details that you share about the FPB. Thank you!
August 2nd, 2012 at 2:44 am
Should have been no larger than 1100 pixels. Perhaps we inserted the wrong image, or failed to compress it? However, our connection in Maine is so slow we cannot check or change it right now.
August 2nd, 2012 at 4:05 am
This pics are 1100px in square. Try to zoom withe the browser 🙂
Try Ctrl+ and Ctrl-
Greatings from Europe
Pics will fly with 50Mbps here
August 2nd, 2012 at 10:16 am
Great photos, beautiful, exotic places. I’ve enjoyed so much viewing the pictures, so I have put the site in the favorites list on my PC.
Enjoy your life and be well
Thursday, 2 of August, 2012
From long distant Athens/Greece
Thanks,
Chris
August 2nd, 2012 at 7:47 pm
CREDIT GIVEN WHERE CREDIT IS DUE
Beautiful shots,Steve! That you have a finely-tuned eye is not in dispute. No problem in downloading speed. FYI, the newest issue of SOARING(August)has an article by Mike Parker which describes his impression of his new ASH31Mi. The article is illustrated with your images and he gives you an especially nice credit which mentions your soaring history and the fact that his last two boats are your designs!
August 2nd, 2012 at 8:04 pm
Thanks Jim:
Will need to look it up. Mike and I have flown many thousands of miles on record attempts, each in our own ships, competing but helping each other at the same time. That said, Mike’s flying skills are at an entirely different level than ordinary pilots (like this correspondent)!
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:03 am
Hi Steve, we had no problems downloading the page and stupendous pics. We have slow internet speed here in Central America, no good at all for Skype call even voice only, for example, and even Twitter feed often gives a message about the page loading slowly.
August 3rd, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Thanks Valerie:
Your Internet sounds like Nantucket or Maine!
August 5th, 2012 at 6:43 am
Hi Steve,
Beautiful photos! What size lens for the whale shots?
Thanks,
Colin
August 5th, 2012 at 10:09 am
We were shooting with a 16-35 zoom on a full frame Canon 5D-2, a 24-105 on a One-D-4, and 400 prime on a 5DMk3.
August 5th, 2012 at 11:56 pm
Nice!Really nice shot, and lucky dog as you are saying on the other side of the big lake!!!
Since you change your server it is night and day!