SubnetSurfer — “Not all who wander are lost.”

How cool is this: Spain sets world record for wind energy. From the article:

Earlier this week, the weather in Barcelona was very, very windy. Little did we know at the time, but as we chattered our teeth in unison, Spain was about to set a world first. From 3am until 8am on Sunday 8th November 2009, more than 50% of Spain’s electricity was generated by wind – according to the Spanish Wind Energy Association, “For several moments, wind energy had the honor of delivering up to 53 percent of total needs”.

Seriously, the equivalent of 11 nuclear power stations’ worth of electricity form wind power alone. This sort of thing re-enforces my view that we can go to wind/solar power in the future, and it can be free for everyone…

Happy New Year! I hope all 3 people who read this blog have a prosperous and fulfilling 2010!

I plan to spend 2010 inventing some stuff, sailing and generally just hangin’ out and spending quality time with family and friends. No resolutions for me :)

Well, I made it to the boat today, and found that the harbour has now partially frozen over. The temperature has been hovering around 0 for a few days now.

See the ice out in front of the bow? yech!

I have a model ship to build so I think I will just spend the evening in my warm cabin and work on it :) No sense trying to do anything else since everything is either freezing to the touch, or frozen already. I have already drained my freshwater tank and in order to have fresh water, i fill a 20L can at the marina and carry it on board whilst I am here. It is more than I need for the 2 days, but it is nice not to have to crazy-ration water…

I really need to get started on the insulation as it is pretty chilly in here overall, but I am worried about the epoxy curing rate as It needs relative warmth to cure properly. I think as soon as I get some of that closed cell foam tacked to the hull, it will make a world of difference in heat retention and condensation levels. Maybe I will price some out tomorrow.

Well ,things with the water tank are fairly sorted out for the moment. I have put the new S/S tank in, and made a little base for it, as well as making sidearms to hold it from traveling around. I haven’t done the top of it yet, but will eventually (I need to in order to sleep in the forward berth). It took all day, but part of that time was waiting for the Sikaflex to set a bit.

It gets fairly cold on this boat because there is no insulation so I will be tackling that job as soon as I can afford a couple things. I am going to insulate with half-inch battens and closed-cell foam camping mats glued to the hull, then hopefully hemlock for the interior strips. The mats are a closed-cell foam and cheap so I think applying them with some double sided tape or some drops of Sikaflex outta do it (moisture may travel between the mat and the hull but so will the air needed to dry it up). Getting this done will make it way more comfy in here.

Been puttering all day and have just eaten some canned lasagna for dinner and am washing it all down with some Tea. I like tea. I like coffee more, but forgot to bring instant and forgot to buy a tin of Timmys :( Oh well, my fault.

So, back on the boat for another weekend. The low that moved in yesterday caused havoc last night with 100km/h winds. Trees were down and the roadsides were littered with whatever wasn’t nailed down last night.

It hailed so I thought I would grab a pic or two because this was pretty significant given the fact that it all happened in like, 15 minutes or so…

According to the weather this is going to be in Vancouver tomorrow, so right now I will make a cup of tea, read the internetz and relax, tied to the dock with the heat on :)

This wad of hail accumulated in the cockpit in under 5 minutes

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