LaGmra Day 6 - Hull work complete, VHF licencing 29 Nov, 06 - 23.34

The weather has been holding up, as advertised by the OPC weather bureau, (http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/), with the 96 hr surface
forecast promising good North Easterly winds.
Most of the work has been completed on the hull, including
the painting. The weather here has been hot over the summer
resulting in the glue on the earlier stickers bonding with the
EPOXY and paint on the hull. The hull has now been sanded
and repainted and the coat of anti fouling applied.
Tomorrow should be the last day in dry docks. We are on
schedule for a 5th Dec Departure.
Hard to leave the business world behind. Most of last
night was spent role playing CFO in front of Excel. Managing cashflow, invoice payments, accounting, billing by contractors,
project plans etc. Other fun roles for now include webmaster, electrician, cameraman, nutritionist, news reporter and maintainence technician.
We've been using our VHF walkie talkies for internal communication around the island. Despite the number of ships around these waters, the traffic on the VHF channels including 16 is surprisingly un-busy compared to the waters around New York, where its often split to Channel 9.
Amongst other formalities, is the VHF licence and clearance
papers for the two on board radios. For those new to this list, a call sign is what is issued for the vessel along with its licence. The call sign is a unique identification for your vessel and is recognised world-wide.
Once issued, OFCOM registers it with the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva along with other
particulars of the ship station. This information is then made
available to all other administrations.
The boats call sign is MissOlive, same as the name. Why?
The boat was bought from Virgin Atlantic, and was rowed by
Oliver Hicks over the North Atlantic last year. Hence the
name. I haven't been very concerned about the name nor had
the time. As long as it’s easily understood in radio transmissions.
Must admit, we did briefly discuss changing the name to
something a bit more relevant. But there is sailor’s advice
and there is sailor’s superstition. As it goes, its bad luck to
change the name of a boat. And that was the end of that
discussion.
More cheerful marine superstitions for your enjoyment can be found here:
http://pacificoffshorerigging.com/nautical_superstitions.htm
All from the OR team are now on La Gomera. Kennith Crutchlow (Exec Director ORS), Tatiana, Pavel Rezvoy, Dimitry, Ted, Andreu Mateu (CEO of D&A), Stu Turnbull and Ed Baylis.
On average, the Atlantic is the saltiest of the world's major oceans; the salinity of the surface waters in the open ocean ranges from 33 to 37 parts per thousand (3.3 - 3.7%) by mass and varies with latitude and season.
The salinity will put a strain on the desalinator and hopefully the water maker will hold up for atleast 2000 miles off shore at which point I can safely switch to the 200 litres ballast reserves in case of failure.
That’s all for now!
cheers,
B
TODAYS PHOTOS -
1. 96 hr surface weather stats from OPC

2. Hull work complete

3. The critical and equally unlovable Onboard Katadyn desalinator & filteration system.