Saturday, August 22, 2020

San Diego: last sail

 

I am at anchor in Mariner’s Cove off South Mission Beach about a half mile west of GANNET’s usual dock.  I do enjoy being on a mooring or at anchor, swinging bow into the breeze.  Also in not being in the shadow of the behemoth.

We had a pleasant sail this morning in light wind.  Never more than 5 knots and usually 4 with GANNET making about .5 less than wind speed.  In the above photo, which I present as proof that I actually did sail, we are heading back toward the Mission Bay channel entrance.

Not my last sail ever, but probably my last sail in the North Pacific Ocean and I go back here a long time.

A rare sail when everything was working.  The first time I used the Torqeedo remote helm.  An excellent accessory, both in controlling the outboard while sitting normally at the tiller and not having to reach aft, and in reading the battery level without having to lean out over the stern.

However, a cautionary note.  The OpenWind unit and app work well most of the time, but at irregular intervals do not connect.  Or rather they do connect, but within a second disconnect, then connect again, disconnect, etc.  I have not been able to discern any pattern to this.  At dock I wondered if there was some kind of interference from another boat.  The unit connected flawlessly while I was sailing, but now again is disconnecting.  There are other boats on moorings and at anchor nearby.  

Sounds of people on the beach and power boats.  GANNET and I are laudably quiet.

We will stay the night and Torqeedo back to the dock tomorrow morning.

6 comments:

Kelvin D. Meeks said...

A possible technical detail to research that might explain the intermittent connectivity between the OpenWind unit and the app:

Verify from the manufacturer what versions of Bluetooth it can connect with - and then verify what version of Bluetooth is installed/supported with your current phone's Operating System.

Webb said...

A good suggestion. I checked. OpenWind uses Bluetooth 4.2,. So does my iPhone 7 Plus. My 2018 iPad Pro has Bluetooth 5.0.

The problem intermittently occurs with both the iPhone and iPad simultaneously. Never just one at a time.

I have mentioned this to OpenWind support and will again.

OpenWind claims connectively up to 50 meters. GANNET’s masthead is only about 8 meters above deck.

Chris C said...

I have seen Bluetooth connectivity disrupted by other signals a number of times. You’re sailing in San Diego in relatively close proximity to a concentrated military area. There are many signals around you. Since both your phone and iPad go out simultaneously, it could be some sort of signal interference.

Webb said...

That is my impression. I am interested is seeing it persists after the move to Hilton Head.

Søren Bogø said...

The openwind obviously can not connect to two devices (phone or iPad) at the same time, so it's either one or the other. The interference is simply between your two own devices. Hope this helps.

Webb said...

I appreciate the suggestion, but I have already acted on it. I deleted the OpenWind app from both iPad and iPhone, then re-installed it on iPhone only. I turned off Bluetooth on the iPad and then shut it down. Still no connection with iPhone. In fact OpenWind has not connected at all now for several days. I believe I have a defective unit. GANNET’s mast is due to be lowered today and I will removed the unit, turn it off and then on. If still nothing it is going to have to go back for service.