Morning
Today is day 1 of the Starlink Era. I’m cheating a bit, trying to use the last pre-paid bytes of data with my local SIM plan before it runs out; I’ve only used 50Gb of the 100Gb I contracted for. The added power consumption of the Starlink is noticeable. It runs off 200V AC power and the directional positioning motors use up a certain amount of power. But they don’t run often. There are hacks on the internet to drill a hole into the antenna to turn off the motors; I’m not willing to try that yet. Once I install all of my solar panels, I should have a net plus on power.
There are some issues with the IP-addressing with Starlink. Therefore, I needed to change the SMTP port definition in my Outlook e-mail systems. Before that, I could only receive but not send e-mails. Likewise, I had some configuration changes to make so that I could login to my home-office worksite.
Noon
Just like in Western movie, we had a showdown at noon in the anchorage today. Just before lunch the winds started picking up from the normal 10-15 knot trades. A pair of paddleboarders from Sandals were having a tough time of it in the gusty winds and were drifting downwind.
They were evidently helpless against the wind and drifted by 2 boats. The (charter) guests just dispassionately watched them as they were blown by. I still had my dinghy pulled up but got it down and chased after them as they drifted past another 2 occupied boats. I hope that the spectators didn’t realize what was happening rather than knowing and hoping that someone else would jump in. I got the exhausted couple aboard the dinghy and was towing them back upwind when the chase boat from Sandals arrived. I think that they would have been too late, as the paddleboards were being pushed against the rocks on Pigeon Island.
Back aboard, I finished pulling the solar panel cable when the real winds hit. Another boat drifted as the winds kicked up to about 30 knots for 10 minutes before settling back down.
Afternoon
I tried the Starlink antenna belowdecks, but after 20 minutes there was still no connection. While fiberglass might be transparent to the antenna, there’s enough wood and metal in my decks to disturb reception. Therefore I’ve put the antenna back outside, far forward on deck.
Evening
Looking into my fridge was a disappointment, so I went ashore for dinner at La Mesa. There were some idiots without any light whatsoever in a dinghy on the way back; doing the very best to get a Darwin Award!