This discussion group is specifically for feedback on Race Recon's Expedition Analysis

Please Click here to visit the analysis

Hi,

The more info the better, very nice and Thanks.

Comments.

I navigated around abit, went to a wisconsin site trying to read about the around peurto rico trip. Then clicked some links at the bottom, ended up at a lawyer site. Then back clicked a bit to get back to the ratz adventure. And got a message about the Google Maps API key being used on the page as having been registered for a differant web site. I'd be happy to reproduce the message if you need details.

Other information that would be nice might be
1 Sunrise/Sunset times
2 Hours paddled in the light/dark
3 Air and Sea Temperatures
4 Ratz mental and physical self ratings

A link to the Expedition Analysis from the home page of Crossing the Ditch would be nice.

The current link to the Forum goes to the closed pages, not the latest.

That's my feedback.

Oh -- and Great JOB. It's way more than I ever expected.
Tom

Good going Race Recon (Patrick) This website is brilliant. The guys status and stats at our finger tips, keeping everyone in the loop. Outstanding!!! Keep up the good work

Thankyou all for your feedback. we will be incorporating these suggestions as time permits

Pat - great work! I love being able to see those average speed stats. It would be great to be able to compare the speeds with the current speed at the time.

Keep up the excellent work.

Greg K

If the desal is drawing too much power then an upturned sprayskirt can act as an excellent funnel for collecting rain water! Try to hang it in front of the cabin and somehow feed the water into you watertank(s). The part of the sprayskirt which goes round your waist will act as the stem of the funnel.

Ol Oiler

Patrick ,it has just come to me,what light do the rats have of a night time ? i should think that there would be a lot of fishing boats running out there of a night time?
that kayak is not like its sitting 6 feet out of the water
the only one iI have been in is the wire netting one ,up that well known creek!
Patrick has enough on his plate , could somebody please explain the lights ,
Bern

Is it possible to see the progress mapped against the waypoints and get more information about the wind direction, seas and currents both actual and predicted

Patrick / Luke,

great work guys, site's coming on amazingly

Keep up the good work

^5

Pete

Luke

An earlier chart showed numbered balloons as the planned waypoints, just wondered if you can add these to the new live tracking chart, which is great

Route Efficiency:

What is this number. Seems like a 1.0 indicates that the kayak traveled in a straight line from pt A to pt B. Do you use this metric for anything. Or is just something to calculate.

Seems like a metric of use, would be how far the kayak is from your projected path, between skeduled course changes.

Very Curious.

What an awesome site, Patrick! I am so fascinated by this amazing adventure..............and thanks to you, all us Aussies can watch on and support these brave young men.........simply here on our computers, in our homes (rural SA) ........ they're in our hearts!!!! ........CHRISSY K

For those having trouble finding the latest information, follow the daily skeds (updates) at the following link (go to the last page of the discussion):
Live Expedition Forum (Day 12 - 20)
Another podcast will be forthcoming soon.

I hope you know jet star can get you there for 200 bucks.seriously god speed to the boys i wish them all the luck its a long way.

Keep your spirit up guys, you're doing such a thing! and thx for the current map, the latest map appear much better so i can know their exact position.
God may always be with you guys!

Hi Folks,

Great website, great adventure! I am an expert in solar energy systems and energy efficiency. I am a bit concerned about reports that suggest a lack of power from the photovoltaic cells installed on Lot 41. Can anyone tell me what is the installed capacity (in watts)? Mono or polycrystalline? What type of batteries are being used? I imagine either VRLA gel cells (sealed lead acid) or some form of lithium polymer cells? How many amp-hours of storage on board? Lead acid batteries can be severely damaged by very deep (> 80%) discharge, so it is very important to shed load (switch things off!) if the batteries are running low, especially under conditions of restricted sunshine. Sadly, even the best solar cells have greatly reduced output under overcast conditions. What type of charge regulator is being used, and does it have a multi-stage charge program?

I imagine the desalination system would be the greatest electrical load. What is its power rating (continuous and peak rating in watts)? How many watt-hours would it consume for 10 litres of desal water per day? Is the failure of the desal system due to lack of available power, or some other problem?

If anyone would care to answer these questions, I would be happy to help.

Best regards,

-Dr Baz.

Great stuff you guys you have almost conquered the Tasman.
My day starts like this Go for 20 K bike ride
Check the Rats tell my 85 yr old neighbour that you doing Ok
Check your progress
Then check the Rowers
At 63 still envy you guys Never had the balls to do what your doing
I know its a bit premature how long do you intend to stay In the ''LAND OF LONG WHITE CLOUD''?
Not that the ''Kiwis'' will kick you out.
More than Likely offer you a job
PATRICK you haven't been forgotten your doing an Awsome job
Cheers to all
Campbell n Bev
Tweed Heads
Ps on the NZ map Waiuku was my home town 28yrs ago

Kia ora Lot41. We (my 11 month son and I) listen and watch you both everyday. WE THINK YOUR EFFORTS ARE AMAZING.We have been watching you since Day 0 of your courageous adventure. In regards to the question of North Island or South Island just be true to yourselves. Everywhere in New Zealand will give Lot 41 the welcome you deserve. We live in Wellington which has a beautiful harbour. We wish you well, look after each other. K and J

Any chance of posting the data in nautical terms, please?
i.e Lat and Long in Degrees, Minutes and Seconds instead of Degrees and decimals.
Great Circle course and distance calculators won't accept decimals.
And distances and speeds in NM's and Knots?
More logical to relate to.
Thanks.

Hi to LOT 41 Team,I'm on this site every evening and understand the difficulty of the task.Just let you know
that the world is behind you and your achievement at this time and spirit should be an example for every one.
Wishe you all the best,take care and be proud ,this will not be forgotten.

Is it possible to get the actual specs on Lot 41? Length, width (a couple of places, I suppose), the size of the cabin, how much it weighs, etc?

The tracking info displaying on the website is now looking like gobble-dee-gok. Its unfortunate but the current situation is confusing supporters of the campaign. Supporters understand about technical challenges and lost data due to device or communications outages but any system worth its salt can always be corrected. Surely the tracking display has been designed so the table storing the tracking positions can be manually updated with the best guess for the real position at each point in time being referenced? So please just edit the entries in that table so they at least approximate the physical reality.

The act of putting two men in a tiny capsule and propelling them off over the horizon is one enormous responsibility. Putting up a website is quite a different one but its still a responsibility.

I have to concur with Patrick, At TracPlus (the tracking data center) we have to treat all data coming off the terminal as absolute (i.e like bank records)
We have a filtering system in place that looks for erroneous GPS fixes (as these occur relatively regularly) and will filter them so that the particular GPS fix report will not show up in the data stream from now on, and therefore through onto Race Recon's website. However, those records will remain in the data-base and accessible to the client only, for further analysis, with a flag showing that it was considered out of the normal range.

Thanks Searoom. Please keep the feedback coming. With people like you telling us how it is, we will no doubt become bigger and better.

Hi Patrick,

You are doing a fantastic job coordinating this amazing expedition. It would be great to see a synopsis of what has taken place over the last few days to give us a better understanding of what the Rats have had to endure. The latest chart of the currents plotting their path would also be interesting to analyse.

I was also interested in finding out what the situation was with the hull. Are their a lot of barnacles? Was the hull antifouled?

Keep up the good work. Everything about this journey is totally amazing. To bring the reality of it to the world is unbelievable.

Thanks.