purpleivan

Going all the way... or, don't give up your day job. Jeb had made the decision to call in a fuel drop at their current location, a the mouth of the river Amazin, before making their way up it. Given the amount of fuel and the unknown length of the river it seemed the smart thing to do. But that wasn't what Val wanted to hear, she'd heard tales of the great tidal surf on the river and was keen to try out the board she had stashed away for just this kind of situation. "Come on Jeb, we've got plenty of fuel, almost 200 units." "Maybe but if we run out on that river there's no way they're going to be able to make a fuel drop from orbit into it" "Come oooon, beck... beck... beck... be". "Is that supposed to be a chicken Val". "Maybe". "Impressions aren't your thing are they". Eventually after some goading, bad farm animal impressions and Val saying she'd get out and push if they ran out of fuel, Jeb decided they should take the boat up river. Val steered into the wide mouth of the river, but after a few minutes it narrowed, with high cliffs on either side of it. She ketp an eye out for that surf, but so far no sign of it. About halfway up the river the cliffs on the right side subsided, while those on the left grew much larger, as if making up for the loss. Bob's got a distress flare ready, just in case they run out of juice on the way to the lake. A nice purple one that he's been dying to try out since he say it was onboard. Two thirds of the way up river and there's just over half the fuel left, so it looks like Jeb was worries were unfounded, but he's still concerned about having enough to meet up with SMIRF. That is one sharp top cliff. Bob suggests it looks like someone cut through a huge chocolate cake, topped with peppermint icing. Jeb's still worrying about the fuel, if they run out here, they're really stuck. Perhaps one day someone would come along and find the remains of the abandonded boat, the spooky remains of a failed mission. But he needn't have worried, after weaving up the river for some time, the view of cliff walls ahead finally give wa. That gap has to be the lake. Indeed they are and with about 50 units of fuel left for the rendezvous with a SMIRF. Val's very disappointed that there's been no sign of the tidal wave along the river she was told of. "So who told you that there would be waves here?" "Charles Kerman, you know, that guy who test the new parachute designs from the top of the VAB". "Oooh, Chuck off Charley... didn't think he surfed". Val takes the boat a little way into the lake, then cuts the engines. They don't know exactly where the fuel will land, but no point in mooring up to the shore, as that's the least likely place for it to be dropped on. Here's the SMIRF target in all it's glory. It's flight path will take it roughly along the length of it, from top left to bottom right. The plan is for it to dropp in the middle of it somewhere. Bill asks Bob if he'd like to give the lake a name. "Let me think, maybe Lake, ooooh what's that" he exclaims, distracted by some peaks in the distance that come into view as Val swings the boat to a halt. "Lake... Ooooh... What's... That..." Bill slowly writes in the boat's log, making sure to get it right. It looks like a fine day to drop a fuel tank from orbit into a lake. Talking of which, he is said tank... ok, there's some gubbins as well as the fuel tanks, but they're just a means to an end. The end being that nice red cross... hopefully. As usual I am a little long, to account for instability on re-entry, with a braking burn planned to get closer to the boat, once most of the decent is done. In she comes, right on target for a landing in Lake Oooh What's That. Looks fairly close to where the Coastal Cruiser is, but it's a big lake, so this could be some distance away. A nice sunset chute deplyment, as SMIRF coasts down to the lake. 10.6km away from the boat is their fuel, wit 50 units on board that shouldn't be a problem. Some nighttime refuelling. In the morning the crew take the boat towards the mountains that give the lake it's name. Val brings the boat in to the shore and Bob and Bill head out towards the closest, but also the shortest of the two mountains. Bob guns the motors and the rover heads up the base of the mountain, which is conveniently placed right next to the lake. 1km up and 21km from SMIRF, out on the lake. There's some rugged cliffs ahead, but the going has been fairly easy so far. Bob stops the rover for a recharge and to grab a bite to eat. He could have sworn he brought a sandwich with him,but can't find it anywhere. Up over 2.5km now and Bob has the feeling that the squishy feeling under his backside, is his sandwich. He's particularly disappointed as he was really proud of this one, with sliced hotdogs, 3 types of cheese a thick layer of mayo and half a raddish (he's trying out a healthier diet). A couple of minutes later and their at the summit. At 3km it's one of the lowest peaks that Bob's beaten, but it does have a fine view from the top. In particular Bob like the view of the mountain that he wishes he climbed, but even he would have to admit that this rover probably isn't going to make it to the summit of that thing. Not with slopes that look like they're about 70-80 degrees. So with the only way to go being down, that's where Bob heads. It's a fun and fairly smooth ride down from the summit, with no really steep drops to spoil you day. The rover leaps from the edge of a ridge and goes airborne. Bill loses his lunch and Bob might have as well, except that he sat on it. FInally the pair make it back to the boat. Now to head to the galley for sandwich Mk 2.

I think it's fairly lightweight performance wise. I'm also using Scatter and SVE. The last time I looked (a couple days ago) there wasn't an update of KS3P to go with the latest Scatterer. I tried the current KS3P and performance was really bad, so hoping of the new version to appear soon, especially as the new Scatterer has some nice stuff for water (shadows and refraction). There is a major rewrite of KS3P in the works that is supposed to have improved performance, as well as some new features, including in-game GUI for adjusting settings and Screen Space Ambient Occlusion.

Truely Amazin... or, going all the way this time. Once more the help of an orbital pal was required to refill the Coastal Cruiser. The Fuel Depot is actually quite a lot of effort to use, just for 4-5 refuellings of the boat. So for now, Tanford and Dean will be hanging out with their planes, on the beaches of the southern seas, until they receive the call again. The SMIRF was brought down a little along the coastline (13.4km from the boat) so that some of the remaining fuel onboard could be used before topping up. It was actually a little closer than planned, so Val hit the throttles, exchanging fuel efficiency for fun, taking the boat up to a top speed of 65m/s. Topping up the new boat from the SMIRF is a good deal simpler than MIRF to the old boat design. Both have fewer fuel tanks, so less juggling of right click menus. On their way once more, Bill comments on the the terrain being a bit on the boring side. Not much in the way of cliffs, or other interesting things to break up the shallow shoreline. Well that's a mountain, happy Bill... go on, look happy... just the once. This was the back of the Bad Tooth Mountain range that they'd sailed past on the previous leg. It was a late start to the leg, as they had to wait for the orbit of SMIRF to come over their last parking place. So it wasn't long before the sun was setting. For a change, Val decided to put the boat in at an island just off the short of the mainland. Bob again claimed the island for all of Kerbin's Bob's, fashioning a flag out of an antenna and a pair of his underwear, that had his name tag sown into it That way anyone passing later would know who it belonged to. At sun up Jeb suggested the take a jog around the island to work off some of the "boat fat" that they'd been building up while on the voyage. The rest of the crew were still laughing at the idea by the time they'd finished breakfast (a large stack of waffles and syrup), and headed out to sea. Another mountain peaking over the horizon. It's a big one and Bob pestered Jeb for a chance to take a crack at it. Jeb told him that he had something better in mind. Something they'd only done once before. "I ate 23 doughnuts in 9 minutes" bragged Bill. "Better" replied Jeb. "I flew a plane around Kerbin that had one missing landing gear and was on fire" out bragged Val. "Even better" countered Jeb. "I threw up this one time and it was green" offered Bob. "Way better" said Jeb, more than a little disturbed by the last one, but also a little curious. "Were going to sail up a river" stated Jeb proudly, "this one... the Amazin". "and this time we'll go all the way to the lake at the end of it". But that's going to have to wait until leg 44. The boat might not make it all the way up the river with the fuel on board, so time to call in the SMIRFS again.

Yep the depth of field is from KS3P. I actually thought about making a map with all of Bob's names for things, but I'll need to re-read through all the post to do that... I supposed I could seach for "Bob" to speed that up.

I guess the guy on the Mun is just checking that all his parts are where they should be. Or he's thinking "look at the hands, never at the sky, look at the hands."

I for one would like to see a parachute calculator, as the web based I used died some time ago. There's already a mod that does aerobraking simulation called Trajectories so what you're suggesting there might be covered. Not to say that you might want to write something similare, purely for the experience.

Trick of the light... or, rules, what rules. First up, a report from the team back at the Space Center. They appear to have created a faster than light drive, or at least that's what the engineering dept. claims. The breathless administrators at the center broke the news to the waiting press. Apparently the object that had "broken the laws of know physics" was a piece of debris from an earlier version of the SMIRF, used in re-entry tests. When asked the engineering dept was asked by their administrators how thet did it, and when they could have a commercial version for manufacture, they gave the following reply. "Give us all huge pay rises and a massive budget increase and we'll get back to you on that". A proud day for all of Kerbin indeed. Meanwhile... back on boat. Val wanted to use up as much as possible of the remaining fuel before stopping for the night, so yet another night drive was in store. They headed out to sea and left Bad Tooth Mountain behind them. It wasn't long before the sun was setting so Jeb flicked the switch to turn on all the lighting. Still 440 units of fuel left and the engine's running at about 45 throttle, so a long night ahead. Now that they'be rounded the lump in the mainland that they've been driving South along the coast of and now head West, the mountain chain, ended by Bad Tooth Mountain is silhouetted against the dusk sky. Bob and Bill weren't too happy in the back in the rover. ploughing through black seas when you get some kind of view of what's ahead is one thing. Sitting at the back, waiting for a huge "rock meets metal" crunch is no fun. Less than 200 units left now and driving in this darkness is beginning to frazzle even Val's nerves, so she decides to bring the boat in to shore soon. At last... made through th dark waters without a scratch on it. A shame that more of the fuel couldn't be used, but had to stop sometime, preferabley before a hull ripping impact.

Something's Rotten in The State of Dentistry... or, Bob goes for the high life again. Bob got the rover ready for another high altitude jaunt nice and early, to make the most of the sunlight. Bill was busy finishing his breakfast, delaying Bob by several seconds before they could head off. Looks like even the rover is happy to be adventuring inland once more. Well that's the target... well, the the peak of it is on the far side, but you get the idea. There's a steep, almost brush stroke like (with linear falloff) foothill on this side of the mountain. It's not difficult to climb, but long enough that they have to recharge at the top of it. By this point they're already 17km from the boat. Bob suggests that they have a crack at that peak instead, but Bill reminds him that either the steep ascent, or Jeb (if they're late back again) will kill them. Up over 2km now, no sign of snow yet. Talking of the white stuff, here it is in all it's dazzling glory. Once you're up here, the going is fairly easy, with few steep slopes, but it's pretty bumpy. Bob parks the rover just below the summit. There's no flat bit at the top, so he leaves it 30-40m below the very top and strikes out on foot. When he gets to the top, he finds out that it isn't... not quite. There's anotehr slightly higher peak about 100m away, so he runs across to it. 4377m far from a record, but at least he made the last tiny bit on foot. He stands at the top and contemplates the world around him, his place in it and the fact that the radio on the rover is stuck on college rock. After his moment of contemplation Bob heads back down to the rover, which thankfully is still there. It would have been a long walk back if Bill decided to play a trick on him and took off back to the boat. Before he gets back inside, he asks Bill to take a picture of him near the peak for posterity. He strikes his best hero pose and Bill hits the shuttle button. Back inside, Bob tells Bill his plan to get back to the boat quickly... Bill might have been a little disturbed by this plan. They get one last good look from near the top and head down... straight over that edge. Bob's plan is to swing the rover over a 60+ degree drop, hit the brakes and let physics sort things out. Hey presto, a few minutes later there are back down in the foothills. Certainly a lot less time spent coming down, that going up. Once they're back at the boat, Bob aims the rover's rear end at the docking port and starts to reverse up to it. Val's look of panic is actually just a large belch. She had three bean salad and string cheese for lunch, with a doughnut chaser and some it's trying to make a break for it. So Bob, do have a name to suggest for your latest conquest. "Looking at it from up here, it's gotta be Bad Tooth Mountain".

Quick change act... or, 2+2=9 Things on leg 42 started normally, with Tanford heading over to Fuel Depot 2 to refill her tanks, before heading out to the Coastal Cruiser. There was the usual flight over grass and lakes. The usual approach to her destination. The usual line up to hook on for a refill. Then... dun, dun, duuuun, there wasn't enough fuel in the depot to refill the tanks on the Goose. Strange I thought, there was supposed to be enough for 4 refills of the tankers, and it's run out mid way through the 3rd. Then I realised the issue. Fuel capacity of 1 Juice Goose = 5200 Fuel capacity of 1 Fuel Depot = 11125 That means just over 2 Goose refills, assuming they arrive with empty tanks, therefore clearly I can't divide a couple of numbers. So maybe that should have been dumb, dumb, duuuumb So... now what. To the rocket shed... obviously. First one then two upgraded MIRF launchers were thrust into orbit. The 2nd was launched from the Dessert Airfield (first time I've lifted a rocket from there) and it took a rather different launch profile than the one from the KSC. The one heaved up from the desert was put into an inclined orbit, so that more northern and southern latitudes can be serviced by the new bringers of fuel. These new vehicles named Super Multiple Independent Re-entry Fuel Stores (SMIRFS) have an increased capacity, allowing them to carry a full refill of the upgraded boat. After a few orbits the Coastal Cruiser was near the orbital path of the SMIRF launcher, so one of the SMIRFS was detached and prepared to be fried. Off it went, leaving its friends behind. One of the improvements of SMIRFS over MIRFS is that it doesn't tumble during re-entry, so a more accurate landing is possible. On its first use, the SMIRF landed 3.6km from the target. The boat heads out to meet up with their helpful new friend (SMIRFS like to help out) and lined up for the hook up. Once connected Val went out on deck to take a look at the new addition to the team. I think she approves. With full tanks once more, the Coastal Cruiser left the fuel store behind and headed onward along the coast. The scenery was a little mundane, with no features that Bob was interested in naming. The fuel's going down a treat and good progress is being made, with the boat now pointing West into the afternoon sun. Ah... an almost lake, time to pop in for a quick look see. What's that looming on the horizon. I think we can guess what the next post might be about. The sun has set and Val guides the boat towards a good landing spot, that's close to the mountains. Once again it's time for some night driving. Finally moored up, Val and Bill head out on deck with a K and K board (Kastles and Krakens) and the crew play late into the night.

Darkness descends... or, making the most of the night. Dean headed from yet another beach to bring the crew what they need, this fine sunny afternoon. For some reason the balance of the tanker was really off and kept rolling to the right. I put it down to some fuel imbalance, but I couldn't find, so I just put up with it until I landed, then drained the side tanks into the boat first, to get things straight again. Once landed and hooked up to the boat the side tanks were quickly drained, along with much of the contents of the center set. Dean was left with just under 1000 units left, to get his plane back to Fuel Depot 2, which shouldn't be a problem. As this leg started mid afternoon, it's not long before good old Mr Sunshine is going beddy byes. Val parks to boat with about 2/3 of the fuel remaining. The crew get a lie in until late morning, but once they're up, they're quickly on their way. The soon pass a "not quite almost lake" as Bob puts it, and it's a good thing it's not connected to the sea, as it would be quite a detour. Take that not quite almost lake... trip progess 1 NQAL's 0. When asked if he had a name to give this feature of the local terrain, Bob suggested "The Teaspoon". There's a fair amount of rocky coastline, but also some nice beaches to zip past too. As they get close to the bulk of the mainland up ahead, and the big left turn they'll be taking to follow it's southern coastline, this feature comes into view. Bill says that it used to be a harbour and a giant Kraken statue spanned the entrance to it, with a bunch of tentacles standing the two hills. Talking of reaching the mainland proper... there it is up ahead. Soon after this Val swung the boat round to port and headed Westwards. But soon it's time to head along another peninsula, and Val once again swings the boat to port and the jouney continues ot the SSW. The sun's setting but there's still a decent amount of fuel in the tanks. Val doesn't want to waste part of tomorrow using this part of the fuel, then waiting for a Goose, so she plans to plough onward. The sun's gone and the lights on the boat spark into life. The sea is just a black sheet under the boat, that invisibly meets the blackness of the sky. Slowly the headland at the southeastern tip of the peninsula comes into view and Val aims between it and a small island. Val's eyes are on stalks looking out into the darkness. Is that a rock sticking out of the water, or a smudge on the windshield... who can tell. She rounds the tipp at the SSE, then a couple minutes later another, at the SSW tip. There's really not much light to see by and it's a shame there's no moonlight to help out. With the fuel almost exhausted, the boat is guided onto a beach for the overnight stop. When I first laid out the line on the map that follows the coast, I saw that island was pretty close to the antarctic coast and thought I might drop by it on the way. I'll try to remember to do that and not just drive past.

The latest update on the Progress of the Kerbin Sorta-Circumnavigation. Tanford brings the boat some freshly pressed jet fuel... just what you need for some get and go in the morning. Bob feels queasy at the thought of Jeb cooking up something he caught from the boat for dinner. The round Cape Cold, just spitting distance from the Antarctic coast and start heading North again. They get treated to a high altitude light show.

Tripping the light fantastic... or, some would like it hot. With the shadows from the early morning sun smeared across the landscape, Tanford departs Fuel Depot 2, to make another fuel delivery. It's just her and Dean down in this part of the world, as the depot only has enough fuel for two fill ups for each of their planes. Adding a 3rd Goose would be a bit of a waste, so Staemy is staying at the Woomerang for the timebeing. It's a fairly short flight to the location of the Coastal Cruiser, which as it turns out make things a bit tricky. The mix of bumpy terrain and an almost full Goose, means that a successful (i.e. non explosive) landing takes several attempts. Heavily loaded the tanker needs a really light touchdown, or the undercarriage collapses, turning the landing site into a fiery junkyard. With landing made and a refill of the boat accomplished, the crew head out to sea. Once again heading South. The coastline is still throwing up some interesting features. This one Bob calls "The Recliner". The crew are getting used to the greater range and therefore longer stints of driving the boat, that this new design affords them. One thing that's been noticed is how much more efficient this design is when light, compared with the original one. Before there was definitely an improvement, but not as pronounced as it is with this design. Probably that's due to the reduced drag, making mass a greater factor. Bob's been called to naming duty once more, and for this feature he plumps for "Flopped Cake Hill". He toyed with "Crater Hill", but thought it was a bit too conventional. The Coastal Cruiser passes underneath some large cliffs... the most dramatic features seen for a while. Bill wonders why Bob looks so unhappy. Maybe he's missing his mountain climbing, or perhaps it's just the long time at sea. But no... he's just heard that Jeb's cooked something he caught this morning for dinner, and he's not a fan of seafood. With the sun not far from the horizon, the crew round the southern tip of the peninsula they've been heading South along for the past couple of days. They're very close to the antarctic coast and temperatures have dipped considerably, prompting Bob to name this place "Cape Cold". But at least the rest of this leg will have them heading North into warmer waters. The put in to shore just around the tip of Cape Cold with a little 1/4 of their fuel left. This far South they're treated to a fine aurora display... something to take Bob's mind off the fishy aftertaste of dinner. They make an early start in the morning, so with the lights of the boat blazing, they head North up the coast. It seems like this side of the peninsula is just as wrinkly as the the one they spent the last two days driving South along. The boat's fuel guage drops below the 100 units mark so Val starts to think about a place to park the boat. She doesn't want to do that too soon however, as the last dregs of fuel are the most important, as with the boat at its lightest, they get the best distance on it. Val's playing dare with the remaining fuel, so Jeb taps her on the shoulder and suggests that they don't want to have to rely on a MIRF drop to them. They're a long way South of the equator, so the plane change might be too much for the orbital fuel store, plus they'd have precious little fuel to use to go meet it. So Val heads in to a small bar with a shallow beach (so no problems connecting with the Goose this time). One more refill should give them the fuel them need to make it to the main bulk of the mainland.

I finished leg 40 yesterday (will be posting about it shortly) and I've rounded the southern cape, but didn't quite get to see the ice. I was really close to it though and I think in 4 or 5 more legs I'll be cruising along it.

Close call... or, only a stone's throw away. For the morning's delivery of fresh fuel (straight from the farm) it was only a short hop across the peninsular for Dean, from the last meeting spot to where the Coastal Cruiser lay. The sound of clinking bottles of fuel in the morning... what a lovely sound. The first attempt to hook up to the boat did not go well. The beach was steeper than expected when chosen as a parking sport the night before. Consequently the grabber unit failed to attached due to the angle of the two vehicles, resulting in the two coming together in an ungainly way. Some contact, a big bounce of the two and both plane and boat were in the sea. Luckily no damage was done. Dean pulled round towards the base of the bar of sand the boat had parked at and Val brought it round to meet him. Ok.. that looks flatter now, so time to get over and get the juice flowing. Minutes later the Coastal Cruiser was out at sea, heading South once more. About 1/4 the way through the fuel and there's a big bay to duck into to take a look at. That sun's getting pretty low, so time to look for a spot to park for the night. The terrain round here is pretty heavily pitted, resulting lots of bays, large and small to duck into for the overnight stop... so spoiled for choice. Val spots this intesting little cove, with steep walls and heads in. It's Val's turn to cook dinner this evening, so after shutting down the engines, she heads for the galley to prepare her famous Teriyaki Surprise... the surprise is it's mostly chocolate. In the morning they head out early. The lights on the boat are still blazing as they push further South. The encounter one of several "almost lakes" on this leg, with this being the first. Big without being ostentatious. So how's the fuel doing... answer, it's almost 1/2 gone. Thanks for asking. Another fee 10's of kilometres and there's another sizeable "almost lake" to check out. Then duck out of as soon as the inner shoreline can be seen. Not exactly mountains, but there's some nice green hills around here. Guess what... more wrinkly bits of coastline to explore. This one contains a small island, which Bob immediately names Bob's Island and claims it for all Kerbin's Bob's... but especially this one. Almost down to the 1/4 tanks point as they venture further South. Ooo... more wrinkly stuff, time to divert off the main coast and take a look. The single jet engine thunders above the cockpit. This thing's been running every day since the trip started. When the team at the Space Center build something, they build it right. Bob suggests that this part of the world might have a problem with moles... real big ones. Fuel's getting low again, but it's been another long leg that's taken the boat deep into the southern seas. Val parks up and it's Bob's turn to make dinner, so yet another dish with a high cheese content.

I think they're pronounced It Ats... it's a silent K

Ah yes, ahem... of course. Duna Bars, Kerby Krisps, all that good sweet stuff.

More flying and boating in the K.S.C. today. Dean flew in to meet a new friend. Then flew out to give the boat a fresh gulp of fuel. Then a full leg of the trip, using the Persistent Trails Continued mod to measure the distance travelled, to find out the range of the new boat design and compare it with the old. The result... 80% greater range with only an extra 8% of fuel, compared with the old boat. This is going to make the remaining trip a lot easier, as the crew head into the southern seas.

Taking bigger bites... or, why didn't I have this from the start. The numbers are in and they're looking good. This new boat design is a big improvement over the original one. But first some fuel is called for, so Dean took to the air from his last meeting place with the Coastal Cruiser. First came a stop off at the new Fuel Depot to fill the tanks on the Juice Goose. "This thing looks a lot big when you're up close". As soon as her resupply was over, it was time for Tanford to head over too. Her journey was a lot short though (about 55km), so she soon has the depot in her sights. The blinding setting sun made landing tricky, but she made it down ok, then she too filled her tanks. The following morning Dean hit the afterburners at sunrise. There's a whole lot of boating to do, so no time to waste. Nice terrain around here. Similar to the location in the north of Fuel Depot 1, but a little more bumpy and closer to the sea. It was a fairly short trip (probably about less than 200km) to the boat. Soon Dean was lining up "Mr Grabbyface" as Bob likes to call it, with the front of the rover, ready to resupply them. The ads for the local curry house and carpet store are over... it's time for our feature presentation. I said that in the last leg, it seemed like the new boat design had about double the range of the old one. Well, now we find out the truth. Val throttles up the boat to full power and heads along the coast. Ok... the boat's used up 1/4 of its fuel in 79km. That doesn't sounds so good, but the engines will be throttled down later as the boat gets lights, so things should improve as the leg continues. As the fuel guage slowly lowered, the boat zipped by islands... there are a lot of them around here. Deep bay coming up, so time to duck into it until the far end is in sight, then head back out to sea. That's the back in sight now, so Val swings the boat around. Well, swing isn't quite the right word... haul... manhandle? The new desing is efficient, but it's a lot less nimble than the original, especially with a lot of fuel onboard. With full tanks it won't actually turn at full throttle, requiring a dip in speed to make one, until the tanks are down to about 90%. Down to 1/2 tanks now and they've made it to 194km. That's an improvement but things need to get a lot better if this boat is to have double the original's range. Bill's attention is grabbed by something he's spotted in the upgraded rover. There are now snack holders for Mars bars... regular and fried. That's 257km now, which is a couple more than the original boat got on the leg on which it was range tested. On that leg the tanks were taken down to 57.5 units of fuel at that range, but the new version still has 614 in the tanks. The sun starts to set behind the boat, so it was time to head in to shore. Just short of 300km, so a record leg distance, even if it stopped here, but there's still 507 units to go. In the morning the Coastal Cruiser headed on down the West coast of the peninsular they had driven up most of the East coast of, the day before. More islands around here, and some big ones too. Who'd have guessed it... more islands to skirt around. The coastline around here is certainly interesting, even if it's particularly dramatic. The Coastal Cruiser noses its way around another headland. Turning is now a lot easier than at the start of the leg. The boat's reached 400km now, which is a big improvement over the original, but there's still 240 units of fuel to go. We could take a look in here, but the sand at the entry to this cove looks low enough to say we can see over it. So.... skip. We've just passed through the point were we would have emptied the tanks of the original boat, which might have made it to 275km if it ran dry. So 456km at this point is pretty good. Another long bay to take a look into. Then there's another one... this one was named "Bay of The Mouse" by Bob. The boat is now down to 57.5 units of fuel, so same as the original had at 265km, so how far has the new one got with the same remaining. 481km, so an extra 216km for the new boat. It's now time to park up and see our final distance for this leg. 489km and there's still 40 units of fuel left, so the boat would most likely make it to 500 if it used all the fuel aboard. Not bad... not bad at all.

Knew that was coming up Actually rounded the top and coming down the other side now.

That's what I've done in the past for longer pieces, but the text for these leg post have been short enough to not bother with that. I just forgot to go back to a text editor (Editpad Light in my case) for this one. The original version had a range of about 250km and the new one looks like it's close to double that. I might do a proper measurement in the next leg.

All change today in the Kerbin Sorta-Circumnavigation. The original boat that had to stop roughly every 250km for fuel... ... was replaced with this one. All the now useless ISRU gear was dumped, as well as one engine and an extra 8% fuel capacity added. All this has resulted in roughly a doubling of the range of the boat.

I wasn't switching when I typed that, as I wasn't going to move over to the Kitchen Sink, as it was fun, but impractical. However with so much more coastline to travel, a boat with almost double the fuel efficiency was hard not to think about. Before I made the switch I was seriously thinking about putting the trip on hold soon, as it's taking up so much time. A boat with much better range is going to help keep me cracking on. Sticking with the original design was beginning to feel like running a marathon with my feet tied together.

Grrrrr... or, this stuff happens, but it's soooo annoying. I just spent an hour typing a story to explain the appearance of the revised Coastal Cruiser, only to have the browser lose it all. Not going to retype it now... but it did feature enginneer ninjas, chloroform and Val's birthday. On the plus side, this reworked version of the boat is far more fuel efficient. It looks like it has about double the range, with only 8% more fuel onboard. So (drum roll)... here is the new boat... kinda like the old boat... kinda. Tanford heads out to supply fuel. She lands with plenty to fill the boat and for her to head to Fuel depot 2, which is only about 60km away. Slightly different view from the Goose. The new design out at sea. A pretty different view from the rear, with the twin jets replace with just one up front. A lot of travelling done and still almost half full of fuel. Early start to the 2nd days sailing of this leg. The first of three "almost lakes" that had to be explored along the way. It might have just one engine now, but it still leaves an impressive trail. When asked, Bob suggested "The Sleepy Alligator" for this one. Almost lake number 2. This is "The Slipper". "Almost lake" number 3. It was a very long leg, but the fuel has to run out sometime, and that time's not far off, so Val brought the boat in. Almost dry of fuel, but it was a good run. I made the revisions to the boat, as yesterday I was running the original version at about 1/2 throttle for a large part of the leg to try and get a bit more range from the fuel. I almost went for a change to the Kitchen Sink version a few days ago, but although it had much greater range, it also used much more fuel. This version looks like it has about twice the range, with only an extra 120 units of fuel used... just look at that red line on the map. That's progress.

Without afterburners, they do about 200m/s fully fueled. Not fast, but they get the job done. I could have gone for something faster, but I wanted to have as much fuel as possible at the end of their trips, to hand over to the boat.

Tic, Tack, Toe... or, Bob strikes again. Now that the action has moved to the southern hemisphere, the crew of the Coastal Cruiser feel like they're finally making some real progress. With the call sent out for a refuel and Dean having only enough to get him to the new Fuel Depot 2, it was time for another takeoff from Woomerang. This time it was Tanford who took to the skies in her flying gas truck. After the long flight over the ocean, she made a smooth landing on the beach near the boat. At least the boat didn't need to be moved this time in order to hook up the Goose to it. While the fuel flowed, Tanford grabbed some "corpse waker" chillies from the snacks box to chomp on. With the boat refilled, Juice Goose 3 has enough fuel onboard to refill it once more, before heading to Fuel Depot 2. The Coastal Cruiser should be fairly close to the FD2 when it makes its next stop, so the flight to it won't be much of a diversion for Tanford. The joys of heading South, heading in the right direction, heading for adventure... well if cruising the coastline of Kerbin is adventureous that is. Bob's been feeling a bit under the weather today, so it's going to be Val's turn to name this feature. She decided on "Nessie". This stretch of coastline is quite heavily pitted with bays of various sizes. This was one was probably a medium. The smaller ones could be straight lined across their mouth for an efficient route, with the larger ones requing more of a diversion. More sandy beaches... they seem to be a popular feature around these parts. A feature of a different kind this time, but as Bob is not quite himself today, the boat ploughs on, instead of the usual stop for some rover aided mountain climbing. Just below half tanks and we're making good progress. On this leg Jeb's throttling down from the usual 50m/s to 40 and even as low as 30 later on, in an effort to eek out more range. Bob final drags himself out of bed, heads to the galley and stuffs his face. Seems like he's back to his normal self now. So Bob... how about a name for that mountain over there... the spiky one. "Well, I suppose it's got to be Ouch My Toe mountain". Fair enough Bob. On the boat sped, although sped might be a bit of an overstatement, as Jeb's just ticking over the jets for a leisurely 35m/s. But with the fuel getting low he wants to get as far as he can on what's left. A little further and Jeb drops the speed once more... just 30m/s now. I don't know how much of a benefit this is, probably I should do a leg at these lower speeds and do a proper measurement of the distance travelled. There's the position of Fuel Depot 3. At closest approach it was only 18.3km away. Bill asks if it's that close, why don'r they just head to it for a refuel. I don't think Bill really understands how boats work. Leaving FD2 behind them, the sun reaches the horizon. At these speeds and the remaining fuel, there's going to be some night boating, if Jeb's going to get close to the range limit in one stint. The crew look for a good spot to park the boat and wait for a tanker, but the terrain around here isn't the best for a landing. Only 157 units of fuel left, so they're now getting pretty desparate to find a suitable site. It's now pitch black and the headlands they pass slowly, almost imperceptibly, loom up out of the gloom, then pass behind them. Ok... we're under 100 units now and the rapidly tumbling decimal point numbers crank up the pressure to find a good landing site. They think they've spotted one round the next headland. FInally Jeb brings the boat into the shore, with only 65 units of fuel left. It looks like this might be a decent spot for Tanford to land at tomorrow, but in this light it's not certain. It's been a long leg and with the stress of finding a good spot to stop, in inhospitable terrain, in the dark, they all turn in early for a good night's kip.