Light's Coming, Slowly.

Every sailor knows the sense of blessed relief that comes with stopping their engine, when the sails take over and once again the dominant sounds are those of nature and the way of their boat through the water. Now the whole world needs such a moment, leaving dependence on oil and internal combustion engines behind, and indeed this does seem to be coming; 2018 looks like being the year when 'society' is at last getting around to think in terms of electricity for cars and transport in general.

‘Better late than never’! Why it took so long is a good question, considering that electric motors were on the scene before internal combustion ones in the mid nineteenth century. There was indeed a problem with regard to range, but realistically it would not have been such a problem were it not for a certain precious myth of limitless freedom, which advertisers take much 'mileage' out of but which most of the time does not correspond with people's actual usage.

As to the vital development of batteries, much is made of lithium-ion ones, and indeed they are excellent for laptop computers and the rest of things where weight is critical; however, if they get to be required for cars and so on, we are back into a problem of supply. For the Anna M, I am thinking of AGM lead-acid, because they are about a third of the price and anyway, being a displacement boat, if we put lithium-ion ones in, I should probably need to add lead ballast!

With regard to the big picture, I realise that there seems to be a lot of lithium in the ground especially in central Africa, just as there is still a lot of oil, but apart from the little difficulty of actually getting it out, dependence on a limited resource is not good. Future generations have surely a right to a share of them, and it is much better for them to be exploited gradually and carefully, with respect to the environment and also without distorting society by putting too much money into the hands of what is pretty much bound to be a dodgy and bloated elite, who will spend a lot of it on arms in order to consolidate their position. This way, we all find ourselves having to contribute to war!

It likewise distresses me that the hype about electric cars and yachts tends to concentrate on what one might term the 'Bond' class - very flashy things aimed at the small minority who can afford them. All the violence in the world actually does have its roots in our minds, our priorities and indeed our very souls. The company that Alec and I are setting up will be orientated not to the tiny minority in the market for super-yachts, but to people who want to sail or fish, to cruise and sometimes live aboard on a low budget, to be as autonomous as possible while 'treading lightly' on our planet; to people who would actually be very happy to slow down, slipping gently through the waters rather than churning them up, as well as everyone else in their vicinity!

Streets for what?

If we get to land vehicles, personally I would like them to be more in the line of a donkey cart or a pony and trap than a sports car: rugged load carriers for the country or people carriers for cities. It would be great to get back to transporting on sea and land by natural power, with the powerful help of electric motors. The steel schooner that Alec built for himself actually has a cargo hold, and it will be great to see how she works with an electric drive. He has for a while been already at work on how to maximise the regenerative effectiveness of electric drives in sailing boats.

Alec's 'Whirled'.

Where the cockpit was.

On the Anna M, the work of laminating and riveting in new ribs is almost complete, and I am starting to prepare the hull for the final treatment of caulking, plugging nail holes and painting. It should be possible to have the electric drive installed and functioning by the Spring, so that we shall be able to set about testing, demonstrating and selling it.

By then we also intend to have a company incorporated and a premises, and then we shall be in a position to formally issue shares, but in the meantime the age-old problem of getting going is getting us down, and if anyone out there would like to come aboard and invest at this stage, you would be more than welcome, giving us a very valuable leg-up, and the terms would be good!

From Dreaming to Doing.

In this age when computers have made it so easy to churn words out, we are suffering from a veritable blizzard of them. Many of them actually do more to obscure our vision than to enlighten us. To have the opportunity to do more than give them a cursory glance is something of a luxury; serious, joined-up thinking, and the listening and reading that might go with it and which might be expected of anyone exercising any serious judgement, is rare indeed. We all tend to fall back on glancing at our usual sources, rather than trying to wrestle with the very disparate voices that sometimes crop up very near to us, even within us.

Most people allow dodgy press barons or others with murky agendas to tell them what to think, even as they delude themselves that they are thinking for themselves. Hence my extreme distrust of this rule by plebiscite that has somehow crept into politics in some places lately. What kind of democracy is it, as proposed both by Mrs May and Mr Corbyn, which ignoring all precedent, sets up the result of a thoroughly bad and largely dishonest public debate as an immutable decision, which may not be revisited after two roiling years and billions of words have at least surely nudged quite a significant number of people into trying a spot of thinking for themselves and of seriously imagining the kind of a world which they are going to pass on? Still they are not being offered a coherent vision, nor even a viable concept, of where they are being led to. 

However, with the genie out of the bottle, for all its divisive and unsatisfactory nature, it seems that we shall have to go with this type of politics, and that the only hope must be to make the debates more informed and genuinely free. It is encouraging to see young people get stuck into efforts such as:  https://www.wewantthefinalsay.com/ . We can only expect to turn the corner into a more hopeful world when, not content with dispensing more and more words, we find ways of acting them out in positive ways, in our way of living.

This is easier said than done, of course. Practical types rightly tend to be suspicious of idealists, even of ideas and ideals themselves, and actually 'putting one's money where one's mouth is' is a dangerous business. It is not in fact something that one can do from mere intellectual conviction, or as a result of a simple decision. Let us say there has to be an element of serendipity, or if you prefer, plain old luck; and also realise we shall have to overcome a lot of scepticism with patience. It is one thing to deplore cynicism, and another to convince people of viable alternatives. In fact the only way to do so is to demonstrate them, and I suppose it is really only in relation to attempts to do so that the spouting of yet more words by people like me is acceptable.

I wish it had happened twenty years ago, but better late than never I am really enjoying at present the sense of 'firing on all cylinders'. This is surely what a creative and healthy culture bestows on its fortunate children, when the spiritual and physical, the idealist and practical, the social and personal dimensions of life start working together instead of being at odds. The media of our lives, in which term I very much include the means by which for example we get around and power our technology, are indeed the massage. I am showing my age perhaps with this reference to Marshall Mcluhan, but anyway, I want to make the old Anna M into one powerful little messenger with which to massage the folk of the Gannetsway. Away with the separately firing cylinders and struggling to get them to work together; let's get into the Electric Age!  

'Anna M' learning from dolphins that autonomy with solidarity equals freedom. 

Brainstorming Electric Drives.

The renovation of the 'Anna M' has escalated into an undertaking which is frankly beyond my means. I tried a bit of crowd-funding on the basis of offering trips, as I used to do, in exchange for participating in the renovation of this classic wooden boat, but we did not raise enough to make it work. This leaves the way clear however for an even more exciting project, a way that will not alone see the boat through to a new lease of life, but a highly significant and productive one at that.

A felicitous meeting of minds, between myself and Alec Lammas, who is directing the renovation, finds both of us keen on the idea of installing a self-regenerative electric drive in the now empty hull, soon however to be stronger than ever, and using the 'Anna M' as a research and development platform for same, while also sailing round the Gannetsway (predominantly Portugal, Spain, France and Ireland, where Alec has the franchise for selling Lynch Electric Motors) to demonstrate and sell them.

Our John invited us to a brainstorming session in the old cow shed that he has brilliantly adapted to this purpose at his place in Co Clare*, and Alec flew from Portugal to participate. John kicked off by asking us both to write up on the boards our answers to the questions Why? What? & Who?  Off we went to work in the stalls on each side of the shed, and this was the result:-

(Joe) WHY?

Boat

1. Finish ‘Anna M’ (Worthwhile keeping classic boat afloat).
2. Install electric drive because it’s quiet, smooth, cheap to run, instantaneous power, little servicing, puts emphasis back on sailing.
3. More interesting and more FUN than steaming along under power in the noisy little bubble of one’s own intention.

Family /personal

1. Need to spread responsibility and justify spending when this old man is on the way out.
2. Instead of being a mere ‘hole in the water for pouring money into’, the boat will create work and business opportunities for the new generation.
3. Been dreaming about it these last 10 years or so - it’s now or never!
4. This Gannetsway project builds on my long interest in Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal and the relationship between them.

General

1. Transition to sustainable post-Oil Age extremely urgent.
2. Many possibilities in both leisure use and fishing.
3. Developing a whole new culture and relationship with nature, especially for seafarers and fishermen, particularly between the Atlantic nations of Europe.

WHAT?

Phase I - Install self-regenerating electric drive in ‘Anna M’, monitor performance, modify/improve. The propeller will charge the batteries through the motor, when the boat is sailing well. The direction of the power, to or from the prop, will change easily as appropriate. There will also be as many solar panels as practical, and of course it will be possible to recharge with shore power.
Phase II - demonstrate, sell and install more drives, make money.

Phase III - if possible move on to manufacturing, with preference for cooperation with small artisanal outfits rather than big business.

WHO?

The Electrosail Project stems from a meeting of minds between Alec Lammas and Joe Aston. Alec will be Managing Director - see his Who? section. Joe will be focussed primarily on the Anna M and promotion of the equipment, as well as overall strategy.

(Alec)WHY?

• It’s something positive to pass the time with.
• It’s a collection of subjects I’m already linked to.
• I’m at a place in life where I need to lighten up the work I do (physically - clarify priorities - lighter mind).
• Money isn’t about to go out of fashion (i.e. need income).
• I trust the people and products I’ll be involved with.
• The potential for success of project is limitless.
• It’s something I’ve had on the backburner for years and the time is right now.

WHAT?

• Replacing internal combustion engines in both commercial and pleasure boats with electric propulsion units, principally ‘LYNCH’ marine drive systems.
• Developing, improving, conceiving, producing and researching new technologies such as battery management systems, regenerative charging systems, revised versions of ‘LYNCH’ motors.

WHO?

• Joe / Alec - communication, testing/researching, demonstrating, selling, promoting.
• Alec / Joe - ideas, technical improvements/ R&D, installing, selling.
• Secretary T.B.A. - paperwork, billing, accounting etc
• Investors welcome.

Heads together in the cow stalls - Ger Kavanagh,
Joe, Steve Morris and Alec Lammas.

The brainstorming session was brilliant and we have a clear idea where we want to go. One might ask also Where? Alec is based in Nazaré, Portugal, which is strategically placed between Northern and Southern Europe, and there we hope to open a premises with workshop, store and office. Conversion jobs would preferably be undertaken there, but Alec hopes to put a lorry with a crane on the road that will be able to transport small boats by road. If there proves to be the demand, we may look for premises elsewhere also, in Ireland for example. Now for the hard part - we have to set about seeing what capital we can raise! Any potential share-holders out there?

In the Party Shed at Astoneco.

*see https://www.astoneco.com/en/homepage