After ditching power generation from marine diesel generators a few years back, all new equipment that goes on Connie has to fit into our (mostly solar-generated) power budget. It was long past time to re-add watermaking to Connie's list of skills.

I’ve long thought there must be a safer, more comfortable way to go up our mast than a Bosun’s Chair. When I criticized our use of this ancient design concept, my fellow sailors and racers would give me that all too familiar judging smirk, followed by something like: “We all have to do it; just get up there.”

After dealing with the rapid degradation of our latest SunPower flexible panels, we decided to try something different—CIGS Panels