The cost development of solar is just incredible. We almost doubled the solar capacity on our boat this summer for just couple hundred euros.

For the past year, all of our electricity has come from renewable sources (mostly solar, though we also have small wind and hydro generators on the boat that do contribute when conditions are right). And this includes things like satellite internet, refrigeration, and making all our domestic fresh water through desalination.

Yup, I think if you get some regatta people interested, it’ll just happen.

Sweden did, once, though admittedly with quite long versions of butter knives

2016 Brexit referendum was quite a turning point.

There’s a whole set of articles analysing this one: https://acoup.blog/category/collections/legion-and-phalanx/

The actual Atlantic crossing was 14 days

It’s possible to crew for others. When we sailed across the Atlantic ten years ago (on a sail training ship), one of the people on board was for the first time on a sailboat.

There’s plenty of ways to visit countries that won’t involve flying. Some of those quite CO2 neutral.

Get a pressure cooker, and cooking any dried beans becomes quick and easy.

For chickpeas, we often do curries. This one is great, too: https://www.budgetbytes.com/sriracha-hummus/

We were there a couple of weeks ago. Seems different neighbourhoods had different flags. We elected not to fly a courtesy flag on our boat as all the alternatives were partisan one way or another.

The tablet does have an LTE modem, but in this case it’s getting internet from the boat (Teltonika RUTX11 modem)

I have a Raspberry Pi running Signal K on the computer. This transmits all boat sensor data (depth, wind, GPS, AIS targets, etc) to the tablet. On tablet I can then run a chartplotter app, for example Navionics, SeaPilot, OpenCPN, or my current option, Orca CoPilot.

Nexus 7 (FHD, the better model) was the best tablet I’ve had. I used it even as a phone replacement for a couple of years.

Now I’m using a Galaxy Tab Active 3 as a chartplotter on the boat. Also quite nice, but would be too slow for a “main device”. Not to mention camera quality.

If a bottle of wine and some cheese takes your hike from a 3-star experience to a 5-star experience, you need it.

Boxed wine, mind you. It is still !ultralight after all 😅

Isn’t the whole point of ultralight to shave all the extra weight off your kit so that you can pack some luxuries with you (in your case cast iron pan, in mine, some wine and cheese)

I’ve been to both Petsamo and Karelia, and trust me, we don’t want them back. To clean them up and bring them into modern standards of infrastructure would be ridiculously expensive. Not to mention the Russian population that has integrated in them over the last 80 years.

The previous year’s flagship is one option. Samsung’s S22 and S22+ both fit in this range, and even the S22 Ultra is not too far off. And those still have a few OS updates left. Pixel 6 Pro seems to sell for the same price as 7a in Germany.

This has been my strategy for the last two phones (Note 8 and Note 10) and it has worked great. Following this thread with interest as this is the year I’m due to upgrade.

I’ve been very happy with our Spinlocks. Comfortable for keeping them on the whole day. We crossed the Atlantic on a boat that had them, and later bought the same for our own boat.

I’ve been traveling with one bag for years, sometimes for multiple months at a time, ranging from tropical islands to the arctic. Some quick tips:

• Pack light. If you cannot carry your full one bag for a day out in a foreign city, you’ve packed too much
• Have your bag with you. Don’t check it in while flying, don’t leave it in a hotel or a train station locker if you can avoid it
• You can do laundry while traveling. Sink wash, use a laundromat, etc
• Layering is key in cold or variable climates
• You generally don’t need fancy gear to onebag, but for example merino is quite practical
• Keep track of what you pack (lighterpack is a great website for doing this). Refine, eliminate, consider what worked and what didn’t

I recently read the Bobiverse books, and those were quite fun.

Daniel Suarez is another good one (start with Daemon), as is Ian McDonald (Dervish House, the Luna series).