Distance sailed so far: 4,121 nm. (In miles-4742.3)
Total distance sailed last 3-days: 410 nm (In miles-(471.8)
Day-28.
24 hr.Run: 158 nm. Pos. Lat.34*12′ N. Long. 146*18 W.
Weather: Wind: 15-25 kts.SE. SEAS: 6-8 FT SE. Course 060* T.
Speed: 6.6 kts. Cabin Temp at 7 am=64*. Bar: 1013 mb. down-2 mb.
The Rest of the Story.
Today sailing fast and being forced to the North some what by SE-winds but feel the need to get some northerly.
It’s funny but no matter what one of the things I pride myself on is how well the solar panels and wind generator do to keep my batteries charged.
Well, today when I took a look at the battery voltage it seemed to be down. Hmmmm! A quick glance up at the wind generator and it appears to be stopped or spinning slowly. I look at my solar charge controller and it shows the batteries at full charge. Hmmmm! I start the engine and run it at about 1200 rpm and I can see the voltage indicator showing the batteries being charged. Hmmmm! It is now late in the day and winds are picking up so I decide to charge for 1/2 hr. then charge again for one hour as I don’t want to not be able to start the engine and need to figure out just what the hell is going on with my electrical system.
Stay tuned to see if “Mc Giver” can figure this one out.
Day 29.
24 hr.Run:122 nm. Pos. Lat. 35*09’N. Long. 144*32′ W.
Weather: Wind SE 20-35+kts. dying over night to near-0 Kts.
Seas=10-15 ft. SE. Course=094*T. speed 4kts. Cabin Temp=60*at 7 am. Bar.=1012 mb. down 1 mb.
The Rest of the Story.
Today the low is upon us and pounding away. I’m trying to keep up the main with a reef in it and the stay sail,this seems like almost to much sail, especially since I have an electrical problem and need to get at my battery banks.
Sailors Run has two banks of 6-volt golf cart batteries with four batteries in each bank. Now, these batteries are in the aft cabin under the bunk and that aft cabin is also the “garage where I store all kinds of things including my
18 hp.outboard. So picture sailing at 7 kts. in 10-15 ft seas on a close reach heeled over about 20* and its time to go to work.
Once I get to the batteries I take my volt meter and start checking voltages, because the charge controllers on both the wind generator and the solar panels say they are fully charged and the two banks are tied together through a main battery switch that can isolate either bank or turn them off entirely if necessary. I check the voltage at the solar controller on the out put and see that it is like almost 14-volts. Hmmmm! I go to the buss work where all the batteries and load are tied together and read the same high voltage. Hmmm. Yet my voltmeter on my breaker panel shows 12.3 volts. Hmmm. I check the voltage on each individual bank and one is at near 14-volts and the other is at 12.3 volts. and they are tied together through the switch. Hmmmm. I can see no sign of failed connection either at the switch or at the battery bank that is not charged and working conditions are “crap”.
So what I do is take a #6-stranded copper jumper and tie the two positive terminals of both banks together and suddenly both the wind generator and the solar panels start charging. Yahoo! as this will do for now.
Now you must understand at this point I’m pretty happy and all things seem better aboard Sailors Run except there is this old saying that things happen in “Three’s”.
It was later that evening while being hammered with 35+kts that I decided to drop the main. Soon I was up on deck all suited up in a cold driving rain struggling to stay on the boat as I tugged the main sail down. Finally, at last the headboard of the sail was in my hands. Suddenly, I realized the main Halyard had come free and was flying around up above me wrapping itself around all kinds of things. Now this is a you have got to be “kidding me” moment as that clevis has never unscrewed on its own ever in 25-years, but tonight it is off and running.
Once below and changing out of my foulies, the boat suddenly is 40* off course. I mean what the “hell” is going on now. Once out in the cockpit it is very obvious what is going on.
Remember that bolt I could not get a nut on and moused it in with wire. Well, it has escaped and the servo rudder on the wind vane is now dragging along astern on the safety line. I pull it in and drag it below after putting Sailors Run back on the electric autopilot.
Now that we have adversity there is little left to do but overcome it.
Stay tuned and see how this all shakes out. El Jefe’
Day-30.
24 hr.Run: 130 nm. Pos. Lat.35*43’N. Long. 142*07’W.
Weather: Wind: 4-15 kts.SE. Seas= 6-8 ft. Course=060*T.
Speed: 6.8 kts. Cabin Temp at 7 am=62*. Bar: 1013 mb up-1 mb.
The Rest of the Story.
The winds had diminished over night and the Genoa was now rolled out and the mizzen sail up and pulling, the seas of course are much slower about coming down and are still exceeding 10-feet this morning.
I know I have a halyard that must be retrieved and that means going up the main mast. Lucky for me it wrapped itself around the port spreader so I only have to go two thirds of the way up the mast. I look upon what appears to be a very strange sea as now the waves in my part of the ocean have become small “hay stacks”. Under these conditions these little hills come in under your boat at any given location lifting either the bow or stern or on the side where you just take a big roll to one side, not looking very conducive for going aloft.
I instead tackle the servo rudder issue on the wind-vane. I decide to enlarge the holes in the break away tube by going to the next larger drill bit and reaming them out, hoping this will make getting that stubborn bolt to line up and go through. I’m actually amazed as after the drilling I have the rudder mounted back up and bolted on properly in just 30-minutes “wahoo”!
I check my weather reports again and decide I must get that halyard down today as I will need that main hoisted for power over the next two days.
I drag my set of blocks forward, along with the bosun’s chair and pull the blocks up to the top of the mast on the spinnaker halyard.
Sailors Run is sailing along on a beam reach at about 4-kts in light winds and Hay stack seas. I have strapped on a full life vest for protection as I know I will be banged into the mast many times. I use two safety straps, one is a spare if I need it and the other one is wrapped around the mast twice to keep me close to the mast,decreasing the potential for large impacts from the roll.
It takes thirty minutes to pull myself the thirty feet up to the spreaders and I can already feel the bruises on the inside of my legs where they have been wrapped around the mast trying to stop me from making revolutions around the mast. I at last get my hands on the halyard and shake it free of the upper “baggy wrinkle”[chafe gear on shrouds]. Soon I descend down the mast dragging the halyard with me and can hardly refrain from kissing the deck once down on it.
This is all part of a days work if your going to have a successful passage!
Sail on Sailor El Jefe’