Richard Hewson

Day 1 Thursday 03/5/13
Location Palma
Distance run 0

0800 Arrived at the boat yard and put the boat in the water
0900 All rigged, boat ready to go. Amanda is off doing some shopping for me for my provisions for the week. I always love it when Amanda does my shopping as she puts in fresh and tasty food that I would not normally take with me.. I expect to find some lovely goodies during the passage. A number of Aussies and well wishes passed by the boat and wished me good luck and a safe passage. It was good to see so many friendly faces that I have not seen for a long time.
1000 Food arrived, boat packed, photo’s taken and I cast off from the dock and pass the lines to Hugo and Javiers in the RHIB for a tow out to the breakwater. On the way out we pass many superyachts getting ready for the Palma Vella superyacht regatta.
1058 Position 39 32N 002 39E, hoisted main and jib and commenced quantification passage. There is little to no wind so its not exactly a roaring start. As the yachts for the Palma Vella motor out to their start line a few of them pass close by and wish me luck. My Mini 816 the RG650 looks like a dinghy in comparison to these monsters of the sea and the top of my mainsail is barely the height of their cabin tops.
1345 Position 39 21N 002 47E Co 120 Sp 5kts. Palma is now out of site. I have a few phone calls wishing me luck. I left the dock feeling a bit nervous which is unusual but my nerves have now settled and it is a perfect day for sailing. The boat is going well. The wind is still quite variable and I have already done a number of sail changes including changing from jib to code 0, to Light Weight Spinnaker (LWS) and back to the jib. I have to learn to slow down and take it easy or I will ware myself out. Soon I will be clear of the land and I can get sort the boat out and get some rest.
1500 Position 39 18N 002 55E Wind has backed, now close hauled.
1800 Position 39 17N 003 18E Wind continues to back to NE so I tack away from the coast. Finally I have time for some rest. I am hoping that the wind will be in the north soon so I can get more sail and increase my boat speed to make some good miles through the night.
1952 Position 39 14N 003 20E Co 093 Sp 8 Spent last hour fault finding for electrical problems with NKE, Pilot and EFOY… why do all these things stop working at once?? I think I have solved problems but then it all re-tripps. EFOY (Methanol fuel cell used for charging batteries) says false readings and then display freezes. It is meant to turn on when batteries reach 12.3V but it fails to do so. Looks like ill be relying on solar and hand steering for the rest of the passage as I do not have enough power to supply the automatic pilot for more than 4 hours a day. This will make my qualifier painfully long and hard, I continue to try to solve the EFOY problem, however I will have to wait until daylight tomorrow so the sun can charge the batteries above 12.3 V or there is no chance of the EFOY turning on. I think there may be some water in the electronics from my last rough passage.
No weather report heard.