Richard Hewson

Day 3 Qualification passageDate Saturday 04/5/2013
Position South of Sardinia

The qualification passage so far has not been without its problems. While the RG650 is performing well and living up to its bullet proof standard, I have been having a range of electrical problems with my EFOY charging system and instruments. Hopefully today as we make landfall and reach lighter wind conditions I can investigate and hopefully solve my electrical problems.

0621 Position 39 01N 008 04E Sunrise – sun is obscured. I have been reaching throught the morning in moderating conditions and now have up my full main and Code 0. As the sunrises I make out landfall – south Sardinia! It has been a long night on the helm and even without using the autopilot the batteries are down to 11.9V.
0900 Position 38 56N 008 24E Attempted to contact MV Lady Nuk to report my position. There is no reply. It is concerning how many merchant vessels dis-regard the requirement to maintain a listening watch on Channel 16. The wind backs and moderates so I hoist my MWS. Shortly later the wind dropps out compleately as we pass San Pietro Is.
The forecast is for light wind from the north force 4-5 becoming variable from the NNW later in the day – this could make for some frustrating sailing.
1336 Position 38 50N 008 38E Becalmed off the south of Sardinia. Dead calm so dropped the sails and decided to clean the boat to get all the die out and get the boat dry again after the last few days of rough conditions. Tried to make a phone call to report my position on my Italian phone but found it is out of credit.
1519 Position 38 50N 008 40E Light breeze from west so hoisted LWS and full main. Used the next lull to re-wire the EFOY – still no luck. It is very hot so im trying to stay out of the sun whenever I can to avoid dehydration and sunburn. Late lunch and searching for a snack.. just found more cheese – thanks A!
2300 Position 39 00N 009 21E Wind up and down and rotatin 360 deg. Very frustrating sailing conditions. Batteries are still flat even after a day of extreme sunlight. During the day I turned off all non essential electrical equipment including the instruments. Now I can not get the instruments to turn back on so I re-wire them using my headtorch as my only light source. Thankfully after a bit of re-wiring the NKE instruments turn back on.
I am very tired so brew more coffee and make a late dinner while the boat sails herself. Unfortunately I do not have the battery power to run the pilot so I must stay on deck as we are too close to land to let the boat run free and risk an un-noticed change of course, so I bring my sea-rug on deck and snuggle down in the cockpit for the rest of the night.