Autopilot packs up
Well, the good news is that we had a good run on Monday night/ Tuesday morning with 145NM under the keel. The seas were still very rough but the wind was down to around 25-30kts except in the frequent squalls, promising future improvement. Indeed, we had a reasonable lunch yesterday and Penny cooked up a scrumptious evening meal. The odd rogue wave kept us on our toes. I started to read a book for the first time since Sunday and Penny got out her MP3 player with talking books. Then along came a BIG wave to spoil the fun! We got completely drenched, tonnes of boat came to a dead stop and the water soaked the sails further than 25ft up the mast!
David made a big mistake at dinner time by adding an extra little prayer for the autopilot. Literally 60secs later, it died. This is a NEW unit, rated for bigger boats than this and it has either stripped gears in the gearbox or teeth off the drive belt. Sigh!
So, with a bit over 300NM to go yesterday evening, we started hand steering. Unfortunately, Penny's legs are too short to reach the bracing positions either side of the wheel. So, she could hold us steady in moderate conditions but it is impossible with these big swells and waves. So, the honour falls to Dave & William to hand steer the rest of the way. It will be somewhere between 50 and 60 hours.
Now, Wednesday morning, the winds are down a bit and the sea is also a bit less with fewer rogue waves. It is still challenging but manageable.
We will not be updating this blog any further until we are safely inside Port Moselle which will be some time early Friday morning (depending upon the wind direction).
The Crew
