The Wind Comes In

No Power for 24 hours

I have been asked whether we would ever go without power for 24 hours to see what it is like in case we ever lost power and/or what we would do if we lost power. This could occur through a fire, flood, lightning strike or loss of use of the engine or generator.

The answer is no because we have power but let’s explore that further. We get power from our batteries which are charged by the engine, generator or solar power. We use power for a number of things for example our fridges and freezer. If we had no power then our perishables would go off so we would have to survive on what we had left i.e. tins etc.  We should be able to cook as that is gas although there is an electric solenoid which is a safety feature so without that – we may not be able to use the gas unless we disconnected it, which we could. We use power for our instruments which tells us our GPS position, wind, depth etc and our autopilot. Without power we could not use any of this so what would we do? We would hand steer which would be hard especially for hundreds and thousands of miles. We would know our last position as we would recorded it in our log but would then have to navigate by compass and estimating how far we had gone each hour and in which direction and we could plot this on our paper chart. We do have a sextant on board and therefore could take sightings to try and work out our position. Whilst we have a battery GPS unit once its battery went flat we would use that. We could estimate wind strength and direction. We therefore should be able to navigate as they did in the olden days.

We would have no communication so would not be able to download weather, or make calls or emails. If there is lighting you can put mobile phones and other small electrical equipment which should not be affected as the oven acts like a faraday cage. We would therefore assess weather as we went along and adjust sails accordingly. Whilst we could use our electric winches as they can be used manually we would lose all our hydraulics which would mean that our furling in of our all our sails would have to be done by hand. This is through handles in each furler and it is a slow tedious process but can be done. 

We would have no lights and would therefore have to rely on torches until our batteries ran out or use the moon if there was one. Our water pumps would not work so we would have to rely on one tap in the galley which has a foot pump but then we would not be able to make water so we would have to assess what water we had left and to ration it. Hopefully we should be able to navigate to land in a few days. We would not be able to use the heads (toilets) or the showers as the pumps are electric – so we would have to use buckets. If there was rain we could collect it for drinking and we could wash using sea water. 

The answer is that we could survive taking into account all of these considerations but as we rely on power so much and the idea is to enjoy this trip we would not want to put us through this hardship unless we had to.

Today

The night sail was not that fast unfortunately and Robbie and I were on watch from 8.00pm until 11.00pm and then we came on watch at 5.00am. We took over from Keith and Peter who had had an uneventful watch and saw no traffic and there were no radio signals. It is as if we have the Atlantic to ourselves. However we were off course as the wind had veered. Predict Wind anticipated we would have to Gybe to go on to a port tack. We decided to watch the sunrise first and took bets as to the time we would see the sun. The horizon was covered with broken clouds and as time passed these clouds took on a yellow and then more orange glow. Then just before sunrise the colour changed quite quickly and it was like someone was turning up a dimmer and then suddenly the sun appeared over the sea. It was a magical moment and how often do we get the chance to see this?

Once we had light Robbie and I decided to gybe (turn) and we put the stern (rear of the boat) through the wind and we were now sailing on a port tack (i.e. the wind is blowing on the port (left) side of the boom. This worked well but we were now pointing to the left of target and we may have to zig zag (by gybing) toward Barbados. Once done everyone started to appear and I put the generator on to charge the batteries which go down to about 70% overnight and take about 2.5-3.00 hours to charge. Robbie made porridge for the hungry bears and we had toast (we could use mains power through an inverter as the generator was on) with honey. I made a loaf of bread under Mark’s supervision – not bad for a first effort. It was a lovely warm blue and white cloudy day and it felt good to be alive. I made a pot of the Skipper’s coffee (as I do each morning) and we all look forward to this rather than the instant coffee.

Mark and Ian came on watch at 8.00am and they went about the daily checks and internal cleaning and everyone goes about their business. We are a well-oiled crew now and in the grove. We have about 500nm to go. We just need the wind to keep up its strength so we can hit the 8kt mark. It is looking like we may get there Friday 19th January pm or early evening. However much will depend on the wind.

At 12.00noon we put the ships clocks back one hour again so we are now GMT-4 and are on Barbados time. After lunch we were looking at our course and the weather and what the wind was going to do. On the port tack we were about 25 degrees off our course which would add mileage. In studying the wind we realised that overnight the wind was going to back and therefore if we were on a starboard tack this would push us more toward Barbados and reduce the angle off course. The problem is that without the Red Baron we do not have a sail that can allow us to sail more than 140 degrees off the wind and certainly not 180 which would be dead downwind.

After some debate we decided to go on the starboard tack and run that overnight. This proved to be a good decision and as I write we are much more on course. It was a lovely afternoon and with the time change which was a bit early sunset was about 5.30pm. Robbie made his own chicken curry which was delicious.

Robbie and I were on the 4.00pm-8.00pm shift and as it continued the wind began to grow and was gusting 23 kts and eventually when Mark and Ian came on 27 kts. We took in a number of reefs in the main and changed to the Staysail which is our second foresail and it is a bit like changing down a gear as it is a smaller sail. Whilst the wind is strong we feel much more under control. Let’s hope we have a good night and make more of a direct course toward Barbados.

Distance last 24 hours 157 nm

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