Friday February 25, 2011
Today’s update came in 3 installments between 10:30am and 2pm.
First call: Diane was reefed in really nasty chop. Multiple wave trains with no backs on them. She was debating shaking out reef as wind was easing and needed power. Lost connection before the chance to fully discuss her being reefed in the first place.
Second call: full main and going through the chop much better due to the extra power. Main battery flat. Didn’t take a charge yesterday at all. Hand steering for now, trying to charge in lots of sunshine.
Third call (much later). Ran full diagnostics on battery and electrical system including phyisycally moving batteries around. Each battery and charging source is on it’s own dedicated controller. It looks like the main solar panel on stern, that got the nickname The spoiler on the Bermuda race last summer, may be dead. Not to worry as Diane has reconfigured with the other panels. She’s running on second battery now and monitoring to see if the first battery is charging.
She is very excited now as that problem seems to be solved for now at least. AND! Diane saw and gammed with her first sail boat since the run began. The skipper was taking her south, he didn’t consider their current location south. He had no destination in mind other than south. They chatted for quite a while on the VHF. Diane gets so excited by these things.
At about 2pm, conditions were wind E 12kts true, steering 200, lots of sunshine, 1019.6mb. The forecast will see Diane in mostly 15’s all the way down to Inagua with the odd bit above and below that.
There was a debated whether she should go east or west of Plana Cays. She was currently sailing to pass to the west of it, which is faster, but sailing higher will give her a faster angle after she passes it, though at the cost of short term speed.
Waves are much better since passing Samana Cays. We about the chop and the likelihood of it being a combination of reflected waves and the bottom coming up really fast. Diane said the whole trip has been pretty much like sailing in a washing machine. There as so many banks and shoals that the rollers coming from deep ocean get all piled up around the islands. Diane almost puked on the first night through the northwest passage.
Tim again. Funny how some details take a few days to get passed along. As always, there is for Diane’s latest location. At 6:18am Saturday morning, just 24nm from Great Inagua Island Lighthouse and the start of the next leg.
February 26th, 2011 at 4:43 am
It appears Diane did sail to the west of Plana Cays and is well on her way to the southern tip of Great Inagua Island. The lighthouse there at Matthew Town is apparently still operated by keepers, and the light is still fueled by kerosene. It was built in 1870. It would be interesting to hear how far away the lighthouse was when Diane first picked up the light.
Sorry to hear about your “washing machine”…lol.
Hang in there Diane! GO GO GO
February 26th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Way to go Diane. Love following your progress.