Monday, June 01, 2020

The Winters Work and Coronavirus Interrupts Play

My 2019 sailing season finished with a voyage on the Ocean Youth Trust South's vessel Prolific and I was looking forward to spending some time working on Aphrodite as there were a couple of major projects to do, specifically improve the electrical system as much of the wiring was over 35 years old and beginning to corrode, the telltale black copper showing at the joints that needed to be replaced with more modern tinned copper, and give the inside a lick of varnish as Aphrodite needed a lift inside.

I was fortunate to get early retirement in January at the age of 58 which allowed me to bring forward my plans by two years. Little did we know then that Coronavirus would sweep the world and the UK would go into "lockdown", a word I dislike, for three months setting my plans back a bit.

The Batteries

I had always felt that the batteries were on the light side for what the boat was being expected to do. Two led acid batteries: the 80Ah starter battery was not holding its charge; the house battery was only 100Ah and with just the engine or shore power charging was not keeping up on multiple day trips without using the engine more that I wanted.

With much research I decided to replace the current batteries with Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) ones as they have better resistance to vibration, can't leak acid if they crack, can be discharged to a lower voltage and the existing charger was able to cope with them.

After much searching on the internet I found a company that could supply low profile batteries that would fit the existing locations and worked out that I could fit extra batteries under the rear bunk thus increase my house capacity to 390Ah an increase of 390%.

That should keep me happy for a few days, especially as I'm reducing as much of the power usage as I can, LED bulbs and the like.

The Switch Panel

The original switch panel while working was of its time, the voltage and amperage instruments could not accurately display the boats actual usage as we were using far less power as over the years equipment got more and more efficient. Thus began the search for something up to date that would deal with modern power requirements and simplify things for single handed passages.

After much searching of the internet I found KDD Power in Cornwall that were producing exactly what I wanted and it got even better when they said that they could custom make a panel. Being pretty local I popped down to discuss my requirements and commission a new switch panel and VSR charger.

Monday, May 25, 2020

Delivery Trip - Lowestoft to Hartlepool Day 2

Finish

Crew: Peter Vandenberg, Will Armitage, Sandy Garrity


Trip Stats: Distance: 200 nm, Avg speed: 7.00 knots, Max speed: 12.50 knots, Under way: 28 h 30 m


Weather: Inshore waters to 12 miles offshore 13:00 (UTC+1) on Thu 21 May 2020 to 13:00 (UTC+1) on Fri 22 May 2020

North Foreland to Selsey Bill - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: Variable 2 to 4, becoming southwesterly 5 or 6 later. Smooth or slight, becoming moderate later. Thundery showers for a time. Good occasionally moderate.

Gibraltar Point to North Foreland - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: Variable 2 to 4, becoming southerly 4 to 6, veering southwesterly later. Smooth becoming slight. Thundery showers for a time. Good occasionally moderate.


Sunday, May 24, 2020

Delivery Trip - Lowestoft to Hartlepool Day 1

test ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crew: Peter Vandenberg, Will Armitage, Sandy Garrity ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Weather: Inshore waters to 12 miles offshore 13:00 (UTC+1) on Thu 21 May 2020 to 13:00 (UTC+1) on Fri 22 May 2020 North Foreland to Selsey Bill - Strong wind warning 24 hour forecast: Variable 2 to 4, becoming southwesterly 5 or 6 later. Smooth or slight, becoming moderate later. Thundery showers for a time. Good occasionally moderate. Gibraltar Point to North Foreland - Strong wind warning 24 hour forecast: Variable 2 to 4, becoming southerly 4 to 6, veering southwesterly later. Smooth becoming slight. Thundery showers for a time. Good occasionally moderate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Trip Stats: Distance: 200 nm, Average speed: 7.00 knots, Maximum speed: 12.50 knots, Under way: 28 h 30 m, Sailing hours: 24 h 0 m, Engine hours: 4 h 30 m (inc warm up cool down).

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Delivery Trip - Cowes to Lowestoft Day 2

Day two saw the wind build to a F7, gusting F9 and the Coastguard issued a gale warning for the sea area we were in so it was decided to run for shelter in Lowestoft.


Crew: Peter Vandenberg, Will Armitage, Sandy Garrity


Trip Stats: Distance: 200 nm, Avg speed: 7.00 knots, Max speed: 12.50 knots, Under way: 28 h 30 m


Weather: Inshore waters forecast to 12 miles offshore 13:00 (UTC+1) on Sat 23 May 2020 to 13:00 (UTC+1) on Sun 24 May 2020

24 hour forecast: Southwesterly veering westerly later, 5 or 6, occasionally 7 until later. Slight or moderate. Showers at first, perhaps thundery. Good, occasionally moderate at first.


Friday, May 22, 2020

Delivery Trip - Cowes to Lowestoft Day 1

Back in 2019 I had registered with Halcyon Yachts to work as delivery crew and widen my experience by sailing with RYA Ocean Skippers, in areas that I had not sailed and on different types of boat. In early March 2020 there was a request for crew at the end of the month and I volunteered thinking that some "winter sailing" would be a useful experience.

As Coronavirus 19 was loose on the planet the voyage was delayed as the night before we were due to meet up the British Prime Minister addressed the nation on television saying we should all stay at home and after a few phone calls the delivery was postponed. With the Lockdown in England opening up boat deliveries were being allowed following a few guidelines about the health of the crew prior to departure. This was the rescheduled voyage and the plan was to sail non-stop from Cowes to Hartlepool on the North East of England, but mother nature had different ideas.

We assembled in East Cowes said our hellos' and checked Velocity Girl, an ocean racing yacht with an impeccable list of race wins and long distance voyages.

Following a check of the boat and all of the systems, we found the autopilot had been reconnected incorrectly and took some time to trace the problem. After which we set off down the Medina river and into the east Solent heading towards Hartlepool in the north east of England a trip of some 375 nautical miles that would see me sailing in the North Sea for the first time.

A watched system of three on, six off was agreed and Will took the first watch once we were clear of the breakwater, I had a try out our the helm as it had been some time since I steered with tiller and had not sailed for some time; she was flighty but manageable.

With everybody happy I climbed into my bunk as I was on the 2000 - 2300 UTC watch and needed some rest as it would be dark by then and it had been some time since I had last stood a night watch by myself.

I came up on deck as we were passing Beachy Head, the lighthouse flashing its usual rhythm Fl (2) W 20s and took over for the passage towards Dover when Peter came up as we arrived, with two on deck this made passing the entrance to the port easier as there was an inbound ferry from France. With that out of the way I clambered back into my bunk and got some sleep.

The first six hours rest period passed extremely quickly and at 0500 UTC I had my warm kit and oilies on ready to take the next watch. The F5 had developed into a F6 with the wind instrument reading 25 knots true most of the time. Velocity Girl was flying and were were mid way across the Thames Estuary heading for the coast of East Anglia.


Crew: Peter Vandenberg (Skipper), Will Armitage, Sandy Garrity


Trip Stats: Distance: 200 nm, Avg speed: 7.00 knots, Max speed: 12.50 knots, Under way: 28 h 30 m


Weather: Inshore waters to 12 miles offshore 13:00 (UTC+1) on Thu 21 May 2020 to 13:00 (UTC+1) on Fri 22 May 2020

North Foreland to Selsey Bill - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: Variable 2 to 4, becoming southwesterly 5 or 6 later. Smooth or slight, becoming moderate later. Thundery showers for a time. Good occasionally moderate.

Gibraltar Point to North Foreland - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: Variable 2 to 4, becoming southerly 4 to 6, veering southwesterly later. Smooth becoming slight. Thundery showers for a time. Good occasionally moderate.