Captain's Log
April 4, 2002
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Hello All,
The dust has settled and the salt water has been washed from myself and even BTC Velocity has had a well earned bath. The passage from Bermuda to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, was everything I had hoped it would be, even if there were some occasions when an easier passage would have been welcome.
The highlights of the passage were:
The Storm: Its fair to say that although anyone entering the Around Alone race must be able to handle a storm that reaches or exceeds 60 kts, however; one does not go out looking for such a storm to practice in. You let them find you, and find me it did.
It was day eight of the passage and 40 kts from the South West was forecast. This is a fairly strong wind and as we all know a Tropical Storm " gets its name " once 34 kts is reached. So I was prepared, had a series of naps to help ' bank ' some sleep, ate a large meal and waited. Between 4 - 6 p.m. the winds increased to 40 kts and started gusting to 45 kts. BTC Velocity had a tripled reefed main and 50 % of the inner foresail out. Boat speed was 12 - 15 kts. Seas were increasing but still manageable.
This unfortunately was not the full height of the storm. Winds increased to a solid 50 kts gusting higher at around 7 p.m. then at 8 p.m. winds were a steady 52 - 55 with gusts higher. The highest I saw while looking at the instruments was 56.7 kts, but I would guess that there were a few touching the 60 kt level. Seas continued to build until they were approximately 20 feet. The sound was amazing, screaming winds with breaking waves all around.
Then came the knockdowns....the definition of a knockdown is when a wave takes a yacht and rolls it on its side with the mast touching the water. Basically a 90 degree tip over, although you can get pushed further up to the point that a full roll over or capsize occurs. BTC Velocity was knocked down to approximately the 90 degree angle, on 4 occasions during the evening of 21st March. Quite a scary experience. First you hear a roar of a wave that sounds different than the others and comes from a slightly different angle, then a crash as it hits the side of the yacht, which is immediately and violently pitched over. Loose objects fly around the cabin and then up you come again. These knockdowns occurred every hours or so until 3 a.m. when the winds subsided to 40 kts by sunrise and down to 30 kts by noon the next day.
The good thing about the storm was that we came through unscathed. BTC Velocity's design was proven to be stable ( as the re righting after the knockdowns was immediate ) in a real test and in future, should a 60 kts storm be forecast, I will have confidence and now the experience to handle it.
Engine Starting Panel: On my previous yacht, Learning to fly, the engine starting panel had become waterlogged during a rough passage and I was unable to start the engine and thus charge the batteries. When building BTC Velocity, I made sure that a hatch cover and recessed enclosure were constructed to ensure that this event would not happen again. But during the storm I inadvertently did not completely close the hatch cover !!! Oops. The day after the storm I went to start the engine and charge the batteries and there was no charge being generated.
If you can imagine being 7 - 8 days from the Canaries with the prospect of only 2 days of power left with which to run the autopilots only and shut down everything else, including all communications and weather data, this was not a pleasant thought. I traced the problem from the engine back to the starting panel and over a period of approximately 3 hours I dried every contact and checked all fuses. With trepidation I started the engine again and the alternators kicked in and the batteries got there charge. A massive relief.
Lesson learned in closing the hatch properly and also that that my little Honda Generator which can provide enough current to run the autopilots, so I can sleep needs, to be commissioned. I had it on board, but had no fuel to run it, because nothing was going to happen to my engine, its was brand new right ?????????!!!!!!!!
Keel bolts: After the storm I started to hear some creaking from the center of the boat. I had no idea where the sound was coming from, but the noise was very disconcerting. I narrowed the noise down to the keel area. This was again a bit scary. Creaky keel ?? not possible ?? During the 3 months that I spent in Australia this past summer, one thing I was certain of was the strength behind the keel support and structure, to me it was impossible that any major problem existed within this area. Using my hands to feel all the areas surrounding the keel I felt no movement yet the creaking continued. I removed the navigation seat and still everything looked secure. But then I remembered that there were 4 bolts under the trim tab lever that were for final tensioning of the keels mid section. You guessed it, all four were spinning freely !!! These bolts had been the only 4 not epoxied ( glued ) in place during construction as they were loosened to accept a grounding copper strip. Obviously hand tightening was not sufficient. Over the remainder of the passage I tightened these bolts about 2 times a day and will be gluing them permanently in place this week.
Autopilot failure: BTC Velocity has the best instruments and electronics available in the market today. B & G electronics and autopilot systems were chosen based on their reliability and performance. Keeping this in mind, I still installed a 2nd autopilot system from an Australian company called Coursemaster as a back up, just in case of problems with my primary system. I have previously spent a total of 15 days offshore single handed and without a working autopilot on my last boat and I am not keen to repeat those events.
It was Day 13 and I heard a clicking sound from the aft compartment where the autopilots reside. ( It is critical on a sailboat to immediately investigate any sound that seems out of the norm, one is constantly listening for these abnormal noises ) I crawled into the compartment and heard the clicking getting louder, touched the B & G autopilot ram and it was hot. Time to shut it down until a technician in Las Palmas can look at it. I swapped over the auto pilot drives and turned on the Coursemaster. The Coursemaster performed perfectly for the last 3 days of the passage.
Diagnosis of the problem has been received - faulty computer software that controls the rams movements, basically the software is corrupt. Spare parts are being sourced.
Riding the Head: In a moment of need, I went to the toilet ( head ) and proceeded to have a bucking bronco of a ride !!! It was blowing 35 kts at the time, 3 days from Las Palmas and we were reaching on the port tack. Never the easiest time to sit on a toilet when its angled at 20 degrees; however, when you have got to go....... Anyway as I was in the head, I felt the back of the boat lift, the bow point down and we were off, surfing down a wave. When surfing, BTC Velocity skips like a stone across a bumpy pond. That is exactly what happened as we went off down the wave, the bow area ( where the head is located ) was bouncing up and down and we tore off down the face of a wave and I am gripping the head compartment walls and hanging on for all I got !!!!
Lets just say I will never look at using the toilet again in the same way after that experience !!!!!!
Engine: 2 days from Las Palmas, during a time of charging the batteries I heard a loud clanking sound coming from then engine. A sound that was similar to an engine running without oil, although this was not the case. The oil was low but within tolerances. The safest option so as not to do any permanent damage is to leave the engine off for the remained of the voyage. As mentioned earlier I had considered this option when the engine panel became wet, so off with everything except the autopilot and I started a rotation of me steering for 12 hours a day and the Autopilot steering for the other 12 as a further way of saving battery power. I fired up the instruments for 5 minutes 4 times a day for GPS position co ordinates and wind direction an boat speed information. The rest of the time the instruments were blank. This was a good test of not being over reliant on instruments and with these power saving measures in place I was able to keep enough power to use the VHF radio in case of an emergency and maintain Autopilot usage all the way to port. Lets hope the technician who is coming on Wednesday does not find anything to wrong with the engine.
Engine diagnosis : It appears that there may be some damage to the pistons, the engine is being pulled out of the boat on Monday so that a thorough examination can take place. Lets hope it not too major a repair.
Calms, Gales, Acceleration Zones and High Speed Hydrofoils: The last two days of threading through the Canary Islands were very eventful. With no working engine and thus the loss of ability to recharge the batteries, I was hand steering on a 2 hours on two hour off. There is allot of freighter traffic in and around the islands especially between Tenerife and Gran Canaria, the two islands I was sailing between to enter the port of Las Palmas.
Arrival off Hierro, another island was in 35 - 40 kts and big surfing seas. It was fantastic as BTC Velocity was surfing and reaching speeds between 15 and 20 kts off the back of some 15 foot plus seas. The sailing you dream about when owning a boat such as this. Then on rounding Hierro the wind died completely. Still 10 - 15 foot seas but with no wind, this is amazingly uncomfortable for boat and skipper, just bouncing around with zero directional control. Then I saw a line of wind coming, a big line of wind and the breeze went from 2 - 3 knots to 35 in an instant, and off we went again. This cycle occurred twice more and you can imagine you have to be aware of what is happening or a 30 knot plus gust can put your boat on its side pretty fast.
After a night of 30 plus knots on a hard reaching angle between Gran Canaria and Tenerife the wind just died completely for 8 hours. During this time, and with no engine I felt a little vulnerable as shipping, high speed hydrofoil catamarans and passenger ferries were, I felt using me as target practice as they went on their passages. It was of course night time for 6 of these 8 hours which makes the ability to judge distance all that more difficult.
I learned on arrival in Las Palmas that BTC Velocity had experienced the local effect known as Acceleration Zones where the wind funnels around the islands and drops from the mountains. It is an all or nothing effect. ( Tenerife has a 12,200 foot peak )
Finally the wind filled in and I was off to Las Palmas.......but how to get into port with no engine ??????
Arrival in Las Palmas: Las Palmas is a very busy port. There were 8 freighters anchored off the port's breakwater, awaiting access as well as the previously mentioned ferries buzzing around. Thank goodness for cell phones !! I dialed information for Las Palmas, contacted the Port Control and Sea Rescue departments, they contacted a local tug captain who in turn met me at the port entrance and towed me in.
Of course it was not quite that simple as that.........I had to establish that I was not " in distress " and of need of rescue !! then we had to establish that this was not a salvage operation where the tug would have been liable for up to 50 % of the value of the boat for " rescuing " me and then a price for the towing had to be established. Oh, one last hurdle, they speak Spanish in the Canaries and I do not !!! This involved a multi party conversation with the Port Control office ( they spoke a little English ) communicating with the tug Captain who only spoke Spanish.
It is important to keep a sense of humor in these conversations and mis communications. The whole process would be a perfect script for a movie !! Nevertheless we made it to the dock and tied up at 3:30 p.m. A boat nearby looked at me and handed me a beer immediately. It was well received.
Time for repair and minor modifications based on lessons learned during the passage. I hope to leave Las Palmas in the near future; however, this may be dependant on the arrival of parts for the engine and autopilot.
Regards,
Alan in Las Palmas
