Log Day 12/13 - Wind Transducer Failure

s/v Safena's blog
Simon Ashley
Fri 7 Dec 2018 21:49
Unfortunately the wind transducer completely failed last night and as we were hit by a squall! Sailing the yacht in the dark in a squall with no reliable wind speed or wind direction was not fun! We had another accidental gybe as a result. Fortunately, no damage to the rig thanks to the preventer. We continued through the night under genoa only. It was slow but safe. We will almost certainly be adopting this approach at night for the remainder of the passage.

We tried to recalibrate the wind transducer this morning but this failed - it will not register any wind coming from the port side. Presume the masthead unit is faulty.

Also, we have been informed that our AIS signal is not visible to other yachts. So we definitely need some urgent attention to the electronics from Raymarine when we arrive in St Lucia!

This morning we set full sail and it has been a beautiful day with very relaxed sailing relying on the windex.

Our position at noon 17 34.42 N, 45 14.31 W. Not surprisingly our VMG has really dropped off.

Tonight the sunset was amazing and we have set wing on wing with staysail and poled out genoa without the main. This arrangement seems good.

Andy has done an excellent job as cook of the day and dinner was a superb fish pie!

Simon