18:44.1N 42:56.9W 2nd December - Under Full Power
The Snark on The ARC
Ben Little
Wed 2 Dec 2009 07:07
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Hi folks,
The big news of the day is that we got the
generator working again. While there may be other problems they have not
re-occurred so far. All gauges are ok with temperatures well within
operating parameters and the main problem seems to be that the generator starter
battery was flat. Quite why this happens confuses me. The
generator cannot charge it's own battery directly as it is a mains
voltage generator as opposed to a 12V Generator this allows us to run appliances
such as air con directly from the generator when it is on. However I think
I assumed that the battery was connected to the rest of the battery charging
apparatus, apparently not. This is clearly something to get to the
bottom of since the battery will just die again if it is not charged up. I
will test it in the morning, I suspect that you need to run the main engine to
charge the generator battery but I am not 100% sure and it seems like a poor
solution to me, I have some numbers for people at Panda who I can talk to
and a chap from Germany sending me helpful emails. The blue peter approach
to fixing the volt meter battery problem seemed to work OK though it is a
bit messy.
So back to the sailing. The wind has kept up
through the night and day and since I was focused on fixing generators and
charging batteries we sailed the whole day reefed but I think we still made OK
time and the log says another 180 mile day. We have left the reef in at
night for a more comfortable sleep but tomorrow I think we will power up and get
another knot or 2 out of Snark who just keeps eating up the miles. I am
very proud to say that at this stage we are still about a half day ahead of the
other 2 Hanse the same as us (newer model called 470e but same hull and rig),
and while we have certainly not been tuned up for racing we are keeping our
place in the field more or less according to the handicap rating system.
Subject to upcoming wind conditions we look like making a 16 day crossing and we
still have sufficient Diesel to power through any lulls in the wind we may
encounter on the way if we so wish. So far we have only used the engine
for Charging the batteries (not in gear) while the generator was off line and
once when we wrapped the spinnaker to help get it off the forestay. If we
did get some less windy days it would give us a chance to fish again and hook
something we can actually land. The faster you go the bigger the fish is
what they are telling us and the big fish just bite through or break our
line.
Not too much more to
report. Note to Pete, thanks for the loan of the books, I am now just a
few pages shy of finishing the Iliad, after a while it does read like a list of
who gutted who and with what part of their gleaming bronze they ran them through
with. If one ever finds oneself in an ancient Greek battle there seem to
be a few top tips for survival.
Here endeth the lesson.
I think I may take a pause before leaping straight
into the Odyssey, though I am told it is a better book (and not as
thick). Dugald had a book he is about to finish called Pies and Prejudice
which sounds like a fine piece of English literature to counterbalance the Greek
tragedy.
Of course I am forgetting to mention (for several
days now) Dugald appears to have been cured of sea sickness which is a minor
miracle since he is known to go green when visiting the
Southampton boat show. Sadly he seems to have a stomach bug of some
kind. I have a suspicion (just thought of this) that it may be associated
with us changing the tanks over so we are not using water maker water (no
generator) and I think he have drunk some without thinking, the timing
seems to fit.
From the ARC news feed I understand that some of
the fastest boats with full race crews may be arriving in St Lucia on 3rd
December in possibly a new course record. Given some of the boats we are
talking about I am not surprised they are well ahead. I will be very happy
if we arrive safe in another week.
Bye for now keep in touch always eager to get
emails with news from home.
Ben
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