I have just completed my AZAB qualifying voyage. I cannot yet say that I have qualified because I have submitted my log book and charts and the qualification will be subject to ratification by the AZAB committee. However, fingers crossed ...
I went from Plymouth down Channel to get to the Continental Shelf and to look at the Atlantic Ocean.
"They didn't think much to the ocean,
The waves they was piddling and small,
There were no wrecks and nobody drownded,
'Fact nothing to laugh at at all ."
Albert and the Lion by Stanley Holloway. However, that was at Blackpool ...
The theory was that the high pressure and consequent easterlies that had dominated for some days should collapse and then I could come back up Channel on the subsequent depression and south westerlies. However, the high pressure continued, and continued and continued with clear blue skies, record high temperatures and easterly zephyrs. There was also a massive red full moon and strong spring tides. The south coast holiday makers thought the weather was wonderful. I didn't as I tried to get back and tacked back and forth across the mouth of the Channel, sailing eighty miles a day to make forty towards home.
However, it is now done and there were no dramas - quite dull really, which is as it should be, although it does not make exciting reading. The kitchen timer round the neck was again vital as I took sleep in short bursts. On return to Plymouth I slept for nine hours, got up for a brief meal, and then slept for another nine hours.
The Man of the Match was the new AIS Transponder. It is an astonishing system and a great aid to short or singlehanded sailing.
The major lesson I learned over the six days was that I was having to run the engine for up to two hours per day to maintain the power for the various electronic systems: vhf, navtex, chart plotter, Iridium phone, speed, depth, AIS, Sea Me, tricolour light, etc . I tried to avoid using interior lights and the water pump, but sometimes forgot. I currently have no alternative method of generating electricity. Using the engine is do-able but it is noisy and a nuisance and I have no reserve method. I am therefore yet again going to have to bite on the financial bullet. Of the various options I think that I will opt for a wind generator.
I am poised to order a Air Breeze - latest technology ie half the weight and half the noise but with twice the power output particularly at low wind speeds, integrated electronic charging control and electronic brake. However, they do not come cheap. The list price via the importers, Barden, is £791 inclusive of VAT and delivery. However, if one were to order two at a time the price would be reduced to £700 each inclusive of VAT and delivery.
Would you therefore be kind enough to circulate this just in case there is someone else in UK who might be considering buying a wind generator who might be interested in combining on an order in order to make a substantial saving. I am going to have to move fairly quickly to order one as I have only a few weeks left. However, it is just possible that someone could be interested in combing to mutual benefit.