The sun is starting to show!

The past few days have been really rough for me. I’d say last night was the most taxing so far.

Namaste is soaking wet inside and all of the ports have been closed for days. The rain has been torrential and unforgiving, and I felt very lost and alone.

Last night my autopilot alarm went off. I put on my fowlies and went to inspect the problem. After resetting the autopilot a few times I came to the conclusion it was malfunctioning. I have 2 complete ST4000+ tiller pilots for Namaste. One is a backup so I have a full set of parts aboard for emergencies. Well my other control head died just before I left Panama and I replaced it with the new one just before I left on my trip. I sent the broken one back to my buddy David in the States from Hiva Oa.

I have a secondary flux gate compass mounted. I went into the engine room last night and connected the new compass to the control head, no joy. I also tried the new drive, no joy, it is certainty the control head. I have a third auto pilot which is a small ST2000 which is not designed for such a heavy boat. I bought it thinking I would hook it up to the windvane which I wanted to install but never did. “Perhaps it could get me to Nuie” I plugged it in, the screen went nuts, and it malfunctioned “$hit”!

It wasn’t more then 10 minutes before my “breathable” $500 gill fowlies were soaked threw. I never did like them and they have never kept me dry!!! I stripped down and took the helm in nothing but my birthday suit. Nuie was only 138 miles and I wanted to take advantage of the wind while I have it despite the stinging rain. I spent most of the night shivering cold making way at about 5 knots. At about 2:30 in the morning I just couldn’t take the cold rain any more and rigged the sails so Namaste would sail herself in the right direction, however only making around 1Kt. I went inside.

I climbed into my wet bed and couldn’t sleep. I laid there wishing I could be on land far away from Namaste and the sea. By 4am I convinced myself I was done with Project BlueSphere and sailboats. “I cant take the solitude and hardships” I thought.

I grabbed the radio mic (VHF) and called for “Any Vessel”. I just wanted to hear a voice. Surprisingly I got a distant response. I couldn’t make out much of what they were saying, but they seemed to copy me well. After trying to chat they said “it’s your lucky day, we have an extra ST4000 control head on board, we will meet you in Nuie”. “But mine is for a tiller pilot, I don’t know if a control head for a wheel pilot and tiller pilot are interchangeable”, I lost contact with them! Perhaps I’ll see them in Nuie.

I called my Buddies Chuck and David on the sat phone and organized getting my other control head fixed and shipped to Nuie, or possibly Tonga. “I will not let this beat me”!

I went back out and played around with the ST2000. I realized the problem was a short in the cable and fixed it. It’s reach is different then the 4000 and I couldn’t mount it in the same hole. I got the drill and made a new hole in a piece of wood on the toe rail. After getting it all together it wouldn’t hold a course in my moderate sea conditions. I de-powered Namaste (jib) and changed course slightly to go a bit more with the swell. After about 10 minutes I managed to balance Namaste so the ST2000 will drive the boat.

I went back inside and managed a few minutes sleep.

The sun is starting to peek threw the clouds now and the wind is down to 15. The sea is subsiding and down to about 6 feet. I’m on course! I don’t think the 2000 will last long but hopefully another 100 miles, it seems to be working overtime.

I really love sailing, but boy do I hate it sometimes.

I’m feeling quite thin. I hope I get a few days of good weather to recoup.

I suppose this is my path.

Peace, Love, and autopilots!

– Alex