The wind wand
I am sitting here trying to think calm thoughts but struggling to choke down my huge frustration and disappointment at the moment.
The light is just fading on another day of trying to get my emergency wind wand to work and despite several moments when I thought I had cracked it I still do not have any wind data on Medallia. As soon as it was light this morning I went out on deck and removed the wand to bring it down below and check all the connections. after some investigation I discovered a plug where corrosion on one of the terminals was growing and it looked like it was reaching across to another terminal and shorting the unit out. I was so happy to find this, did a bit of air punching and then removed the plugs and hard wired the connections together using crimp connectors and then securing the whole thing with a lot of tape.
I reinstalled the unit and tuned it and it worked all day. I gybed and set it up on the other side still working but in the last hour the data has once again dropped out and I have not been able to find the fault. The wand is back down below with me now and I will have to start the whole fault-finding process again.
Meanwhile the latest weather system is almost upon us. I have been really happy with my course, put in a gybe at just the right moment and managed to stay ahead of Alan in La Fabrique all through the night. But now I have to back off. I have no idea what the wind strength is. From the waves I can see it is building, the barometer has been falling hard all day and is now on the rise again, and the forecast was for the wind to build to 32 knots in the next six hours so I think I is possible we will see 35 knots or even 40- through the night.
Right now it is Medallia conditions I think about 26-28 knots of wind, and I should be flying, doing 18-20 knots of boat speed but I am not and it is killing me. As it is getting dark and I am tired and I know the wind is going to build quickly I have decided to reduce sail early and to sit this opportunity out, maybe by the morning I can get the wand working again, but even if not, I can rest through the dark hours tonight and will be fit and ready to react quickly for sail changes tomorrow. I just can't afford to set the boat up to go fast and then fall asleep and wake up in 35 knots of wind. So, we are going slowly but safely. I have never sailed Medallia like this. It feels so wrong, it's not relaxing at all and I am miserable at the thought of all of those miles that I am losing against everyone on the course. I know this is the right decision for this moment but it hurts like hell.
