Day 79 - Monitor Steering Control Line Problems

At the 2.30 AM weather fax session I noticed that the wind had dropped to the mid 20's and was no longer hissing and howling. After the download was completed I went topside to see about getting the boat sailing again. Even though it was 3 AM it was full daylight. The boat was already hove to on my tack of choice, starboard, so all I had to do was to adjust the trysail sheets, roll out a bit of jib, and steer the boat downwind. There was a slight delay while I reset and tightened Jeff's control lines which had become loose. I noticed almost immediately that the Raymarine wind instrument was telling lies about the direction of the wind as though it needed recalibration. I judged the wind direction the old fashioned way by feeling the wind on my face and occasionally looking up at the Windex mechanical wind indicator that I had installed shortly before leaving Fremantle. (Recalibration requires a calm sea where I can do two full circles with the boat.) I also noticed that the light that I had replaced in the compass was out, though its companion was still working. At least the bubble of air had not gotten any bigger. At 3.30 AM I was having a hot cocoa while I watched the boat heading SE at 4 knots. While looking at our position on the laptop the coach roof was struck by big wave that sent water gushing through the spray dodger and over the closed sliding hatch. From there a bucket full of water raced across the ceiling and began to shower the nav station. Fortunately I was able to react quickly and protect the computer. I had learned another lesson, that the computer needed protection even if the sliding hatch was buttoned up.

I woke up at 6 AM to the sound of the headsail luffing a little too often. I got dressed and went topside to find the boat steering itself to the wind. Jeff the Monitor wind steering's control lines were loose and I soon discovered that one of the lines had parted at the base of the pendelum just above the waterline. It had to be fixed immediately. I rolled in the headsail and let the boat on its own to forereach with the trysail then got on with the job, which turned out to be neither easy or pleasant because much of the work required me to go over the back rail and crouch on the slippery Monitor frame tubing as best I could and work at the waterline. With the big swell the back of the boat was hobby horsing constantly so that much of the time my arms and lower legs were in water. I would have been safe had I fallen overboard because I was clipped to a safety line and the boat was not moving fast. I retrieved the broken section of the line and saw that it was about to break in a second place, next to the knot. Anyway, I managed to pull the line out, reverse it, and thread it back down the tube and tie the knot at the pendulum then saw that there was just enough length in the line to reuse it. After I set this line up I reversed the other line and found that it was in better shape. The work took over 2 hours but in the end the self steering was working again and we were headed SE at 4 knots of a wind in the low 20's.

It was after leaving La Paz that I realized my mistake in forgetting to bring spare line for the Monitor, which must be of a specific diameter. (Too thin and it is too weak, too thick and it won't pass through.) I also thought then that I should have reversed the control lines while still in La Paz in the tranquility of the marina. These were lost opportunities and now I was paying the price. At least I had the presence of mind to measure the longer of the two control lines (12' 2", or 3.7 meters) and will go through my rope bags to see if I have suitable replacement rope. Failing that I can use the traveler lines that are of the right diameter, plenty long enough, and are in top condition because they've had an easy life since installed in Port Townsend. And if it comes to that I could probably sacrifice one of those wonderful spinnaker sheets that I brought back from Seattle. One of those sheets would yield enough spare control line for years.

After a second coffee I was feeling better about the whole thing. I now had more insight into the Monitor system and was confident that I could deal with any future control line problems. My "night off" had done me good (Great movie, "The Next Three Days" with Russell Crowe.) and today I had fresh resolve to get around the Horn without delay. I was determined to keep the boat moving, no matter how much zig zagging I had to do.

At noon our position was 55S03, 080W13, giving a n-n distance of 54 miles in the direction of 128T. We were 465 miles from the Horn and south of Ushuaia, Argentina, in the Beagle Channel. We were only one degree north of the Horn and would have to start heading east soon, even if it meant some northing with it. At this point I was planning to take the "safe" route and pass the horn 80 miles to the south in deeper water. This meant clearing Isla Diego Ramirez bearing 105T.

In the afternoon I spent two very difficult hours in the cockpit making adjustments to the Monitor control lines. I had waken up from a short nap to find the boat in a hove to position. From the cabin I could see that the Monitor control lines were loose. When I got to the unit I found that no lines had broken but something had loosened the lines. I sat with the unit for close to an hour trying to get it to hold a course but each time I thought that we had success it would fail - not because it didn't know where the wind was but rather that it just couldn't bring the boat around with a full lock on the wheel. Meanwhile I had been looking at the unit in action and I wasn't happy with the control line lengths. It's all to do with setting up the lines so that the hub has the same travel in each direction and the lines have full movement between the hub and the turning block. This was the sort of work to be done on a calm day and the conditions were horrendous but I had little choice. I had to undo old knots that had been under strain in the weather for months while at the same time trying to steer the boat. Anyway, I managed to reroute one line that was crossed and adjust the various lines to where I was satisfied that everything had enough travel. If the unit got through the night without failure I'd know that I'd be out of the woods with that problem because the conditions were testing the Monitor to the limit. Huge swells would pick up the stern of the boat and throw it to the side forcing the Monitor to throw the wheel on full lock to regain control. The wheel was jerking left and right constantly. The wind had been blowing in the mid 20's range but was predicted to begin to calm down and reach 11-16 knots in a few hours. I could hardly wait for the reprieve. In the meantime, we were headed due east at about 5 knots.

At 6.30 PM the wind was down to 19 knots. The monitor had worked flawlessly for hours in those rough conditions, giving me confidence that it would be OK. Now that things had settled down I had the engine on to charge the batteries for an hour and warm up the cabin. It had been a tough day but I was feeling better.

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