OSTAR - King of Shaves losses all instruments

by Oscar Mead on 5 Jun 2009 A very difficult morning on the water for 'King of Shaves' in the OSTAR. I am sorry to report that at 08:30 we lost all our instruments and for 30 minutes we were struggling to go anywhere at all.

I used the wheel lock and tried to balance the sails so that we could sail on but it was at reduced speed. About 30 mniutes before hand the speed display had been flashing on and off and in the end the whole system shut down.

I have had the boat apart as the dispaly said 'seatalk network error' I have assumed this is likely to be a loose connection or a broken wire, frankly no surprise after the pounding of the race, so I have been tracing the 'yellow wire' all over the boat. I have various spares for Anthony but they aren't any good till I find the broken bit!

Finding that broken bit out here though has so far proved impossible For now I have hard wired 'Anthony' into the course computer so I can now get him to steer a course so we are half back up and running but we can't steer to wind angle which is a performance loss. I know others out here are in the same state and I am still hoping to track it down. That has taken up most of my day and I had all sorts of mess while I did it, wires everywhere!

Turned out the GRIB files were better than I was suggesting yesterday as the breeze did indeed die away as it was supposed to so we had a light air night. We are now properly into the NW that I was hoping for and, having lost a bit of ground, need to work hard in what looks like very shifty stuff for 36 hours before a BIG low hits us on Sunday. I am going to go north and try to get over the top of it.

To do so I will need to be at 46 north (no further south) but the ice is as 45 north....hmmmm...! The alternative is to stay south and sail upwind in 40 knots of breeze...hmmmm! Choices choices...

My way point in the chart plotter is Flemish Cap at 47N 45W, I wont go quite that far up but its going to get colder and windier and foggy. After that its 200 miles to the Grand Banks and the ocean part of this race will be over. Amazing... really amazing... still going out here I assure you and still looking to make up the time I need on those Sigmas, and that monster 44 footer that rates like a QT, behind me.


Oscar Mead, is sailing the OSTAR and is the youngest ever competitor. He is sailing a J105 and has coverage from Hong Kong, right through the sailing press and through his sponsor, King Of Shaves.