L'Eau Commotion Westabout

7:30pm Thursday 8th March 2018 ( UTC-3 ) Once I had made the decision that the goal I had set myself had become untenable and headed back to Stanley it was always with the intention of resuming the journey much along the same route. This of course required that the vessel be seaworthy and set up for safe single handed sailing. As a minimum I will be installing an AIS, a good VHF radio and a radar transponder, all suitably equiped with audio and visual alarms. The rigging of course has to be up to specs and thanks to Ian and Andrez the necessary SS wire is available but will require fittings flown in from the States. I also feel the inner furling staysail can be put in operation and should give better capabilities to windward than the partially furled jib as long as I can buy the bits I dropped in the drink. For charging the batteries and keeping the electronics on alert I am about to bite the bullet and purchase a Watt & Sea hydrogenerator. It is an expensive piece of equipment but eminently suitable for long distan ce cruising. Solar panels are very good and cheap but in their normal set up above the transom they are prone to be wiped off by an errant wave. Wind generators are good also as long as you are not doing long passages with a following breeze when their output is quite limited.The biggest catch to all this is that I am just too comfortable here and on the occasions when it is either blowing or raining or both the warm comfy bunk wins out over the wild weather. The reason why the wheel steering failed was that the bronze axle had completely worn through. A pleasant afternoon spent with Bob McLeod in his workshop yielded two smooth and true SS axles and nicely burnished bronze bearings which I am convinced will be better than the original and which are now installed, so I again have proper steering. I have put my name down for a " Round Robin " flight with the Government Air Service to the West Falklands but because they are down one Britten Norman Islander aircraft there is a waiting list and this may not eventuate. In the meantime many a pleasant hour is spent yarning with kelpers and visiting yachtspersons and once I have my equipment orders settled I believe the museum and library are a must.