L'Eau Commotion Westabout
An (other) attempt to sail non stop Westabout around the world
| Vessel Name: | L'Eau Commotion |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Northshore 38 |
| Hailing Port: | Brisbane Australia |
| Crew: | Bill Hatfield |
25 February 2020 | Scarborough Marina, Brisbane
21 February 2020
21 February 2020 | 59 Miles To Go
20 February 2020 | 114 Miles East Of Australia
19 February 2020 | 220 Miles East Of Gold Coast Seaway
19 February 2020 | 262 Miles To Gold Coast Seaway
18 February 2020 | 304 Miles East Of Gold Coast Seaway
18 February 2020 | 328 Miles To Go
17 February 2020 | 423 Miles To Go
17 February 2020 | 423 Miles To Go
16 February 2020 | 505 Miles East Of The Gold Coast
15 February 2020 | 617 Miles To Go
14 February 2020 | 755 Miles To Go
13 February 2020 | 888 Miles To The Gold Coast
12 February 2020 | 1032 Miles To The Gold Coast
11 February 2020 | 580 Miles North Of The Waikato
11 February 2020 | 1167 Miles To Home
10 February 2020 | 1300 Miles To Home
10 February 2020 | 1309 Miles To The Gold Coast
09 February 2020 | 1460 Miles To The Gold Coast Seaway
Recent Blog Posts
20 February 2020 | 114 Miles East Of Australia
ETA Looking Likely
Day 258 6am Friday 21st February 2020
19 February 2020 | 220 Miles East Of Gold Coast Seaway
Amended ETA
Day 257 6am Thursday 20th February 2020
19 February 2020 | 262 Miles To Gold Coast Seaway
Amended ETA
Day 256 10:30pm Wednesday 19th February 2020 ( UTC+10 )
Autopilot
16 June 2019 | 40 Miles North of Stanley, Tasmania
Day 10 12 Noon Monday 17th June 2019
Through last night and all of this morning the wind has been remarkably steady, just ever so gradually increasing and veering slowly from NW to NNW from a light six knots to now bowling us along with a true wind speed of 13 knots under full main and jib. A strong wind warning has been issued for King Island so I can see the first reef in the main coming in soon and then the jib later on to carry just the double reefed main and staysail during the night.
Of interest on the AIS I came across an oil drilling rig just 10 miles north of track which broadcast its details but the range was no more than 12 miles as its AIS dropped out while still clearly visible. Maybe it's on low power not to disturb SHY whales.
Pictured is the Octopus Electric Hydraulic drive with a 12â ram which I have substituted for the Raymarine 200 Linear Drive which was matched to that autopilot. The problems that arose with the linear drive occurred because of the intermittent failure of the rudder angle sensor. The autopilot can be set up without the sensor input but this causes a further snag as when the normal rudder angle increases due to say too much mainsail the computer seems to sense this as neutral and in a gust will put in too much angle, come against the stops and I guess an overload cut out stops any power for maybe 5 minutes till everything cools down,( except the skipper who along with the sails is still in a bit of a flap ). No permanent damage seems to have been done so I now have the linear drive on board as a backup. The intention was to have a dual setup so a hot swap could be made with the flip of a switch but it all got too hard so an uncomfortable hour or two in the cramped lazarette should be expected in the case of failure of the hydraulic system. The Octopus comes with a solid reputation with a swash plate piston drive purportedly using half the electric current of a similar gear pump.
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Through last night and all of this morning the wind has been remarkably steady, just ever so gradually increasing and veering slowly from NW to NNW from a light six knots to now bowling us along with a true wind speed of 13 knots under full main and jib. A strong wind warning has been issued for King Island so I can see the first reef in the main coming in soon and then the jib later on to carry just the double reefed main and staysail during the night.
Of interest on the AIS I came across an oil drilling rig just 10 miles north of track which broadcast its details but the range was no more than 12 miles as its AIS dropped out while still clearly visible. Maybe it's on low power not to disturb SHY whales.
Pictured is the Octopus Electric Hydraulic drive with a 12â ram which I have substituted for the Raymarine 200 Linear Drive which was matched to that autopilot. The problems that arose with the linear drive occurred because of the intermittent failure of the rudder angle sensor. The autopilot can be set up without the sensor input but this causes a further snag as when the normal rudder angle increases due to say too much mainsail the computer seems to sense this as neutral and in a gust will put in too much angle, come against the stops and I guess an overload cut out stops any power for maybe 5 minutes till everything cools down,( except the skipper who along with the sails is still in a bit of a flap ). No permanent damage seems to have been done so I now have the linear drive on board as a backup. The intention was to have a dual setup so a hot swap could be made with the flip of a switch but it all got too hard so an uncomfortable hour or two in the cramped lazarette should be expected in the case of failure of the hydraulic system. The Octopus comes with a solid reputation with a swash plate piston drive purportedly using half the electric current of a similar gear pump.
--------------020108020700050900070805--
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