Baron busted by bad batteries
Nathan explains his situation…
So many of you will be wondering why I did the big right turn just before the Ocean Safety Waypoint.
As the team have mentioned I was having trouble getting the boat batteries charged. I tried a number of things and nothing seemed to fix the problem.
The weather was looking heavy for the next few days and I was also getting out into the middle of nowhere. As you head to the south west corner of the Bahamas there are fewer and fewer settlements and the ones there are have very little in terms of services. (Which is saying something, because even in Eluethra there is not much here…)
So I had to make a decision, continue on or find a port where I could find some help with my electrical problems. Eleuthra was the best choice in the area, although it was a bit far away, at almost 160nm to land.
I must admit that I cried good and hard when I decided to bail. All I could think of was the generosity of all of our supporters who contributed money, time, expertise and enthusiasm. I couldn’t help but feel that I was going to be disappointing a great number of people by making that right turn. I especially thought of the kids at the Boys and Girls Club. I just hate to disappoint them. But at the end of the day, my job as the skipper is to get both the boat and crew home safe and sound and live to fight another day. I did that. The rest is just the cross I have to bare.
On the trip to Eleuthra I had some very heavy weather. I was sailing in a pretty sustained 25 knots and had periods of sustained 35knts sailing on a beam to close reach for a good 12 hours. The seas were huge and threatening and I had a storm jib and 3 reefs in the main, which is a very small sail plan even for the mini. I persevered and made it through, but it seemed to validate my decision to head back to harbour for help.
The team are already thinking about ways to re-start the qualification sail so we can get this done before we head off to Europe. It’s difficult to say exactly how all this is going to work. There are lots of factors and things to think about including finances, work at MTO and shipping arrangements for France. As soon as we figure out a plan, I’ll let you know.
I have to say a few words about the team here, because they have dealt with some pretty stressful and “interesting” situations since I arrived in Miami, and even before that. The main crew on this little adventure have been my wife Alison Fraser, John Curtis, George Jackson, Greg van Rossem, Jim Brown and Don Kerstens. They have helped to solve logistical problems, electrical problems, financial and administrative problems, all while I have been sailing and running around various ports. That is not even mentioning the usual team who have been helping to raise money to make all of this happen. If I have one talent it is to pick resourceful and smart people to help with projects. I was amazed at the efficiency and availability that everyone had for me while I was out sailing.
Alison in particular has been second in command on this one. We had our daily sat phone calls while I was out at sea and she was the one to write many of the posts that you have been reading on the blog and websites. George put it all together on the website. Alison has also been helping me get all of my Classe Mini Applications filled out and submitted while I was away as I had deadlines looming. Alison also had to keep things going on the home front, not to mention her usual busy days at school. The long and the short of it, is that with out Alison working tirelessly to help me get all of this sorted out, I would probably be sitting in Kingston right now wondering what I should do. I think she has slept about as much as I did while I was out at sea.
So now I have to deliver the boat back to Miami and figure out what we are going to do next. Communicating via the internet is virtually impossible here in the Bahamas, so we will have to re-group and figure out what we are going to do once I return to Miami.
Thank you all for your support and encouragement at this tough time in the campaign. Your emails of support and encouragement have really helped to keep me going and I just can’t find the words to let you know what all of this means to me and my team mates. (Sometimes they need just as much encouragement as I do.)
More from me when I get back to Miami.
n
