Miranda Merron has been in the wars a little these last couple of days , "A rollercoaster 24 hours or more. As the starboard hydrogenerator doesn't charge very well, I use the generator to charge when on port tack when the batteries get to low. The night berfore last, mid-charge, the gernerator stopped charging. It was just one thing too many for me, and of course involves the black art of electricity. I thoroughly ruined Halvard's day. I checked all the wiring and fuses, and disconnected and reconnected bits, and last night, it was working perfectly. Such a relief. All that panic for what turned out to be a loose connection.
At dawn just when things were going nicely, I succumbed to temptation to use the autopilot remote because I was soaking wet and I didn't want to drip all over the chart table or use the outside control as I was cold. THis particular remote control caused us problems on the TJV last year. I used it a few weeks ago and it seemed to be working fine. However this morning it went back to its old tricks, namely disengage the autopilot, causing the boat to wipe out. And just as a special extra, it was then impossible to re-engage the autopilot. So with the boat on her side, sails and everything on the wrong side and going nowhere, I turned off the whole lot and turned it on again, which fortunately restored it. And then set about getting the boat back upright and with the sails on the right side. All this time, the sails were flogging, and the the sheets got tangled in a giant mono knot, and I couldn't sheet on either the mule or the staysail. I put a new sheet on the staysail, undid the old ones, and eventually got everything untangled, sails trimmed and all back in order.
There's more, but I need to go and change sails having just fallen off the back of the front we've been riding for the past couple of days.
Miranda / Campagne de France