Brighton

We left Harwich Friday around 12 UTC to catch the tide. We all had slept very well :-)

The weather was nice and sunny and although the wind was SW and would mean a lot of tacking, the waypoints we set to avoid all the shallows, shipping lanes and whatever more, were just about right for the tacking. So if the wind would have veered to the west, the route would have been the same !

The sailing was great and the weather stayed fine too. After a great meal, cooked by Andy, we started the watch system. Andy enjoys cooking and Rutger and I enjoy eating his meals... a lot :-)

Doing watches worked out fine even though Rutger stayed a bit longer, I came on deck a bit early and Andy stayed a bit longer. The reason was obvious. We were crossing the Dover section, the crowdiest part of the channel. A night you get too sea the other vessels best but estimating distances is a bit harder. Also they seem to come from everywhere and a second set of eyes is not a luxury.

I was very pleases with the AIS I installed. What a help!! You can see the vessels around you, where they're heading, their speed and course. Steering into the night can play tricks on your eyes and what you think you see, the AIS is very comforting !

Also I don't regret installing the 'sea-me'. The other vessels did actually see me and gave us way. As they should, but don't do all the time because they don't see you :-o.

So two ferries at the Dover entrance did bare off to give us way and the crossing went very smoothly. It was just about sunrise, so we got to see the contours of the famous cliffs and that was a treat too :-)

We did have our timing on the spot so we with the tide we were doing over 8 kts over ground with the same number on true wind speed !!

Again it was a great and sunny day for sailing and we enjoyed that very much. With the wind still SW we just might make it on one tack all the way to Falmouth :-)

We got out the fishing gear and as we did we saw our first dolphin! Unfortunately, when Rutger got his camera he was gone. Since the wind died and we were running short on power, I turned on the engine. I was glad I did because after a while I noticed the batteries weren't charging. Something was wrong! I did the checks I would know off, not being an electrician and the conclusion was that the alternator was down....

I have two alternators, one for then engine battery and one for the domestic batteries, so we were not in danger to loose the engine. However would would loose the power for the fridge, the instruments and the nav lights. Now a consider myself very lucky this happened at the time and place where we were. Now we could look at the chart and pick the best marina to go we could reach in daylight. That turned out to be Brighton.

So Brighton was our next unintentional stop :-) Anyway the weather is still nice and sunny. The facilities are very good as the place itself :-) We went out for diner and a few beers in a pub with live music.

Today,Sunday when I went to the showers, there was this stand of the RNLY royal national live boat institute. We had a chat and they gave me the number of an electrician that might be able to help me out with the alternator :-)

We'll get it fixed, anyway that's not the only thing that needs fixing. It turned out that the one of the through hull fittings in the front head is leaking. Not heavily but still.. I don't want to cross Bisquay on a leaking boat.... so we'll have that fixed too.
Anyway, although I wasn't really happy with all this, I'm glad it happened here and not mid Atlantic :-o

Today we all cleaned the boat. Rutger redid the roping, he doesn’t like ropes that cross each other, and Andy's cooking a wonderful meal again with all fresh vegetables. We'll sort the repairs out tomorrow and do the shopping for the trip to La Coruna. Then it'll be off for Spain probably Tuesday, although we will check the weather first :-)