I spent some time before the race retrofitting a new Simrad autopilot.
I have not be able to fabricate a tiller pilot extension tube so that it would fit, so I fashioned a 2x3 that spanned the cockpit near the stern to hold the autopilot in place.
Getting out on the water, the new unit worked fine, but was useless because it kept falling out of the 2x3.
Got out my old autohelms and quickly realized why I bought the new one. The first one would not keep a course at all! The second one has a wiring problem and keeps shutting off.
Twas a frustrating start trying to get it working. I did fine once I abandoned using the autohelm.
Winds were light 6-8 knots from the SW. Mark 4 is missing, so the course was 3 Short.
Old main and newly repaired #2 genoa.
Five boats out:
- Still Time
- Firebird II
- Cheeky Monkey (Shark)
- Mickey (Shark)
- Foxtrot (Shark)
Winds were patchy and all over the place, the lead changed several times.
In the end we all finished within 3 minutes of each other with Bob on Firebird II coming from behind on the last leg to be first across the line. Since I have the highest handicap, pretty sure I won on corrected time.
Bob on Foxtrot ran out of gas coming in the channel and had to be towed by Cheeky Monkey:
Great night on the water!
Avg Speed: 3.3 knots
Max Speed: 5.8 knots
Moving Time: 02:17:00
Google Earth Track: Track
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