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Captain's Log Day 3: Things That Go Bump in the Night (3/10)
November 3, 2022 · 11 min · 15K views · Mid-Atlantic
Hand grips helm as sailboat cuts through open sea
What this video covers
A 60-foot Bavaria named Zingaro departs on day three of an Atlantic passage, averaging 7.8 knots overnight on a broad reach in 27 knots true wind speed with 2.5-to-3.5-meter seas.2:02 Wind instruments failed twice — vibration from the mast appears to be the cause — and James Evenson notes the crew is learning to sail without them.8:02 Around 0500, someone accidentally hit the chart plotter's kill switch, cutting power to the autopilot, triggering an uncontrolled tack and sending a gallon of olive oil airborne across the galley.3:02 The autopilot alarm for course deviation is identical to the alarm for total power loss, causing the crew to sprint to the wheel every time it struggles in steep seas.3:51 The watermaker cavitates at 9 knots and cannot run underway.4:49 A fish strike prompted an hour-long attempt to heave-to, complicated by the boat's self-tacking jib, which has no easy way to backwind; the crew's workaround requires someone on the bow at night, violating a standing cockpit rule, so heaving-to is abandoned in favor of motoring.7:37 The Bimini frame, already bent when the boat was collected in Annapolis, snapped and is now lashed with lock wire.9:05 Evenson runs a 2.5-hours-on, 10-hours-off watch schedule with five crew and uses PredictWind's weather routing for the first time.10:08 Sailing without wind instruments, he argues, builds better seamanship than waiting at anchor for replacement electronics.8:35
Boats in this video
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