We managed to communicate by satellite phone for a few minutes last night. There seemed to be a lot of wind. On Predictwind, it mentioned 17-18 knots (31-33km/h), for Louis it seemed a little higher. We agree that this is already a lot. It's called a "good breeze" in the Beaufort scale and I know a few that don't go out on a lake in that wind. The genoa was half furled and the boat was still going at 7-8 knots. Which is great for a sailboat, especially with just one sail!
He also told me that he tried to start the engine to recharge the batteries, but the engine started to smoke and it smelled very bad, so he stopped it. There were some big waves, but apart from the onset of seasickness, all was well. Louis is not one who gets seasick easily, shall we say. But after more than a year without sailing, it's normal for the body to have to adapt.
He turned off his satellite phone to conserve the batteries as much as possible. At least till he finds the problem with the engine.
For those who say to themselves that it is not important on a sailboat to have an engine, well, it is used to recharge the batteries which are used to recharge all the electronics and we want them to recharge (he needs his radar and we like to follow him, thanks to the GPS which, if you haven't noticed, hasn't really worked all day). The positive aspect of all that is that he had a Hydrovane installed, so a second autopilot, this one operating with the wind (without electricity). The captain loves redundancy and security!
I thank him!
I'll get him the weather info when we can communicate.
Today overcast, 9 degrees this morning, 12 degrees during the day
Around 15-17 knots of wind today (gusting to 20 knots)
1-1.5m wave every 6 seconds
He called me quickly this morning, to tell me that he had "survived his night". I gave him the forecast for today and tomorrow. To be continued!
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