Yachting World - July 2018

83

n November 2017 I joined the ARC+

on the Dufour Sortilege Seraphina, a

12.5m centre cockpit ketch.

We left Cape Verde on the 15th bound for

Saint Lucia and the first couple of days of our

transat were pretty smooth. But on the early

morning of our third day at sea, the battery

level was unexpectedly low.

The yacht’s core power system was based

on seven batteries: one for engine starting and

six house batteries, charged by an alternator

connected to the diesel engine. As back up,

there was a small solar panel and a portable

petrol-powered generator.

As soon as we got the first alarm flagging

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the best condition and reduce the number of
batteries in the bank to try and get a couple to a
reasonable level rather than all of them to a low
level. By careful monitoring it should then be
possible to prevent a total discharge.
On smaller and particularly older engines
there may be decompressors to facilitate hand
starting. I’ve never had much success with this,
but have found it possible to use a weak battery
to turn the engine over before dropping the
decompressor, as if hand starting.

Keep eyes peeled
While AIS is a brilliant invention it is no
substitute for keeping a good watch and in areas
of good visibility, particularly in daylight, I would
turn it off, or set to ‘receive only’ to save power.
On a dark, windy night it can be turned on again
but I’d rather have two crew on watch and hand
steering for safety. Hand steering keeps us alert
and I think much better watch keepers. The AIS
alarm and MOB is essential, particularly if one
person is watchkeeping, so a balance needs to
be found between conserving power and safety.
Small changes in the daily routine can also
help save on power. Having your evening meal
before darkness will get food preparation and
clearing away done without needing lights.
Solar-powered cockpit lights have become
common and these can be used below when
making drinks at night or visiting the heads.
Having to rely on a pressurised water system
is not great and an additional foot pump is very
useful. We do not have a foot pump on our boat
so we carry a small syphon pump in case of
electric pump failure as it is possible to get to
the tops of the tanks and pump it out manually.
You can live quite comfortably on limited
power – on my first ocean passage from the
Virgin Islands to Bermuda without a fridge we
had a very strict rule and only opened the ice
box once a day to get food out. Seven days later
arriving in Bermuda we still had ice. This may
work for a freezer but the fridge would quickly
warm and foods spoil. Just as you would not
rely on one tank of water, neither should you
rely on one source of food. It may seem old
fashioned but a good supply of tinned food is
worth carrying.
With full-on tradewinds, hand steering all the
way will tire the crew so when short-handed
the autopilot becomes more important to
avoid excess fatigue. If you’re two-handed and
restricting your autopilot use then reducing sail
or even heaving to for a rest are options.

a dark transat

VALENTINA VELA EXPERIENCED – AND WORKED THROUGH – A

COMPLETE POWER FAILURE DURING LAST YEAR’S ARC EVENT

that we had an issue

we started the engine

on to recharge our

batteries through the

alternator. We were

still wondering what

caused such a high

power consumption

during the night

(maybe radar or

autopilot) when we joined the 0900 fleet daily

chat on the SSB radio. But, after few minutes

of transmission, our SSB switched off. All our

batteries were completely flat, although our

the engine was still running in an attempt to

I

The Dufour Sortilege

Seraphina

Batteries should ideally not be

discharged below 70% and never

below 50% – this becomes more

difficult with older batteries.

ARC yachts

between 46-55ft

have an average

battery bank

capacity of

700Ah

Valentina Vela