New Years Eve

Happy New Year!
 
Out here in the Southern Ocean the lights are burning brighter for New Years Eve on Bahrain Team Pindar, as I have changed the alternator and the regulator on the charging system. Also have gone through every wire on the battery system and found some loose connections that may have caused the problems with the first alternator, which lead to it failing after 50 days use. The alternator now installed is the original one, (that we replaced before the start for the brand new one), and it's now working, but not putting out full charge yet. So more work to be done but at least it is making some power.
 
At the same time I am going to take apart the broken alternator and see if there is anything fixable in there, and at the least I will have some spare parts for the one currently installed. Never taken an alternator apart before so should be interesting,
 
Again, it is amazing how much help people are willing to give me all around the world to keep Bahrain Team Pindar going in the race. For this project we have friends on many continents, Dave Llewellyn is super helpful from his workshop in Falmouth, in Los Angeles Stan Honey, the navigator and electronics guru, is giving lots of smart advice, and from his boat in New Zealand Roger Crabtree has specialist knowledge, having installed the electrics when the boat was built in Cookson Boats, Auckland. Thanks to all of them that I spoke to from the boat, and to the other suppliers that our technical team have been contacting as well.
 
Happily whilst our global team were working on this project, our natural energy supplies from wind and solar were supplying enough power to keep the boat sailing down the course towards the New Zealand Ice Gate, which I am just passing through right now at 163 30W. I had to minimise power consumption by switching off the computer and communications systems and most of the power went towards the autopilot. It is extremely foggy here and the solar panels are still putting in a little charge, but the wind generator is doing the majority of the work. As soon as there is any direct sunlight the solar panels put enough electricity to run the whole boat and more.
 
Sailing conditions are not classically perfect, with the fog and drizzle that I just mentioned, but the wind is blowing steadily from just behind the beam and the seas are not big, so we are making easy miles across the Pacific towards South America.That is perfect as far as I am concerned.  I am just about staying up with a weather system, and behind me the wind is dropping all the time, which is causing Aviva and Akenas to fall back, even though they are just over 100 miles away. I need to keep the speed up to stay close to the front for as long as possible, and stay within touch of Safran, who is comfortably in the wind zone.
 
At New Year I am thinking about those who have had to pull out of the race and will not be carrying on the Vendee Globe into 2009, particularly Yann Elies who has had to contend with the accident, the long wait, the rescue, and being in hospital far from home, but now the loss of his boat as well. All of these guys are going to be back in the races next year as they are all very determined characters. As I am writing this, I just heard that JP is going to have to pull out due to more rudder damage from hitting a floating object, that is gutting, as he has worked so hard on his rudder system already, He was a real contender for victory on this race, and one of the nicest guys on the circuit.
 
Also now that I have got power to go online again, have been reading the New Years Honours List in the UK, and seeing all the sportsmen from the Olympics who have been honoured is very inspiring, they did such an incredible job in Beijing, particularly in sailing, it's so well deserved. I actually think that because of his incredible success over four Olympics Ben Ainslie really should be knighted like the remarkable cyclist Chris Hoy. In fact, I would have gone the whole way, Lord Ainslie of Lymington! I was also so pleased to see that my boss, sponsor and friend Andrew Pindar was also made an OBE today. He does an awful lot of good things in Scarborough and Yorkshire, but also in the world of sailing, where he has given the opportunity to so many people, in so many areas of the sport, to live out their dreams.
 
Have fun tonight! 

Brian