That was the question.

I woke up on queue at 0300 this morning, and felt, as one of my friends would say, as rough as a witches tit. I flipped open the laptop and checked the weather just incase something had changed in the night, as it seems to have the habit of doing just that.

The shipping forecast mentioned the threat of a Force 6, so, combined with not feeling to great I made the choice to cancel the hop and wait for better weather. I know both myself and Kudu are capable of enjoying the sailing in a force 6, but, should it have arrived, it would have been an uncomfortable trip since the wind was on the nose, from the NE.

Not wanting to waste the day and spend yet another night on the buoy at Walderingfield, I decided I’d go for a sail down the River Deben and test out the modifications I’d made to Kudu while I was there. I have fitted the other winch to the coachroof now, so I can crank up the reefing lines. This has worked wonders since I can now get the main to set nice and tight, even with two reefs in it.

However, not all is well in the Tiller Pilot front. In an effort to give it more control over the boat, I have moved it back on the tiller my about 5 inches. This means that the ratio of movement between the tiller pilot and the tiller has increased so the rudder will move more, giving the TP greater control, in theory. In practise, it still doesn’t work.

I had the sails in perfect trim, and the helm was as light as a feather, but as soon as s little gust arrives, the TP just can’t react quick enough and the boat heads of course. In some cases it can lose it to the point where the jib backs, and this was in a calm river in a relatively gentle breeze.

I know the Simrad Tiller Pilots work, one took us across the North Sea to Oostende, but the Simrad TP10 simply will not work with my boat. I’ve ran out of things to try, adjusting the gain and seastate to no avail. It will hold the boat on course in a reasonable fashion for a while in calm waters, giving me enough time to go forward and sort lines, or check the charts, but I just cannot leave the helm alone for any length of time, or in feisty conditions because it’s too dangerous.

So, here I am, at Felixstowe Ferry on the River Deben. If the conditions remains as they are this evening then I’m going to hope up the coast to the river Ore so at least I’ve made some progress today, but the TP problem is playing on my mind. I’m worried about going to sea now. I can’t make the big hops that are imminently in my path, and I am reluctantly starting to consider the notion of taking crew with me for the big legs of the trip. I hope it doesn’t come to that since I wanted to do this alone, but I’ve got to face up to the facts, and that is I am not superman, and it’s not possible for me to safely remain in constant readiness to grab the helm for 3 solid days at sea.

Watch this space, I guess.

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