An English Summer 70

 

HMS Mersey lies, at single anchor, off Plymouth breakwater. An offshore patrol vessel. Her role is to project British power on the high seas.

On a fair, but overcast morning, looking out at the Great and Little Mewstones, with Wembury Point, gateway to the River Yealm, beyond; I am concerned with power of a different kind. Today we enter our third month, sixty first day, since we have been able to secure an alongside berth; and with it access to mains charging, for Stargazer's batteries.

Fortunately the sun shone throughout most of the past sixty days. Enabling Stargazer's solar panels to maintain the batteries at full charge. Over the past week, a combination of days spent on passage (when we consume more power, but when it is normally impractical to deploy the solar panels) and cloud or rain (mizzle is the worst!) whilst at anchor, has depleted the battery bank to sixty three percent. (At fifty percent, a lead acid battery is 'flat' and suffering irreversible cell damage.) Yesterday I was able to lash one panel on deck, whilst we sailed over to Cawsand, to slow the rate of drain. Today though, faced with those grey skies, for the first time, I've had to run the engine, in order to recover to a seventy six percent charge. The solar has, with attention to positioning, topped this up to eighty three percent, during the day. Conjuring voltage from the brightness, which filtered through the cloud cover.

Stargazer will need well charged batteries, for our overnight passage to Guernsey, in order to run her navigation lights and instruments.. It looks as though we will have an extra twenty four hours, in which to harvest what additional  power we can, from the sun. The latest forecasts are predicting thirty two knots, of westerly veering north westerly, breeze off Guernsey, on Sunday night. With twenty five, dropping to eighteen, on Monday; remaining at eighteen on Tuesday. Making the favoured strategy to leave Cawsand on Monday evening, arriving in St Peter Port around Tuesday lunchtime.