Last night, when we returned to the boat, we noticed a strange smell. Although we couldn’t figure out what it was, we decided to go to sleep—definitely do not do it! When something seems off on a boat, 99% of the time, it is. The next morning, the smell was stronger. Using my keen senses, I pinpointed the source and showed Sage the area where it maybe comes from.
Before we left La Cruz, we didn’t check one thing: the solar panels. The previous owner had upgraded them in 2023, making them brand new and more powerful. However, the issue lay with the solar charger, which connects the battery and the solar panels. Our boat, previously called by others “Cocktail Condo,” had mostly stayed in the marina and was connected to AC dock power, so it never relied on solar power.
Back to the issue at hand: I showed Sage where the problem might be, and she disconnected the chargers. One was completely burned out, and the other was close to it. Our first problem of the trip—no electricity. We have an old generator onboard that we tried to fix before we left, replacing the spark plug, gaskets, and oil, but it still wasn’t working 100%. We didn’t have time to deal with our solar issue as we were about to raise anchor and sail with our buddy boats, SV Ella and SV Saoirse, to San Blas.
While pulling up the anchor, it twisted and got stuck. Our anchor is slightly oversized for our 36 ft sailboat, which is great in windy conditions but harder to raise correctly. Finally, far from the shore and fishing boats, we managed to sort out the anchor. Boat life: things never break one at a time. Our friends waited for us outside the bay to ensure we were okay.
Our 22-nautical-mile race started with very light wind, perfect for our light boat compared to Ella. It was ideal weather for a spinnaker, but since ours is 34 years old and we’ve never used it, we decided to check it another day with more people onboard first. Alex, of course, hoisted his spinnaker and led the race, but we weren’t far behind.
The wind picked up, and we sailed between 6-7 knots, arriving at Matanchen Bay second, right behind Saoirse. We dropped anchor and began dealing with our problems. The generator wouldn’t start. We shared our story with friends in our WhatsApp group, and Alex arrived with his generator. We managed to charge our batteries, allowing us to use our phones and lights that evening. We realized our solar chargers weren’t strong enough for our powerful solar panels. As we explored options to get new chargers in the middle of nowhere, our friends from SV Eyoni and SV Trouble arrived. It was time to call it a day and have a dinner on SV Ella, Nixie cooked for all of us!
Follow my logbook to find out if we get our electricity back or not!
Your admiral 
Včera večer když jsme se vrátili na loď, cítili jsem divný zápach, prošli jsme loď křížem krážem a nic nenašli. Vždy, když si myslíš, že je něco špatně na lodi, máš pravdu. Ráno jsem čichala kolem celého salonu a našla zhruba místo, kde by to mohlo být - mezi rádiem a solární nabíječkou. Sage odpojila dráty a nabíječka byla úplně vyhořelá. Solární panely byly nové od předchozího majitele, jen nespočítal jak silná by měla být nabíječka. On používal loď jen jako ‘párty house’, za poslední dva roky s ní vyplul asi třikrát.
Mezitím naši kamarádi už zvedli kotvy, tak jsme museli také vyrazit, přece neskončíme poslední kvůli tomu, že nemáme elektřinu. Jen naše trochu větší kotva nespolupracovala a převrátila se. Vyrazili jsme ze zátoky, ať jsme dál od rybářských lodí, nastavili autopilota a přetočili ji.
22 námořních mil a jen lehký vánek, super pro nás. Naše loď je lehčí než Ella, tak aspoň jsme měli trochu výhodu, ale na Alexe jsme neměli. Ke konci se zvedl vítr, ale stejně jsme skončili druzí.
V San Blas jsme napsali do naší whatsapp skupinky o našem problému se solárními panely. Společně jsme hledali řešení, kde uprostřed ničeho, sehnat nové.
Dneska večeře byla na SV Ella, ne kvůli tomu, že prohráli, jen se potřebovali zbavit veškeré zeleniny a my byli rádi, že nemusíme vařit.
Myslíte si, že budeme mít elektřinu? Sledujte zítřejší zprávy ze SV Tengai!
Váš admirál
