The wind died and I started the engine to bypass quickly the area without wind. The weatherforecast said there will be wind a few miles up north..
So I dropped the sails and let the autopilot do the work. BUT..
The first autopilot alarm I just reset and started it again. This happened every once in awhile for any reason before so I didn’t thought about it to much. But after a couple minutes the alarm went on again..
This time I tried to correct the course by hand and found that ZERO isn’t responding to the helm much.
No she’s not responding at all..?
What’s wrong?
I had pressure on the hydraulic and I couldn’t find any oil leak down where the hydraulic is installed. So what else could it be?
I stopped the engine and let her drift and sat down to activate my braincells..
It wasn’t the hydraulic.
It’s not the electronic either.
I can see the rudder is in mid position
I can see the ruderschaft turning when turning the wheel..
That could only mean one thing..
The rudder is broken!?
How can that happen?
Because of the darkness I can’t dive down so I’ll have to wait until daylight to be sure.
But IF it’s really broken I don’t wanna get further away from Hawaii. It’s just around 200 nm back to Hawaii but it’s 1.800 nm to Dutch Harbor. And do I want to go through the channels up north with a broken rudder? – NO!!!
If it’s something I can fix I don’t mind the couple miles extra but if not every mile counts.
I digged out my little drogue and rigged it as an emergency rudder. With this setup I can steer and run under engine towards Hawaii..
And when the sun is up I’ll go down and see what happened..
Aloha from the sad captain..
Thinking about you and your rudder. I hope the wind and waves are kind to you.
That sucks! To return, if necessary, sounds smart. Good luck with your swim. Sending good thoughts your way!
Oh no! At least the wind is calm. Rivera
Christian, stay safe my friend. I’m glad that you had the little drouge so at least you have steerage. I hope it’s not too serious and you can fix it yourself.
Your rudder may have a hole at the top aft that you can put a line through and bring it up on port and starboard through snatch blocks if necessary and lead to winches. To drive the rudder back and forth. If no hole in the rudder, you can sometimes jam / hammer a large anchor shackle over the aft edge of the rudder and attach lines as above.. Or ties a line all the way around the rudder tight and at the aft edge if the rudder place the knot and lead the rest of the lines to the winches as above. Or use your whisker pole with a board or cabinet door attached to one end and then laah in place to you stern rails or aft arch. Then attach lines and blocks or vangs to the end of the whisker pole and use that to steer. Good luck. Jack