A more difficult day in many ways. Started well in decent sunlight and pushed through Old Windsor Lock in good time. Thanks to Sai for appearing with ice cream soon after. Then Datchet passed gently with lovely views of Windsor Castle. Then Romney Lock and into Windsor where there was a sudden change into a quite scary mix of strong winds, fast current and every type of boat possible milling around on a Saturday afternoon; the very worst time to arrive! So used my 'full power' option to plough through all this.
But soon after the starboard (right hand!) battery faded and I was left to limp through to the next lock and just got home on the port engine alone. I am not sure I could have done another 100 yards!. Lessons from this are that the full power option is only a last resort! But it also proves my choice of 2 parallel systems.
I have decided to take a whole day for a pit stop. The transom (the back part of the boat which supports the two outboards) is showing some small cracks and so I need to strengthen the supports. But most importantly I need the promised sun on Sunday afternoon to put some charge back into the batteries and the forecast also promises lighter winds on Monday. The prevailing wind has been a major challenge over the last few days. In addition passing through the locks at the weekend has been fraught, with two near misses from the large plastic objects that charge around the river at this time of year.
Just out of Old Windsor Lock
A welcome visitor with ice cream
Windsor in sight
1 comment:
At your present rate of progress, you should be passing Henley during the Royal Regatta (2-6 July). As a minor diversion from solar power, are you going to moor and enter the Diamond Challenge Sculls?
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