Some input from one of the sailors just back from SHTP

Lessons learned: I need a way to generate power besides the solar panel, and I probably need two large panels. Maybe the current 80W and the new 40W would be enough. Weight on the boat is secondary to being able to rest - and particularly at night, the AP did a BETTER job at driving the boat. Nighttime is also the most challenging time to charge batteries for a boat that does not have an engine.

(AP == Autopilot)

Wondering if I shouldn't also look into twin sails for the event of AP failure. I can use a jib to avoid hand steering even with AP failure in pretty much all points of sail but downwind sailing which will be the majority of the time in this race. Twin sails can steer the boat downwind (without a spinnaker). I think that I will need to assume a power failure or AP failure and NOT depend on this to steer and rest. So not only do I need to find additional ways to get power at night (the race autopilot is still likely to be the best driver with a high level of fatigue) I also need to find, test and refine alternate method of steering that does NOT require power.

I quote

'All the solar only boats had issues with having sufficient power in the early part of the race, and in some cases throughout the race. Only IDEFIX, an Olson 30, seemed to not have too much of a problem. He was carrying two panels about the size of Elise's 80W panel.  The bottom line is if you plan on doing this crossing don't plan the solar panels based on sunlight, plan on overcast for 4 to 5 days straight.

If I were trying to go without any generator I would seriously consider adding a wind generator or a water generator. Even a very small one will generate plenty of power. I would trade this off against carrying a small Honda generator on the stern deck in a plastic box. ONe boat, TAZ, did the latter, and it saved him after about 6 days, from having to hand steer for long periods.

The top 5 boats in this race did very little driving. They all had APs that didn't fail.

The top two issues in this race, of this duration, is the integrity of the electrical system, and the quality of the AP's.  Adding a few lbs to carry a back up generator, or a water/wind generator is not going to amount to anything if your competition, as happened in this race, has to hand steer for several days.  A few pounds likely wouldn't cost you more than an hour over the entire course. A badly steered boat or worse a crash due to fatigue can cost you a lot.  Some folks broke booms and other key parts of the boat. I believe that only happened in the light weight class and suspect it was due to fatigue.

On the race there were many times when I would take over and realize 30 min into a session that the AP could steer closer to the course, especially at night. This was mostly due to my fatigue level. It was very hard to focus on a good compass course.  In the really knarly conditions I would always drive, but squalls pass in an hour or so.  I tried to keep my rest level up to deal with those situations.

Pretty interesting how your mind set changes as the duration of the event sinks in.'