A Circumnavigator‘s Yacht
June 17, 2920
Now it’s plain to see, that Faule Haut has switched her ponds.
She left the great pond and is now sailing inside her home pond, the Mediterranean Sea. She is heading to Ibiza. That’s less than 400 nm. ETA May 22, 2020.
Last view of Gibraltar
May 15, 2020
While Suzana and Skipper Ingo were sitting on the foredeck to patch the mainsail, Benno was in the cockpit at the steering, when all of a sudden he shouted: “Something is smelling here. Smells as if something is burning. There must be something burning inside.”
Being 10 nm off the coast, it was sure that that burning smell must have come from Faule Haut.
Fire on board is really the worst case scenario on a boat. Terrified, we all hurried down the companionway. And in fact, it smelled as if some plastic was burning. Skipper Ingo turned off the power supply from the batteries. This of course killed the autopilot, so he ordered Benno to take over the steering while he and Suzana kept on looking for the source of the smell, putting their noses in every nook and cranny. They expected to find a short in some wire someplace. Skipper Ingo checked the house bank (batteries) under his bed. All ok.
It took them several long minutes to find the cause. It was the electric water boiler which in fact, got SWITCHED ON BY ITSELF, (nobody was using it) without having water in it, and then the thermostat didn’t switch it off. It started to melt the plastic what made that nasty smell.
The crew was relieved, that there was nothing wrong with the boat.
By the way, that water cooker comes from China (like the corona). It was bought at one of these China stores at Vinaròs. No more Chines crap on Faule Haut.
15 .06.20
Great joy for Skipper Ingo. He has found help for the repair. With such a nice helper it didn’t feel like working anymore.
He and Suzana managed to spend several hours sitting on the foredeck finishing the sewing, stitching and patching of the main sail.
Since the needle had to be pushed through up to seven layers of sail cloth at the edge, Skipper Ingo used a drill to make holes for the needle. Then, Suzana did the stitching.
Evening
The sail is ready, but it’s getting dark. Skipper Ingo will install the sail tomorrow.
June 14, 2020
Faule Haut is experiencing new problems
The forestay is breaking for the third time on her circumnavigation, due to the foresail furling system which doesn’t work properly. The pipe on which the Genoa rolls up got jammed. It doesn’t turn freely around the forestay but turns the forestay steel wire as well. This of course puts force on the wires and they have started to break. Already four of the nineteen strands have broken.
In order to fix this problem the entire furling system has to be dismounted and taken apart. But you need to be in port or in a boatyard to do that and you need certain spare part like pipe, connectors and more. Today the crew motored from their anchorage to a place right opposite of a boat yard and dropped the anker. They had the intention to to ask for some help next morning. During the wait, Skipper Ingo got up the third time on the mast and worked on the jammed furling system. He could do some fixing, but this is only a temporary solution without having the necessary spare parts.
Evening:
Due to the Skippers repair job the crew decided to change their plans and forget the boat yard. They startet the motor and tried to get the genoa rolled out. It worked, even thought the furler jammed a little. After motoring for 5 hours good wind came up and they got 96 nm closer to Gibraltar.
On Saturday night new crew, Benno & Suzana, joined Faule Haut. 
Benno is Skipper Ingo’s closest sailing buddy. In 2017 he joined the Skipper on his first Atlantic crossing. Suzana is a sailing enthusiast and eager to lern new things on Faule Haut.
Both will accompany Faule Haut on her final leg back home. Good vibrations on the boat.
Losing the Genoa
Right now Faule Haut received cellphone network from the southern coast of Portugal and is able to post this latest news about what had happened on her leg between the Azores and Portugal.
Another setback for Faule Haut on her last leg so close to her home port. Her foresail/genoa has been ripped to pieces in a storm.
Skipper Ingo had not intended to stop in Portugal but he will have to. He can’t sail anymore because he hasn’t repaired his mainsail yet, and unfortunately he lost the genoa in a storm yesterday. It had blown apart – unrepairable – a total loss of a 3,000.- € foresail. Like the breaking of the last whiskerpole it happened while he was sleeping. After cruising for more than two years and seven months he got so much used to live and sleep on a rocking and rolling boat, that he hardly wakes up in a storm not even if the rocking gets violently. He woke up too late by the noise of the flapping remnant pieces of genoa. The genoa tore into two parts and they were flapping violently at the furling system. There was so much force on the sail and the sheets, that it took him four hours to secure the cloth and get it wrapped around the furler. He was scared that the furling system with the forestay would come down, so hard was the wind power working on that forestay in 40 knots of wind.
He was sailing with the genoa and the storm sail together and from then on only had the storm sail. With that alone he only made one or one and a half knots of speed when the wind calmed down to 25 knots.
He will have to take the genoa down as soon as possible and install the spare one. But he can’t do that on the open ocean, especially since he is sailing singlehand. So he decided to make an unplanned emergency stop at the port of Ponta Delgada, Portugal. He hopes to find some help there to pull up his second genoa. Also he will have some time to keep sewing on his mainsail, which could not have been used for over two weeks now. He hopes to finish his stitching and be able to leave the port with two working sails.
In spite of these problems Skipper Ingo is of good cheer, for here he has experienced another protection because the loss of the genoa happened so close to the coast of Portugal, about 80 nm offshore. If this had happened on the middle of the Antlantic, it would have been much worse (having neither the main sail nor the genoa). Being so close to a port, he decided to use the motor to get to Ponta Delgada. Since he left Guadeloupe he has sailed 3,822 nm and wisely has only used the motor sparingly only for eight hours. Thus, he has enough fuel to make it to the next port under motor.
When he was securing and fastening the remains of his genoa, the jib sheet on the starboard side fell into the water and wrapped around the prop. This scared the the skipper because now he was partially unmaneuverable. He could neither sail properly with just a six square meter storm sail, nor could he motor. He had to wait till daylight next morning to dive down and clear the prop. To his surprise, he found another rope blocking his prop. So somehow, it was good that his jib sheet fell into the water. He would not have noticed the other rope blocking the prop.
Next stop, most likely, will be Queensway Quay Marina at Gibraltar for refueling. Supposedly, the diesel there is tax free and cost only 48 Cents.
The southwestern tip of Portugal. Crossing the TSS (Traffic Separation Scheme / German: Verkehrstrennungsgebiet).
Crossing boats have to yield to the ones inside the TSS. Faule Haut just sneaked in before three other boats got close.
June 1, 2020
Almost as predicted, after 2,810 nm of sailing, Faule Haut is passing the Azores Islands. She is two days behind her schedule due to the broken whiskerpole and the torn main sail. Skipper Ingo is still sewing on the main sail. At the moment he can’t use it yet and Faule Haut is powered only by her genoa and storm sail.
Without the main sail and the wiskerpole, he will arrive at his home port two or three days later then expected.
Faule Haut won’t stop here at the Azores. The Skipper just uses the internet to get some weather data and do this posting.
May 29, 2020
Jellyfish and dolphins
Over the last 1,000 nm Skipper Ingo saw lots of jellyfish passing by Faule Haut. He got curious what they exactly look like and caught one with a bucket. It’s one of the most poisonous jellyfish that exists. It’s a Portuguese Man o‘ War (German: Portugisische Galeere)
(The Skipper swears, its not a blown up fancy Billy Boy Condom in the bucket.)
It had long tentacles of over 6 m which glued to the deck when he pulled it on board. Its tentacles are poisonous and can do really harm to your skin. He had a guest on board at the Mediterranean once who suffered severe burn on her legs. There are people who are so allergic that they even can die if they get in contact with these tentacles.
But they look kinda pretty, don’t they? It looks like it is filled with air because it’s totally transparent, but actually it’s full of jelly. When Skipper Ingo poked in it with a screwdriver, it didn’t collapse strait away (like an air ballon) but took some time for the jelly to run out. Well – they are called jellyfish -that says it all.
After that, some dolphins showed up and where playing at the bow. I shot a video but can’t show it here yet.
May 21, 2020
A reinforcing strap came loose at the genoa and has to be sewn back on. Also some tears have to be patched before they get even bigger.
The needle has to go through three layers of white sail cloth, four layers of blue uv protection cloth and two reinforcing straps. Nine layers all together. No wonder it broke on the first stitch.
Diary 5:
May 18, 2020 on the Atlantic. Climbing up the mast.
At two o’clock in the morning my Skipper woke up from a slapping noise.
He went on deck and noticed, that the main sail was almost entirely torn off the second batten car/slider that runs on the track along the mast. But even worse, the halyard got jammed on the tip/end of the upper spreader/crossing. This could only happen because he had broken the upper most batten car/slider already a few months ago and could not replace it yet.
There is a little groove at the end of the spreader where the halyard got in between and stuck. Pulling he halyard tight meant pulling it deeper into the groove. Pulling on the sail did the same thing. There was no way to get the halyard free by pulling either one. The only solution was to climb up to the spreader and clear the rope. It was impossible to get the main sail down. And the wind was picking up. The main sail had to be taken down fast. Getting in a storm with a sail that you can’t get down would be disastrous.
Middle of the night! Dark! 25 knots of wind blowing! On a rolling boat, with the mast swinging to and fro! 12 feet waves! The Skipper’s nightmare that he had had for over two years came true.
He started the motor to get some more speed and keep Faule Haut on track. That reduced the rolling movement of the boat slightly, but still the mast was swinging from port to starboard.
So he got his climbing gear ready and started the ascend.
Skipper Ingo hasn’t gone on this circumnavigation unprepared. Knowing that unexpected things can happen on an adventure like this, he took a climbing course at a school in Reutlingen a few weeks before he left, and bought all the necessary equipment to go up the mast alone. It was worth the cost.
The ascend was more than a PITA. The skipper got close to collapsing and giving up when he was 2/3 up the mast, scratching and squeezing his fingers, swinging away from the mast and bouncing against it several times, but knowing there was no other solution to free the rope but by getting up close to the spreader he kept on climbing. Once he reached it, it was easy to get the rope clear.
When he got down he saw the damage done to the sail attachment. It will be a tough sewing without a machine, to get that sail ready to be used again.
And this sewing has to be done while the sail is partially still attached to the batten cars on the track of the mast. No way to take the sail off in those winds alone. Well – it might work to take it off, but it’s hard to get it back on alone, except Faule Haut would run into a calm/doldrums (no wind period/area), but the Skipper won’t wait for that.
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