Ben Rogerson Round Britain & Ireland Solo Attempt - Update

Very tough conditions in the Atlantic but 2/3rds complete!

1,300 nautical miles completed. Having rounded the tip of the British Isles on Friday, Ben and 'Mini Minx' have had a rough couple of days and are now fast approaching the North West tip of Ireland, and another dose of 30 knots+ winds on Tuesday.

Having had one hell of a day on Saturday in wild conditions and not enough sunshine to recharge the batteries through the solar panels alone, and no generator to do the job - Ben was forced to hand steer in severe conditions non-stop day and night with only brief breaks when hove the boat to snatch an hour's fitful sleep.

Despite there being no let up in the strong North Westerly winds as they chased him down his track on Saturday and through Sunday, there was some good news yesterday.

After extensive research a possible solution for starting the generator was identified. An outside chance and not guaranteed to work, but worth a try.

A bucking small boat is not the ideal place for this type of job but after several attempts Ben managed to get the now partially dismantled generator started, and by now dead batteries started to hungrily suck in charge. So after several hours Ben was set up again with instruments working and the Autohelm helping out again, allowing Ben time to attend to small matters like eating and navigating, and even taking a break.

Monday has seen very strong winds continue to blow out of the South West making the going very hard, with Ben changing down to the Storm Trysail and Storm Jib just to keep the boat together.

A slight respite is in sight later tonight as Ben nears the North West coast of Ireland and the winds ease and swing to the South, then go behind him in the East tomorrow as he tacks out into the Atlantic ready for the next onslaught, as yet another low pressure system quickly tracks up the Irish Coast to greet him - so much for an Irish welcome!

The aim in the next 36 hours is to get out into the Atlantic and onto the other side of the low pressure system and get a free ride home.

If Ben can get through this last tough test and all goes according to plan we would hope to see him cross the Finishing Line off Start Point some time on Friday and be back in Cowes at the weekend.

Earlier

1200 UTC Friday 17 July 2009 - after a long haul up the North Sea Ben Rogerson rounds the most Northern point of the British Isles and heads South again.

Seven days after his restart off Start Point (Devon) Ben was approximately 850 nm along the solo non-stop track round Britain and Ireland out of an estimated total of 1,850 nm.

The run up the southern part of the North Sea had been extremely wearing with little chance of sleep having so many ships, platforms and sandbanks to avoid.

The main task on Friday before dark was to stow all the gear securely below, get a couple of hot meals inside himself, batten down the hatches, reef the mainsail and make ready for strong North-Easterly winds that will increase to 30 - 35 knots by tomorrow morning and may reach 40 knots locally during the day.

Sod's Law - not everything was going according to plan. A serious setback that manifested itself 48 hours previously, was the starting mechanism on the portable petrol generator, which is used to top up the batteries that run all the instruments and autohelm, which had broken.

Ben had been trying to fix this for the past couple of days but to no avail, meaning he was now solely reliant on the power that the two flexible Solar Panels could produce to top up the batteries; but it is not enough for the amount of power needed on a normal daily basis.

That meant that what was already a substantial challenge had just got harder. The only way to conserve enough battery power for essential equipment and bursts of autopilot use when absolutely necessary, was for Ben to hand steer for long hours at a time.

Friday evening Ben was frustrated by this mechanical setback but upbeat and determined to complete this challenge 'non-stop'.

Ben Rogerson and his Mini Transat 6.50m yacht are currently attempting to sail solo non-stop Round Britain and Ireland in support of the charitable organisation 'Toe in the Water'.

Keep watching Ben & 'Mini-Minx' progress on the website.