The solar panels mounted under the boom, above the salon, do not receive direct sunlight when the genoa is unfurled past the mast, unless the heading is somewhere between 315 and 045 degrees.

The wind generator circuitry needs to be modified. Currently, the On-Off switch is on the positive voltage side. This needs to be shifted to the negative voltage side, since the safety override circuit pushes positive voltage to both the positive and negative connections on the AirX wind generator.

There needs to be 11.5 volts available in the main battery bank to start the diesel engine. If the bank is discharged below 40 percent, the bank has to be temporarily rewired (three 6V batteries in series) to get enough voltage for the starter.

There isn't any visibility under or around the genoa when it is unfurled.

The backup bluetooth GPS receiver, used by the Fugawi navigation software, is flaky and will fail at the most inopportune times. Half of the problem is bluetooth, and the other half of the problem is Windows XP. When Windows Vista is the operating system, it is 100 percent of the problem. Windows 7 (FRC) seems to perform very, very well with bluetooth. Hopefully the retail version of Windows 7, when released, will still work as well as the Final Release Candide.

Problems Identified

The newly installed 1500 GPH automatic bilge pump does not automatically turn off when finished pumping. It does, however, automatically turn on. This poses a massive battery drain on the ship's battery bank. Even with a massive battery bank, the bilge pump will drain about 30 percent of the battery bank within 8 hours.

The patch on the diesel exhaust manifold needs to be replaced with a permanent solution.

A longer line needs to be used to tack and jibe the genoa. Current line is about 100 feet long. Replacement line should be closer to 125 feet long. This will enable a single line to be used to both tack and jibe from the cockpit winches.

Installing a few deck cleats (forward, amidships, and aft) would be useful for docking, temporarily securing lines while working underway, etc.

GPS receiver does not function. Check wiring from transom to the auto pilot.

Depth sounder gives incorrect depths. Suspect bad wiring or bad voltages.

VHF antenna (at mast head) is broken. Transmissions may be of poor quality. (Reception, however, is excellent)

Equipment Broken During the Sea Trials

Spare mainsail was torn at the leech (about six inches long), and above the first reef point (about 12 inches in length). (The primary mainsail is of excellent quality and condition.)

Equipment Needed and Recommended

A hand held GPS would be an excellent addition

A bow mounted spotlight would be a good addition for night time navigation in coastal waters.

An exterior camera, mounted above the bow spotlight, might be useful for seeing around the unfurled genoa.

However, at 7am this morning, the crew was still not aboard making final preparations, even though they were clearly up and about aboard their vessel at the transient slip dock. Eric (deck hand) arrived a bit before 8am and assisted with preparations. At 8am I stated that we would be departing no later than 9am, with or without the missing two crew members. At 8:50am, Doc (navigator and ship's physician) and Howard (designated 1st Mate) finally arrived. It was later learned they (Doc and Howard) didn't bring any of their personal gear with them -- such as cigarettes, additional clothes, or a bed roll. This lack of gear would have a dramatic impact on the voyage less than 24 hours later.

We departed promptly at 9am and ran aground as we were backing out of the slip. It took a few minutes to extract Sanctuary from the sand bar. Howard recommended hoisting sails as soon as we left the dock. The winds were comming from about 160, most of our course would be between 140 and 180 degrees, so I determined that option was imprudent (at best) and resolved to wait until we were in the Gulf before we hoisted sails.

We reached the Gulf around 1pm and unfurled the genoa. With 20+ knot headwinds from 140 and 2 to 4 foot swells, Howard wanted to fully unfurl the genoa and completely hoist the mainsail. This gave us considerable weather helm, a significant list to starboard, and a very rough ride. Still, even with an unbalanced rig, we could point to within 20 degrees of true wind and consistently maintain better than four knots. After a few hours of this I insisted we furl the genoa to the mainsail. The ride improved noticibly. At 4pm I handed the helm to the 1st Mate and went below for some rest.

Twice, over the next two hours, the helmsman performed an unexpected 180 degree turn. I asked about our course and was told we were "just taking a look about" or "the wind got away from me". We then resumed the ordered course.

At 6pm I resumed the helm. I would ultimately remain at this station until 3:30am, since I was having difficulty trusting the judgement and skills of the person initially judged to be most knowledgeable. Around midnight the winds shifted to 180 and then 200, so we jibed the genoa to port, and I proceeded on a course of 140 to 150. At 3:30am we were positioned about 25 miles north and 23 miles east of Brownswille. The 1st Mate was awoken and told to maintain a course of 140 to 160 for two hours. My plan was to turn to 250 at daybreak. This would enable us to sail on a reach with the prevailing winds at an ideal location (anyplace aft of beam). I'd hoped to test just how fast we could make a downhill run into Brownsville.

Just before 8am I checked our location on the nav computer. It showed a heading of 350 (almost due north), and a position about 30 miles south of Port Aransas. We were almost 30 miles north of where I had been relieved at the helm! The main sail had been recently furled due to a "significant tear" somewhere above the second reef point. I asked why I had not been notified of the tear, why I had not been notified of the change in course, and why we didn't hoist the other main. I was told by the 1st Mate that it would be very difficult and unsafe to rig the a new main while underway. I completely disagreed, but the damage was done. The cruise to Brownsville had been cut short.

With the main furled we had significant weather helm. I attempted to start the diesel, but couldn't, because the bank was down to 11.4 volts. About ten minutes later, after wiring three 6V batteries in series, the diesel was running. It turned the screw at low RPM for the duration of the return voyage, providing enough wash over the rudder to eliminate the weather helm caused by the loss of the main but the mostly unfurled genoa. We averaged almost 5 knots on the return, attaining a top speed of 6.6 knots at some point during the last 30 miles.

The 1st Mate wanted to sail all the way back to Cove Harbor. I again declined that option, sicne we had 20+ knots of wind and limited room for maneuvering once we turned off the Intra-Coastal Waterway. Instead, the genoa was furled in the middle of the bay, and we motored the remainder the last few miles. The last few miles went by very, very slowly.

Just outside Cove Harbor, while still well within the channel markers, we ran into a sandbar. Doc was about to swim to shore and get the motor boat to pull uss off, when I told him to stay aboard. A few minutes later we were off the sand bar. About 30 seconds later we were on another one, about 20 feet away from the channel marker that indicated 12 foot water depth. The channel at that turn needs to be dredged, and badly. Within another minute we were off the second sand bar and entering Cove Harbor. Five minutes later we were docked.

We had been gone almost 35 hours, covered 180 miles of open ocean, and I had learned several very significant lessons on both sailing and human psychology.