Mark Fritzer brings us his final at-sea post from aboard Iron Lady…

Well, last night at sea and it is beautiful. The trades are blowing from the East at 18 and the temperature has cooled enough to warrant a shirt. The stars are out in full glory and the rain squalls that come through look like miniature “black holes” against the starlight. For the first time, I was treated to a mini meteor shower as well.

This morning’s watch should be my last of the trip. We are about 50 miles from port. Both wind and wave have turned back to the NE and are steady on the stbd bow quarter. The sea temperature has stayed around the 81.9°F mark and is now consistently above the air temp at 79°F.

I was able to talk the guys into moving fluids out of the bow, and will report back after a few hours with any differences I notice. Below are the particulars:

Starting configuration/data:
Forward fuel tank 2600L (39% Full)
Forward water tank 2600L (57%)
Aft fuel tank 1600L (33%)
Aft water tank 1300L (42%)
Aft port wing tank 200L (15%)
Aft stbd wing tank 800L (67%)
Day tank 240L (50%)

Seas/Wind NE 1M/ NE16 Knots
Engine RPM and Load 1650/50%
Fuel burn 2.1 LNM (Litres/nautical mile) or 21 LPH (Litres/hour)
SOG 9.9
Pitch 2.8 – (-)3.4
Roll 0-1.4

Mid-configuration/data:
Forward fuel tank 1800L (32% Full)
Forward water tank 1520L (41%)
Aft fuel tank 2300L (48%)
Aft water tank 1300L (42%)
Aft port wing tank 200L (15%)
Aft stbd wing tank 800L (67%)
Day tank 300L (75%)

Seas/Wind NE 1M/ NE17 Knots
Engine RPM and Load 1650/50%
Fuel burn 2.1 LNM (Litres/nautical mile) or 21 LPH (Litres/hour)
SOG 9.9
Pitch 2.6 – (-)4.8
Roll 0-1.6

Reduced RPM configuration/data:
Forward fuel tank 1800L (32% Full)
Forward water tank 1520L (41%)
Aft fuel tank 2300L (48%)
Aft water tank 1300L (42%)
Aft port wing tank 200L (15%)
Aft stbd wing tank 800L (67%)
Day tank 300L (75%)

Seas/Wind NE 1M/ NE17 Knots
Engine RPM and Load 1450/45%
Fuel burn 1.8 LNM (Litres/nautical mile) or 19 LPH (Litres/hour)
SOG 8.5
Pitch 1.3 – (-)3
Roll 0-1.4

I’m pretty skeptical of the Pitch and Roll data, as they change not only with the movement of the boat but the abruptness of that movement. Therefore we set the sensor on a rolling 4 minute average, and didn’t include the data where a larger than normal wave came through and skewed it. The Maretron system was used for all sensor data.

Removing all but roughly 1/3 of the forward water and fuel tankage didn’t seem to make much difference in engine loading or fuel consumption. However, we found the boat had a tendency to set up a cyclic “hobby horse” where once started it took  3-4 cycles for it to come back to level. In addition, we were definitely shipping more water over the bow. She did seem a bit more nimble, but as Pete has stated, he prefers a slower motion for passage making. It would be interesting to see the difference in large sea states, where I surmise being a tad bit heavy in the bow would be less enjoyable.

Trident decided to give us a final farewell and send us off in style by increasing the wind to 25 knots and waves to 2 meters for the last couple of hours. It has sure been a pleasure and I can’t thank Pete and Steve enough for letting me tag along. Well, that’s about it for now as we are about to enter the marina and I need to run.

Until next time…