Time for mom to head home. We cruised back to Ucluelet and I
dropped her off. Then I headed out for Turtle Island. I’d visited Turtle Island
once before, but the anchorage was full.
This time I had it all to myself, which was good, since it’s
a one, maybe two boat spot. I explored a bit by kayak. It’s a really neat
anchorage, almost exposed to the ocean swells. From inside, the swells crashing
ashore were audible.
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| Turtle Island |
 |
| Then the fog rolled in... |
By late afternoon fog started to roll in. By evening I was
surrounded. I thought about exploring more by kayak, but was worried that I
could quickly become disoriented and lost if a really heavy fog rolled in and
obscured the view of Retriever.
A relatively minor boat problem has cropped up, one that
seems to happen periodically and then fix itself. The S1000 autopilot has developed
a mind of its own. It kind of holds a course, but often veers to starboard when
engaging. I’ve tried holding a course for several minutes before engaging the
autopilot, but the result is the same. When navigating to a waypoint, cross
track errors (the distance the boat is from the intended course) rise to
150-200 feet in one direction, then 150-200 feet in the other. Very sloppy. The
hydraulic steering system is full and steering is normal when using the wheel.
I’ve tried messing with the settings, a factory reset, and autolearn (always
fails…error code 6) to no avail. Sometimes it works great, other times it
doesn’t. Weird.
21.8 nm today
1064.6 nm total
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