Fred & the power struggle

You folk back in RSA are thinking of only one Power Struggle ; that
between Dr Mashiniwami Lovepants, Jellytot Bigbrain Malema and their
SACP and Cosatu followers, and those who claim to uphold democracy in
RSA : Cope, Democratic Party plus most of the smaller parties. The
reason for the early election call is to ensure that ANC members arent
given enough time to think for themselves!I wonder what Clever Trevor
will do?
Out here we have a MUCH more serious power struggle, that between
Fred, ( our B& G Autopilot, and the solar and wind generators. (Fred
is so named because of the similarity between his whinging and moaning
all day long, so reminiscent of our beloved German Shepherd now
whispering sweet nothings in Alans ears! We sold Fred to Alan for a
fortune, and gave him our house for free late last year! He even got a
new brother Inja thrown in with the deal!
The last three days have been overcaste, and suddenly we needed to use
the genset to charge up the batteries, which until then had not needed
one. We run a freezer, a fridge, plus Fred, who can get quite hungry
when the seas are up. They take up about 180-200amp hours per dayout
of our +/- 230 per day. Today the sun came out again to show us how
pleasant it can be in the trades, and we discovered that the
solar panels were not charging ! Corrosion in the exernal connection
plug! Now back on stream. These demands are fully covered by the
210watts solar panels plus the AirX wind generator. Having water
papered the blades , and coated them with Roys magic Fluid Film, it
makes LESS noise than the quieter new generation AirBreeze which
failed the day before we left.
We have now crossed the halfway mark, which took 6 days 2hr 30
min, at an avr of 6.1knots. We are still running with a triple reefed
main and genoa,which is more conservative than necessary,and doing
about 6.5 to 7.5. The wind has dropped down to 20 to 25, and we are
quite content to take it easy,and recharge our own batteries! Pos
26.05S,4.50E. More later.