Team Magayon II joined Team Sonija this time
The Original Plan
After moving Magayon II from Iba, Zambales to Subic Bay and planning for some repairs, I posted the idea of joining a Puerto Galera Yacht Club All Souls or Easter Regatta in Puerto Galera again. Several potential crew members expressed interest in joining the trips to and from Puerto Galera, and the Regatta itself and Martin’s brother M. first confirmed interest and then quickly booked a ticket from Germany to participate.
Challenges
Since the COVID lockdowns Magayon II had been more than a bit neglected and many things needed to be fixed. All the major work was done by first half of October, with work done first in Iba on the beach, and then in the Watercrafts Marina in Subic, only some minor, but imporant issues still needed to be addressed.
One major challenge remained. We don’t have a gasoline guzzling 8hp outboard motor anymore since our old motor donated to us by M.D. had finally moved to the outboard motor Nirvana. I therefore had converted it into an electric outboard motor, which is good for weekend or day tours in the Subic Bay area. But the 5kWh battery capacity is not sufficient for a long, multi day trip. And for installing sufficient solar panels for solar charging the deck area available on Magayon II is just not sufficient. Currently we have around 200W nominal solar power installed, taking up most of the available deck area and charging the 12V battery for lighting, navigation equipment and handy chargers. Our other motor, with 15hp, is almost brand new, but so heavy that the aft cross beam bends worryingly when it is used. So that motor was not an option without challenging structural integrity of the boat.
Options to get Magayon II to Puerto Galera
We have discussed the following options:
- Find another outboard motor (did not work ).
- Identify and contact overnight points on the trip to Puerto Galera where there is 220V power supply to re-charge the batteries every night. P. suggested some places and I contacted those, but only got answers from two. With power data gathered when testing the motor and using some of my own calculations I conclude that at a marching speed of around 3 knots the batteries should last for 7 hours. Or 21 nautical miles. Due to time constraints we had not really tested that yet. The assumption was that there will be wind, at least during some time each day, so if re-charging is possible, the plan should be feasible.
- Getting another boat to tow us. Not very practical, and not needed when there is wind, so coordination might be quite frustrating.
- One suggestion was to anchor next to other boats and use their power to re-charge our batteries. All bigger yachts seem to have 220v power. However, this would have meant that they would need to run their generator / engines at night if they don’t want to drain their batteries. So that did not sound very feasible.
- Buying a cheap 1kW generator as “range extender” and using it to charge the batteries while either using the motor or when anchoring. For the regatta it would be brought to land to save weight on the boat.
- Relying on sails, with the likelihood that we come late.
All efforts to either swap the 15hp motor for a smaller one, or for renting a motor, did not bear fruit in time. So basically we had the electric motor, which is good for maneuvers for raising anchor, anchoring, docking in port, and for short distances at times with no wind. A fellow sailer provided me with an old 5hp Yamaha motor for testing but both, the power head and the gearbox, were stalled and it would also need other repairs requiring time which we did not have, so that was not an option either. The attempt to rent motors failed totally, nobody seems to want to take the risk of loosing his motor. Some people would have been happy enough to swap the almost new 15hp motor with an old and pretty worn out 6hp motor, a deal that seemed very one sided.
After a successful afternoon test of the repaired boat including the electric motor in Subic Bay we decided to try the trip with the electric motor. We had planned for 5 days to get from Subic to Puerto Galera, previous travel in the opposite direction and a day trip further to Iba took us 4 days, so on principle there should be enough time, if there would be steady winds from north west.
Potential Overnight points
Potential overnight points identified are:
- The Marina in Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar. We visited after the regatta. It has a protected marina with wave brokers all around. I am currently inquiring what it takes to stay there.
- Caylabne Bay Resort and Marina. According to P. always worth a visit. They responded to my inquiry and sent room rates, but no info on whether we can charge batteries there.
- Papaya boat services in Hamilo Bay. We had Magayon on Dry Dock there for the first renovation and they responded very helpfully to my inquiry. Princess Arietta, another boat based in Subic, planned to stay overnight there.
- Fuego Marina, unfortunately they did not respond to my inquiry.
- Nasugbu Port
- Matabunkay Beach, we often stayed overnight there on previous trips. It is a bit noisy with all the karaoke bars on the beach.
- Anilao, there are several resorts there, we stayed overnight there once.
The Range Extender
When it became obvious that getting a new or renting a functioning gasoline motor in time for the regatta was not possible, I bought a small 800W generator as a “range extender”. M. made a waterproof box for protecting it from the sea water and rain with openings for cooling air and exhaust fumes. The generator does not have sufficient power to fully run the electric outboard motor without batteries, but can be used to top up the charge and to charge empty batteries overnight, if the noise is not a problem.
Sailing to Puerto Galera – A Nice but Unsuccessful Try
Our plan was to set sail for Puerto Galera on Sunday, October 27. A Typhoon had just passed leaving high waves and wind from unfavourable direction, in addition we had organised the Oktoberfest on the day before at our place and were not in the mood to get up very early on Sunday. After checking Windy and other weather apps, which all predicted unfavourable south easterly wind and high waves on Sunday, but more favorable winds from north west and lower waves for Monday, we decided to postpone the trip to Monday, October 28. According to the forecasts a relatively steady north westerly wind should have blown relatively constantly starting Monday with 5-10 m/s, carrying us quickly to Puerto Galera.
We left Watercraft Marina on Monday morning, struggling to get the boat out of our section of the marina since there were still 4 thick floating ropes between the pier and the land, which were installed to secure the pier during the typhoon. We had informed the marina about our plan to leave, but the ropes were still there. There was also lots of garbage in the water coming from the Olongapo river, so two of our crew had to work hard with the kayaking paddles on both sides of the boat to press the ropes down below the rudders / propeller and to remove garbage from the propeller.
Once out of the marina we set sail, but there was no wind. After 3 hours with the electric motor, still no wind but the motor started shutting down occasionally. The generator, which we started after the first shutdown, kept the motor running but only at very low power good for around 3 knots. Lesson learned for long distances with motor, we should have used the generator from the beginning. Another problem I had when trying to figure out what was going on were the cheap voltmeters I had bought on Lazada. They were specified up to 80V, but used with the 60V max voltage of the batteries they heated up too much and several segments of the 7 segment displays failed, making it impossible to read the voltage.
When I checked manually with the multi meter, the batteries were still at 53V indicating a 70% charge. This was more in line with my calculations of range, but I could not connect my new iPhone with the battery BMS via bluetooth, so I besides the voltage measurements I had no means to check the cut off voltage programmed into the BMS. I suspect that some of the settings are wrong. Another lesson learned: Check all systems thoroughly many times, especially when you are dealing with a prototype.
At lunchtime we had still absolutely no wind, we had only done around 12 nautical miles on the electric motor. A quick discussion about options led to the conclusion that we could make it relying on sails and minimal motor use, but would probably come too late for the regatta. I called Miriam to check whether we could find space on another boat and she came back with the good news that Kareem’s Sonija could be an option.
So we turned around and motored back. Very sad, but as M. said, “..every thing that goes wrong is an opportunity for a new experience.” A bit of wind picked up after we turned around and we were able to sail a bit running, making between 2-3 knots, the low speed and the fact that the wind dropped quickly confirmed our decision to abort. In total we have done around 15 nautical miles with the motor on one charge with a bit of generator top up for the last 5 miles.
Participating in the Regatta on Sonija
We then took the car to Puerto Galera on October 31, paid a visit to Sonija to help the Skipper Kareem with some minor preparations, a more symbolic gesture, and then moved to the Puerto Galera Yacht Club to participate in the meet and greet as members of the Sonija crew. A lot of thanks go to Kareem who invited us on very short notice to join on his boat, usually Sonija is our prime competitor when Magayon II joins the races.
The regatta was great fun. Sonija won the multi hull class on day one and day three and came in second on day two. The second day saw a close race with Rising Sun, beating us just before the finish line. It needs to be added that Kareem had suggested to start later than Sonija’s official start time to make the race a more interesting experience.
We are happy we could join Sonija and it was an exciting and different experience joining the Regatta on on a “big boat”. We will be back with Magayon for the Easter Regatta in 2025, after getting a new gasoline motor for long range cruises.