The composition of the team: your obedient servant, my friend Roma and my soulmate Oksana.

Autumn came and according to the plan it was necessary to overtake the boat for wintering back to Kherson.

We left the pier at 8:00 am.

We saw a lot of fishermen on rubber boats

On this day, I decided to conduct an experiment - to try to reach Energodar on one battery charge, without sails and without using a generator or solar panels for recharging.

I set the power to 450-500 W on the motor and did not change it until Energodar itself.

Otherwise, the day was not particularly remarkable - we walked at an average speed of 5.6 km / h (the current helped, but the headwind slowed us down a bit). Missed a few barges. In the evening, at the entrance to the Borisfen sailboat club in Energodar, they ran aground, 50 meters from the bay. We filmed for some time and looked for a deep passage to the bay. We found out in half an hour of poking your nose that you need to enter on the right and you need to go over the shore, about 5-10 meters away. We went in, plugged the cable into the outlet. The battery was charged for only about 5 hours - I set it to low power so as not to load the power grid-club.

"In the tank" on mooring, there is still up to 10% of the charge.

The motor worked today hours - 11.5

Passed - 64 km

The generator was not started.

Our morning)

On the pier I saw a 12-meter sailboat of my friend

We left at about 9 am, sailed for 1 hour from the pier to the power line through the reservoir and set the sails.

It blew full hauled about 8-9 knots and gradually intensified

The wind has set, now it's blowing close-hauled

Wind increased to 13-14 knots

We rather nonchalantly did not reef the mainsail and missed a black cloud that pressed down 30 knots of wind in gusts. The wind roared in the rigging, the mainsail boom had to be fully set and we were pulled into the hauled wind only by a medium-sized staysail. I turned on the engine at a low power of 500 W to add controllability on the steering wheel - the screw immediately in front of the steering wheel feather. I was worried that it would not accidentally fall off with such impulses - with a full mainsail it could end up not very well for the mainsail or for the mast. It was already too late to take reefs - the oncoming wave rocked the boat so that it was necessary to do somethingon the wheelhouse it was no longer possible - a person from there could fall overboard. I remembered that according to the forecast, the rain cloud should fly by quickly, so I decided to just wait it out. For the future, he noted that it is always necessary to take reefs in advance) He regretted that there was no action camera fixed somewhere on the railing - it would be a cool video. Raincoats got completely wet, well the next day the sun came out - they dried things. In one of the flurries, all the armor flew out of the mainsail - the old system of pockets, without Velcro. In winter, you need to add Velcro and make new armor.

When the cloud left, I had to go straight to where the wind was blowing. I added power on the motor to 1.2 kW - the boat went 6.5 km / h, cutting through the wave.

The motor worked today hours - 7

Passed - 75 km

The generator worked for 2 hours.

For the night we went to the bay near the village. Lower Rogachik.

On this day, according to the forecast, there should be a clear wind and, the most unpleasant, the next night it should have blown 16 knots and gusts up to 25 knots. With such a wind, we could not go much without armor in the grotto. We could go under the engine, but we would burn a lot of gasoline in the generator to fight the wind and waves. I decided to stay one day. Looking ahead, I’ll say that it was the right decision - at night the boat was spinning on the waves and wind even in the bay - we wouldn’t get enough sleep at night and standing in an open place at night on a big wave would be an extra load on the anchor lineand I would have to start an anchor alarm :)

Today we covered only 5 km under the motor - we moved the boat to another place, more protected.

Motor ran today hours - 1

Passed - 5 km

The generator worked for 3 hours - the battery was fully charged.

In the morning an hour and a half on the motor and we left the bay. Then they set the sails and went to close-hauled. The wind grew stronger and we took first one shelf of reefs, and then the second one. In fact, a grotto without armor was of little use.

In the morning the wind was not very strong and there were almost no waves

And here it’s already very cool) It’s a pity the sound was not recorded.

The motor was used to keep the boat head-to-head for taking reefs and sometimes assisted the sails.

In front of Novaya Kakhovka, they moored to pick up a 4-meter boom for a boat that is currently being built in Kherson. The geek successfully drove to Kherson on our deck :)

The generator was not needed today. When we came to Novaya Kakhovka, we stuck to the charger from the outlet.

The motor worked today hours - 6

Passed - 95 km

The generator was not started today.

We woke up at 5 o'clock in the morning to get through the gateway as soon as possible. I called the dispatcher the day before, warned that we wanted to go to the downstream early in the morning. As a result, the dispatcher mixed up the direction of the passage and had to wait 1.5 hours until a cargo ship approached from the headwater to pass through with it.

The ship in front of us with difficulty climbed into the lock, working diligently with machines, and in their jet from the propellers our boat was thrown from side to side. Still, with an electric motor, the maneuverability of the boat is very high - it helped out.

Behind the gateway is very beautiful nature - many birds and fish. Too bad we didn't have a proper camera to capture this beauty!

Roma:

And Oksana:

We moored on the embankment of Kherson. Today we covered 65 km, the electric motor worked almost all the time, because. the wind was weak. Sails added 2-3 km / h in gusts. There are no outlets on the Kherson embankment, so you won’t be able to recharge.

Roma left by bus to his city, there were only two of us left to overtake the boat to the shipyard.

Motor ran today hours - 10

Passed - 65 km

The generator was running for 3 hours today

We woke up at 5 o'clock in the morning - we thought to leave early so that in the afternoon we would be at the shipyard - our final crossing point. However, the morning fog made its own adjustments.

Kherson is a city near the sea and a fairly large transit point for large cargo ships. I did not really want to go out before dawn in such a fog, when visibility was only 30 meters. They waited for dawn, worked as a generator to charge the battery - there was no outlet. In such a fog, I still don’t dare to set sails, so I needed more energy in the battery for the engine.

After dawn, I decided to carefully go out. Large vessels emerging from the fog created a special atmosphere for sailing )

After two hours the fog began to dissipate. We turned from the Dnieper to the river. Koschevaya. There are very beautiful beaches.

At 12:15 we moored at the end point of the route. Here the trip is officially over :)

The motor worked today hours - 4

Passed - 25 km

Generator worked - 2 hours

conclusions

1. The electric motor worked for a total of 39.5 hours during this transition. He didn't demand any attention. As well as in the previous transition and in general since its installation.
2. The temperature of the engine when operating at high power is 75 degrees. It will be difficult to overheat it, even without active cooling.
3. The generator worked for 10 hours for the entire transition, 10 liters of 92 gasoline were used. There is still about 1.5 liters left in the canister. Did not break, everything was fine with him.
4. The sails need to be shamanized, especially the mainsail. Does not work in close-hauled, gives a big roll.
5. We met sockets twice - in Energodar and in New Kakhovka. If they were not there, then another 6 liters of gasoline would have to be burned. On the other hand, if the outlet was still in Kherson on the embankment, then they would have burned 3 liters of gasoline less.
6. The boat is quite comfortable for such a three-way trip. Four of us would have been cramped.
7. I'm thinking of adding flexible solar panels to the awning. Even at this time of the year, 500-700 Wh was going from the solar panels every day to the 12V battery. In this transition, the solar panels did not charge the running batteries at all, the charge went only to the 12V battery.
8. In total, 341 km were covered in this crossing, the travel time was 51 hours, the average speed was 6.7 km/h.

Breakdowns :

1. The automatic pump that pumps out water from under the stuffing box received a power leak. When it turned on, the 12V voltage of the network sagged strongly. All the energy generated by solar panels went to it. They could not turn it off completely - because. the packing type stuffing box leaked well. And there was no time to repair.
2. Grotto armor. Lost on the second day during a squall. The plate pockets of the mainsail must be converted to Velcro.
3. The oncoming wave, in which the bow of the boat once again dug, dragged the anchor down from it, tearing it off the stopper. I had to run to the bow and anchor again until the boat had a stop crane (then the boat was flying 11 km / h in badewind)

• Roma for the company and great help in the transition)
• A mast that stood with a full mainsail in squalls.
• Batteries for the successful experiment with the Zaporozhye-Energodar crossing on one charge.
• The weather is good and not very good for the experience that will come in handy in the future.
• To my soul mate for delicious cooking and inspiration :)

Thanks for taking the time to read :)

There will be more hikes and more reports to come, but for now, see you on the next navigation :)