Something is happening at last!

Hello all,
The reason that I have written nothing for a long time is that nothing has been happening. I need to be in the Philippines until the end of March, and Oleg and Donna had been waiting for the elusive 'weather window' that they needed to travel South.
The plan is that I will meet them in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, at the end of March and then the three of us will cross the Pacific to Tahiti, via the Marquesas, together with Mike Cregan, a fellow with considerable ocean crossing experience.
Lone Wolf is currently residing with PAE (Nordhavn) in Dana point, California, where she is having some work done, some of it under warranty, which is very decent of them, since the boat is no longer under warranty.
This is part of Captain Oleg's email to me, about the journey, undertaken with Galen Tyler and Mike Cregan. I haven't asked his permission to reproduce this, but I'm sure he won't mind.

"We departed Anacortes on Tuesday February 17^th at about 2:30 pm and arrived at Dana Point California on Monday February 22^nd at about 5:30 pm.

We ran the boat at a steady 1600 rpm doing 9.5 to10.0 kts and burning about 9.5 gph on the main only. The generator added about 1.5 gph to the overall usage. Overall we ran 124 hours, burned 1393 gallons of fuel.

The following is a list of major discrepancies we encountered along the way:

1. Furuno and B&G depth sounder erratic and sometimes unreliable
2. Aft cockipit scupper drain door blew out by large quartering seas
3. Pressure indicator gauge on fuel transfer Racor filter incorrect
4. Moderate bilge water accumulation in forward bilge battery compartment
5. Anchor drain check valve and seacock leaking in battery compartment
6. Some sea water accumulation in lazarette
7. Diesel odor in the boat. Fuel hoses weeping at manifold in step locker
8. Main Simrad auto pilot blew fuses and became inoperative last part of trip. Had to use back-up system last 8 hours of trip. Boat would become very difficult to hand steer in a rough seaway without the aid of an autopilot
9. Holding tank pumpout system only operates when primed manually at first. Sometimes only manual pumpout is possible for entire 100 gallon tank.
10. Main Sealand M-24 toilet pump periodically pumps non-stop for long periods before shutting off.
11. Steering fluid leak at pilot house helm pump
12. Strong engine room odor in master stateroom while underway. Galen became a bit queasy
13. Erratic temperature fluctuations throughout the boat from the heating and air conditioning blower units. Sensors must be placed closer to ambient air in the region that it is trying to control.
14. Should have diver check under the boat. We traveled through many areas at night containing crab traps.
15. Change oil and fluids. Nordhavn recommends we change all the fluids before embarking on a lengthy voyage. The boat has not been run this hard for a very long time and this would be a prudent precautionary step.
16. The 24V hydraulic alternator repair will be done free of charge as a warranty issue by Nordhavn

The boat handled well except when we had large following or quartering seas. Since the boat has a bustle installed, it essentially squares off the transom stern. As the sea wells-up behind the boat and throws the stern in one direction or another. That starts a process where the stabilizers act to correct the roll and pitch, then the rudder comes into play to counteract the yaw or heading. So, you generally fishtail your way along your course with all the systems working hard to maintain a strait course.

I’ve attached the estimate for labor costs, not including parts if needed, to do some of the inspections and repairs.

Donna and I have been washing the boat and removing the massive salt deposits from the trip south…it’s nice to be in a warmer climate that allows us to really get many of the outside chores taken care of properly."

So there you have it...So far so good. Updates will be posted here as they happen.