Autopilot faults threaten Aviva Challenge
27 December, 2005
Worsening autopilot problems are threatening the Aviva Challenge, single-handed sailor Dee Caffari’s attempt to sail non-stop round the world against the prevailing winds.
Caffari was running the main autopilot on Christmas Day when it began losing hydraulic fluid, indicating a serious problem had developed with this system. Caffari’s has had intermittent faults on her back-up autopilot system for several weeks and she and her shore team agree that the voyage cannot safely continue around Cape Horn unless the causes can be traced and the systems fixed within the next few days.
The difficulty she and the Aviva Challenge team now face is tracing the source of these problems, but with Caffari less than a week from rounding Cape Horn, time is running out to find a solution.
“It would not be prudent to round Cape Horn without two fully functional autopilots,” comments Aviva Challenge project director Andrew Roberts. “Modern yachts are not designed to steer themselves and it would introduce serious risks, including getting away from Cape Horn, which is the worst lee shore in the world.”
Her technical team are working with manufacturers to isolate the faults, which they believe may relate to defective electrical switches. Caffari could slow down to carry out the intricate work of checking wiring. Sailing record rules would also allow her to anchor off the Falkland Islands and buy more time to find a solution in the safety of sheltered water. But the risk is that electrical faults have already had a knock-on effect on the operation of the pilots.
“We have to establish whether the electrical problems have caused the loss of hydraulic fluid, and that’s our biggest concern,” explains Andrew Roberts. “Right now our confidence in finding a solution is about 50/50, but we have at least two days of tests to run after which the situation will be clearer.”
Further details will be released as soon as the information is available.
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Technical notes:
1. Aviva has two completely separate and interchangeable autopilot systems so that there is 100 per cent redundancy of all components. These were custom made for Aviva by B&G and Wagner Hydraulics.
2. Each element of these systems has its own switchover: from the two units processing information from the gyro compass, wind direction and boatspeed indicators, and rudder angle reference units to two electro-hydraulic pumps; and from these pumps to the two rams that move the top of the rudder.
3. The faults traced so far relate to two defective electrical switches in the switchover system between the two autopilots. These faults have been intermittent.
4. This problem was thought to have been solved by wiring out some of these switches. The fault must now be further traced back to the switchover between the two pump sets.
5. The loss of hydraulic fluid may be related to these electrical problems, but is yet to be established.
Enquiries:
Karen Earl Sponsorship
Georgina Spring +44 (0)1672 811588
+44 (0)7747 033728
Notes to editors:
Aviva and The Aviva Challenge
- www.avivachallenge.com includes a voyage tracker, Dee's daily logs, an image library, profiles of Dee and her shore team, the yacht Aviva and further information about The Aviva Challenge.
- Aviva is the world's sixth-largest insurance group based on gross worldwide premiums and market capitalisation (at 31 December 2004); it is one of the leading providers of life and pensions in Europe and has substantial businesses in other markets around the world. Aviva's main activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total income of £40 billion and assets under management of £280 billion at 31 December 2004.
- Aviva is sponsoring Dee Caffari's 'Aviva Challenge' as part of its 'Forward thinking' pan-European advertising campaign. The print, on-line and television corporate campaign, targeting Europe's opinion-former community, will run until April 2006. As part of the campaign, Aviva has also commissioned RSA Films to make five film shorts for CNBC TV, featuring people who have a particularly powerful vision of the future and celebrating the remarkable achievements of these individuals.
- The current world record for a non-stop single-handed circumnavigation of the globe against the prevailing winds and currents is 122 days, 14 hours, 3 minutes and 49 seconds and is held by Frenchman Jean Luc Van Den Heede.
Challenge Business
- Challenge Business is the organiser for 'The Aviva Challenge', co-ordinating the shore team and logistics behind Dee Caffari's solo, non-stop circumnavigation.
- Challenge Business is a market leader in creating, managing and promoting World Class events - providing the opportunity for ordinary people to do the extraordinary, for the professionals to reach for the extreme and visionary businesses to achieve amazing results.
- Challenge Business uses the participation and passion of adventure sport to create integrated marketing programmes for innovative businesses and has a sponsorship community of many hundreds of blue chip companies worldwide.
