BIG CHANGES IN MY FUTURE PLANS - SwT 158 - At least both autopilots are now fixed!

Big changes in my onward route planning. Originally I aimed for Australia as the place to spend the cyclone season this year, however, lots of research shows me this will be way too expensive at the moment. The main reason is my budget for the Pacific is taking a huge hit after the lightning damages to BE FREE less than a year ago. My insurance has returned with a final negative answer after my appeal. It’s hard to argue with the small print in my contract that I had not seen, changes in coverage for lightning during the rainy season south of 10 degrees. In my appeal I claimed the changes in my contract were not informed, meaning I believed the renewal was the same as the previous agreement. This is the reason I also had a lawyer look at this, and the reason it has taken time. I was running away from a named hurricane, meaning it’s plausible the weather systems making this damage were part of the named hurricane. It’s hard to not agree with this. Sattelite photos and AIS tracks have been used to determine position etc.

I was hoping for a long time for a different outcome in this case, but it is what it is. So the consequence after basically saving the lives of people not even understanding the situation they were in, is I’m left with the bill from my own pocket. I’m sharing this because this is something to think about. If I did not have sufficient funds in my budget my adventure would stranded in Panama. This means I have to adjust my onward journey a bit as I can’t defend a long stay in Australia or New Zealand at the moment. So I have spent quite some time planning my route. This is also something I wanna share to give a realistic image of the great distances and the challenges of crossing the Pacific in only 1 season.
It is a bit difficult to accept the outcome financially from the episode with the lightning damages, but having the blueprint on the damages to boats pretty close to our position, the damages to boats and land in San Andres, I am very happy that I turned back a third time to get these sailors out. I would probably do it all over again. However, I will never ever accept to buddy sail again with people I don’t know. This was an expensive lesson. And hopefully, this learning can save others from making the same mistake. You can watch the episode here https://youtu.be/nCOd3gbYJb0

On the good side another week of hard work has paid off! I have now to perfectly working autopilots and even the last modification looks promising.
From now on I’m sailing solo again, so having both autopilots up and running again is super important on my onward journey toward the West. The next jump will be 1500 nautical miles nonstop to Tonga. The clock is running and I hope to have all my things sorted out in a rush here.
I hope to reach Raja Ampat in Indonesia for Christmas.

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ABOUT THIS CHANNEL:
Sailing around the world in a Bavaria 55 Cruiser, making videos whenever we have time for it. I used to sail singlehanded and occasionally have sailing friends onboard. But now the permanent crew aboard BE FREE is including Gee from Holland. We are now exploring the Pacific Ocean.

Even though this is season 5 on YouTube I did not make that many videos in the beginning. Before full-time sailing, I sailed several seasons in the Mediterranean prior to this, and obviously also in Scandinavia. I have been traveling the world before and have also been an active regatta sailor. I had my first sailboat at age 7 and have been sailing ever since. Also, more than 10 years of experience in Search and Rescue at sea in Norway.

PLEASE BE KIND IN THE COMMENTS!
I’m just a normal person sharing my travel adventure through my eyes and experience from my perspective! Remember how I do things that might work for me but not for you. It might even not be the correct way to do things, and I don’t have the blueprint either. I’m not perfect and nobody is. The day I believe I know it all and don’t think I can learn new things I should go ashore.