[password]minerva
[position]14°31.15'S 171°19.81'W
[status] Enjoying a nice view of the Samoan islands of Upolu and Savai'i - which we visited in 2003 - this sunny morning as we motor by in light winds.

Yesterday evening our chart plotter/ radar displays stopped displaying data, including GPS, and we had no data input to the auto pilot, causing it to fail. After a few hours of troubleshooting and repeatedly recycling power, resetting, and reconfiguring, we were able to get the display to work with limited functionality at the nav station, though not at the helm, but at least the auto pilot is operational! We've got OpenCPN running separately with CM93 charts and a GPS puck on the laptop so all is well.

If you are going to have an auto pilot and instrument failure, the best case is to have it under calm conditions, close to a familiar high island with a well-marked entrance and great postal service, along with phosphorescence and a rising mandarin orange moon to entertain you while hand steering. We're feeling lucky but have some work to do on arrival - 36 miles to go.
[speed] 5.2
[heading] 078T
[weather] Wind 5kt, 005T. Seas slight. Sunny skies. Bar not available.
10/30/2018 6:00 PM UTC
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