Update 12:27pm NZ time:
Conrad has just been in touch. Thank goodness he is OK, and (as a second priority to safety) is pushing forwards.
The biggest impact thus far from the total blackout on his IMOCA is that he had to slow down for 24 hours (having just found his wind again after days of painfully slow progress in the doldrums) to complete repairs on the boat.
I will use a direct copy of Conrad's messages as I think the original text from him contains the brutal reality of single-handed round-the-world racing:
[1/12/2024, 12:22:17 PM] Conrad Colman: Exactly. The panels cooked the boat. The charge controller didn’t do its job. Several components are fried definitely, others I’ve got back by removing diodes on a printed circuit board. [1/12/2024, 12:22:20 PM] Conrad Colman: The boat blacked out when I was in full attack mode, all the sails up in 20 knots. I managed to drop the spinnaker and roll the j3 jib while sailing without autopilot. Then stopped the boat and went into Mr fix-it mode [1/12/2024, 12:22:22 PM] Conrad Colman: I have spares, but have now used them all. I’m in a knife’s edge for the rest of the race [1/12/2024, 12:23:32 PM] Chris Woodhams: You cannot get more supplies - such as a solar controller [1/12/2024, 12:23:47 PM] Conrad Colman: It’s OK. To sum up I had to stop the boat for several hours and then sail very underpowered for a day more while I was working on the boat. It’s frustrating to have lost lots of miles relative to my competitive, but it looks like for the moment. I’m still in the race.
