Geoff Holt’s transatlantic challenge – which has seen him sailing a 60ft, purpose-built, wheelchair-accessible catamaran across the Atlantic – has faced more problems this week, after his generator failed last night. Despite efforts to find the fault, Geoff’s team is yet to solve the problem and the boat remains without power.

The issue is that the boat depends entirely on electricity to run its complex electronic and hydraulic systems. Manual steering, whilst possible, is actually very difficult for Geoff and he reports being very tired after only four hours on the helm.

To save power and fuel in order to have sufficient to navigate the difficult arrival in Tortola, they have had to switch off all electronics, until a solution is found. All efforts will now focus on trying to fix the generator and extract 100 litres of potentially very useful fuel from the port engine.

Geoff’s yacht Impossible Dream has 500 miles to go and is travelling at 5 knots. His estimated time of arrival is Thursday 7 January.

Geoff’s blog read:

“Last night our generator failed. Despite efforts by Susana to find the faut, it looks serious. The boat depends entirely on electricity to run its complex electronic and hydraulic systems. The backup electrical supply is an alternator on the starboard engine but this uses 5 times the fuel and we have only enough fuel for another 8 battery charges. All electronics are therefore being switched off to save power and fuel in order to have sufficient to navigate the difficult arrival in Tortola. The autopilot has also been switched off and I am manually steering the vessel with some difficulty.”

For more, visit www.geoffholt.com