Chapter 689 - 301: Z-Pattern Wave-Navigation Technique (Part 3)

At 10 a.m., the yacht finally left the core wave area and entered the Daiqu Ocean, with wind speeds dropping to around level 6, and the wave height visually appeared to be less than 1.5 meters.

Seeing this, Li Younan patted Qin Yue’s shoulder beside him and said, "Switch to autopilot mode, adjust the course back to due north, and increase the speed to 12 knots."

Then, Li Younan used the broadcast to command all crew members to check the equipment.

Soon, according to everyone’s work responsibilities, reports of the ship’s status came through: "Report, the deck is secured well."

"Report, the main and auxiliary engines are operating normally."

"Report, the ballast water tank level is balanced, no damage to any supplies."

Li Younan smiled and nodded, then noticed the coffee on the table and remembered he was so busy he forgot to drink it.

But when he picked it up, he found the coffee had already gone cold, and he sighed slightly, thinking of Guan Yu warming wine to kill Hua Xiong, while he couldn’t even sip warm coffee while steering through the waves.

The prolonged waves were to blame.

Next time, perhaps he should steer with one hand and drink coffee with the other?

Li Younan arranged for Qin Yue to continue steering while he leisurely went out from the cockpit to check other areas.

At that time, the surveyor happened to come out from the engine room, and seeing Li Younan coming from the cockpit, he admiringly said, "I’ve been in this profession for many years, and I haven’t encountered such a stable helmsman before. Captain Li, it seems you found a great first mate!"

Li Younan was taken aback for a moment, blinked, then just smiled: "Haha, yes, indeed."

"Captain Li, the waves will get smaller next, and I’m going up to sort out the navigation data," the surveyor said.

Li Younan nodded: "Go ahead."

As the surveyor went up to the cockpit, Li Younan went down to the lower deck to check the engine room situation.

At this time, Chen Tiefeng had just completed his inspection of the engines, and seeing Li Younan coming down, he immediately greeted, "Captain."

Li Younan came down with a purpose, directly saying, "Record our main engine activation efficiency, fuel consumption, wave resistance, and other parameters during the voyage, these data can form a winter coastal voyage optimization report, which we can use to further upgrade the yacht later."

Chen Tiefeng was momentarily stunned, then immediately nodded to do so.

Meanwhile, Li Younan stood on the lower deck, gazing at the distant small waves, thinking amusingly that only at sea could there be truly excellent waves.

These waves, once surfed, would definitely be more exhilarating than those on the near shore.

At the same time, the surveyor went into the cockpit: "First Mate, I’m here to sort out the navigation data."

Qin Yue nodded: "Okay, no problem."

Soon, the two of them had organized the navigation data together.

And when these data were displayed intuitively, it was even more astonishing.

They had navigated for two and a half hours in winds around level 9, covering more than 20 nautical miles, with an average rolling angle of just 3 degrees!

Know that the usual level for yachts of the same class is 6–8 degrees.

At this time, the surveyor was sufficiently amazed, and he compared the fuel consumption data sorted out in the engine room, seeing the consumption was only about 15% higher than in calm seas.

The surveyor looked at Qin Yue with absolute conviction in his eyes: "First Mate Qin, the extreme sea condition maneuver earlier was truly astonishing, I think your operation just now could be considered textbook-worthy."

Qin Yue’s mouth twitched slightly and sighed, "Actually... the maneuver just now was piloted personally by our captain."

The surveyor was momentarily taken aback, instinctively asking, "He personally operated it? You mean Mr. Li, the yacht’s owner?"

Qin Yue glanced at the surveyor and seriously said, "He’s the owner, but first he’s our captain."

When saying this, Qin Yue’s expression was extremely admiring, as Li Younan’s maneuver had completely impressed him.

In fact, this level of waves couldn’t really count as such a huge difficulty, after all, for a military-grade yacht like this, it’s certainly unlikely to incur exaggerated damages from waves of this level.

Li Younan’s true strength wasn’t in overcoming any huge difficulties, but rather managing to be composed, precise, and zero-error in such extreme environments.

Others in 3–4 meter cross waves, even if there wasn’t any major damage, the shaking of the ship would certainly be unavoidable, and a crew of newcomers would likely panic, but Li Younan made the yacht travel like it was on flat ground, this nearly amounted to a dimensional reduction strike level of control.

At this moment, Qin Yue couldn’t help but wonder, is Li Younan really a new captain who got his qualification only a few months ago?

...

Li Younan’s ultimate goal in building this yacht is a global voyage.

Although the maiden global voyage will probably take place in the doldrums along the equator, this yacht originally has the capability to navigate extreme waters.

Once enough experience is accumulated, perhaps they’ll venture to other places, including polar regions.

If it’s Antarctica, Li Younan doesn’t plan to take this yacht there.

But even so, the trial voyage is definitely not just a simple process from point A to point B.

With such an ultimate goal, Li Younan needs to verify the yacht’s performance in complex island reefs and strong wave overlap areas.

This is also why Li Younan’s trial voyage route would purposely be designed to pass through the Zhoushan Archipelago—after all, the Zhoushan Archipelago is the region with the densest near-shore island reefs and the most complex wave surge in China, having a smooth passage here means there would likely be no problems in the South Pacific Archipelago waters.