Suddenly Friday afternoon again - 19th pm

Catmojo
Matt
Fri 19 Jun 2020 12:22
29:38N 16:38W at 12:48UTC lanzarote 120nm away, cog110 sog 5-6kts. I am sneaking upwind to make the night-time run a bit easier later.

The mood is a bit subdued as everyone thinks about the things we'll have to do from here, after the trip is over, planes and other stuff. But not too subdued cos it's pancakes and fajitas Friday AND I had a bacon sandwich too!

Meanwhile though - who decides when the catamaran sailing bashity crunchity banging is a Bit Much? Or on any boat? How much is a Bit TOO Much? I knew a guy with a fast catamaran who did the ARC transat with a crew, and he would set up the boat to whizz off downwind, go for a sleep with others on watch, but wake up to find the crew had taken the sails down cos it was "going too fast" 15+ knots arg! But going fast off the wind was precisely what it was supposed to do, although it could easily have been noisy inside the boat and fairly OMG at the helm overnight. He bought a used Parasailor from me, so he must have been having second thoughts about downwind hellriding himself. I remember now - I'd already decided to buy a pirate-themed black Parasailor, so I sold him the ordinary white one I'd bought first of all.
Anyway, sometimes Mojo crew come up and say it's a Bit Much For Goodness Sakes! and unless there's an incredibly good reason to do otherwise, we pull in some sail and slow it down to reduce the banging and crashing. Especially at night when people are trying to sleep. I suppose I *could* do the Oh pah nonsense what a wimp Tsk gnarly Skipper routine, but really, it's supposed to be fun, not a dreadful ordeal, or not all the time.
Some crew say they have been sure the boat has broken in half or even smaller pieces, but then hey hear winches whirring so it must be okay after all. I think it's a bit like driving a car - if someone isn't happy as a passenger at 100mph or 140mph or whatever in a car, you oughta slow down, of course. You might get a different passenger the next time I suppose, and tellem in advance It Will Be Fast like that time we went 770miles from Calais to Cannes in 7hours 7 minutes, and a mate came along cos he thought wasn't possible. I'm fine driving at speed, not so much as passenger At ALL.
Same with a boat - It's all subjective as to what we think how fast and in what conditions A Bit Much actually is, either on a boat or on land. Slower is safer and less boat damage likely, but on the downside, slower is slower. It's arguably safer to spend as little time as possible at sea or on the roads, but things tend to break and/or go red or green as you approach the speed of light, but the hellish conditions are over quickly. Hm.

I screwed up with the mousing line - I had a long reel of fishing line but used it on something else (supporting the fairy/party lights actually) so with only 15metres left we'll have to try drag the old topping lift line out of the mast and put the new one in at the same time, instead of pulling an easier piece of fishing line through first as "mousing" line, and then the new line when we know the route is clear. Taking the new line up directly behind the old risks them all getting stuck, but whatever, fingers crossed. I think I might wait till we're anchored tomorrow on the southern edge of Lanzarote, bit calmer for rope-twiddling. Before that it's time to put a spi line on the boom, a bit, but that can wait too.

Next Issue is the clock time - still on UTC-2 on Mojo, but Lanzarote is UTC. The crew all like the idea of moving clocks forward today 1 hour so it's suddenly nearly lunchtime, and we'll do the same again tomorrow or Sunday. The UK is BST=UTC+1 and Holland another hour ahead again. Sam suggests why not move 4 hours ahead, and then win back the time and have another 2 hours snooze later? Because that would make it AFTER lunchtime already and no fajitas, obviously Unacceptable. But he's definitely got the general idea. We could have the fajitas, then move the clocks back and have them AGAiN. That's more like it.