Thursday 4th June
Catmojo
Matt
Thu 4 Jun 2020 11:47
We found some NNE wind to 15kts and are chasing it eastwards but a bit south of the course we want. Slightly overcanvassed (i.e too much sail up) at 20 kts apparent wind but all fine at 15kts so we left it up all night. I experimented with hauling the jib sheet further in towards the centreline of the boat using a snatch block from other winch, better pointing but it looked iffy and I took it off.
Oh yes I remember now, I oughta replace the shrouds and forestay which are a Bit Old at 17years, really. These are the huge wires which hold up the mast. They look fine but you never really know with stainless steel. Also the stbd guard rail is unravelling a bit and that needs replacing. A friend in another older catamaran had his 25year old stainless steel rudders snap in half as the corrosion is all internal and sneakily invisible in stainless (not stainfree) steel, so I've already replaced/rebuilt the rudders on Mojo.
It sounded bad that Mojo is "older" didn't it? But actually older is a good thing design-wise: modern catamarans are being built more vertically, to maximise living space, so the sailing is done on a "flying bridge" above the cockpit. This is great for charter sailing, but not so good offshore, bit scary and lonely. On Mojo the helm is to one side of the cockpit and just up a couple of steps, not way "upstairs" and (too far) out of the way from whatever is going on.
Now here's another Raymarine Rant. Raymarine make the so-called navigation gear. It's probably fine for short trips, but on longer trips the ETA varies with the current speed. That's like having a satnav in your car which announces that you will NEVER reach your destination every time you stop at a traffic light. Quite rubbish. Also I can find no function to show Velocity Made Good (vmg) which is a bit of a glaring ommission: VMG shows how fast we're going towards our chosen destination, SOG simply how fast we're going forwards. The autopilot controlling the rudders is very nice, but the functions are poor.
Time for a massive plug for Nimble Navigator software written by my pal Mike Quinn which DOES show VMG and smoothed ETA and all for 140dollars.
Now it's raining just as Simon Said it would. I took in a reef (lowered the sail a bit smaller) with apparent wind to 22kts.
Ampi writes below
4 de junio del 2020
Aqui Ampi, la argentina, aportando un poquito de su experiencia en el blog, para todos mis fans jaja
Ya estamos hace mas de una semana en el barco, estoy Orgullosa de decir que no he tenido el famoso (Seasick) en los primeros dias.. AUNQUE tengo que remarcar que hemos tenido hasta Ayer practicamente casi nada de viento y olas de no mas de 2.5 mts.
Me encanta la idea de poder tener la oportunidad de decirles a mis futuros nietos y/o sobrinos (vaya a saber cuando va a pasar eso) que la primera vez que me fui a Europa fue nada mas y nada menos que cruzando el atlantico! que tul eh? Una copada mal jajaja
Pero a partir del dia de hoy, el viento aparecio.. al fin
Me levante a las 00, me tome un Dramamine y cerre los ojos hasta quedarme dormida, de lo contrario ya la veia venir.. una noche de puras nauseas y sobretodo la famosa sensacion del ataque de ansiedad/panico como quieran llamarlo..
Aparte de eso, pudimos ver delfines,estrellas fugaces, incontables atardeceres como amaneceres y Plancton!sisi, vi el agua del mar iluminada con colores azules fluo, fue Tremendo! Sigo esperando con ansias mi querida Ballena igual.. ojala le pinte aparecer algun dia (cruzo los dedos)
Ya voy empezando por mi segundo libro de lectura, otro de Paulo Cohelo esta vez parece interesante.. y se llama Hippie.
Gracias a todos mis seres queridos que me han mandado un mensajito, ha sido muy lindo leerlos y hasta me han puesto medio tristona jaja pero bueno, se que nos volveremos a reencontrar algun dia!
hasta nuevo aviso les mando un beso y abrazo enorme a todoos!!
De parte de la tripulacion de Mojo, la Argentina, encargada de alimentar al resto de la gente jaja todo un nuevo desafio debo admitir, pero es manejable.
Pd, Mama apenas tenga wifi escucho la cancion que me recomendaste!, papa deja de insistir en que vayamos en barco a Barcelona (no va a pasar) te veo en un par de semanas, joacko esta experiencia te va a encantar, la estoy disfrutando a pleno!