02.14S 103.09W Day 6 Pacific Crossing 25th July 2011
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Tue 26 Jul 2011 00:57
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Big, Big day for us here as we smashed our one day
Pacific record..... well by 5 miles anyway! For the 24 hours to midday we
covered another 165NM so that late this afternoon we are closing in on 2200NM to
go. Since we left Galapagos we have sailed close to 800NM, which means we are
over a quarter of the way to the Marquesas. Yeh, okay there is the small matter
of the remaining three quarters but each day we are eroding the distance and
while everyone else is sleeping we are still on the move!!
We made some good time yesterday afternoon with the
genneker but decided a couple of hours after dark to take it down. We had no
moon and it makes it very hard to tell if a squall is approaching until it is
too late. Good thing, because only minutes after we downed to genneker a squall
did come through and brought with it 20 knots of wind. Getting the genneker
down in those conditions can be a handful.
All night we continued with the genoa in winds that
varied from 12-16 knots. We were scooting along at 7-8 knots which made the ride
a little bumpier than other nights but we were glad to be making some good
speed.
This morning was similar to the day before. It was
overcast until around 1.00pm before clearing in the afternoon to clear blue
skies.We had a couple of squalls pass over us but they produced little in the
way of additional wind or rain [my watercatcher is still to be fully
tested]. It is now 4.00pm and there is hardly a cloud in the sky.
Day six and we are still on the same reach but
the winds have strenghtened over the the past 5 hours. We
currently have 15 knots gusting to 17 knots and surprisingly there seems to be a
little west in the wind. Gerard tells us we may be in for some increase in swell
later today but thus far there is no sign of it. The swell is in fact virtually
non-existent but this may change overnight. Despite the increase in wind speed
we have had a fantastic days sailing in excellent conditions and we may place
our 165NM record under pressure, without any strain on either the boat or
ourselves.
We passed close by a large pod of pilot
whales this afternoon. I was at the helm station but did not see them until they
were about 50 metres ahead. They were as close as 30 metres from our port
side as we passed them and we were treated to a couple of tail slaps as we
cruised past.
Jane is making a curry with some of the tuna we
caught a couple of days back and it is smelling great. Might even have a little
Antiguan rum to wash it down with.
I have not made, nor will I make any comment on the
outcome of the Derby!! [@#$%^]
2217NM to go and looking forward to going under
2000.
Andrew Partington.
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