22.20 N 029.15 W
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Thu 12 May 2011 13:11
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The day started very quietly yesterday with 17 knot
wind dropping out to 7 and by late in the day 3 knots. Amazing day though with
clear skies and little wind and no swell. Daniel and I went in for another dip
off the starboard stern, making sure that one of us was on the deck at all
times though. Lyn had a refreshing Atlantic bucket shower as well but refrained
from taking the plunge. Daniel put on the flippers and mask to take a look at
the underside of the hulls. Ballsy. I was relieved to find they were both
still there - and intact.
I have to say I have been very lucky having firstly
Keith Burton and now Daniel Miller on board for various parts of this journey.
Both have brought a good deal of enthusiasum and expertise onboard that has been
appreciated.
The wind was still doing nothing by late in the day
so we fired up the engines to head further south. This continued on into the
evening where we at times sailed and other times motored, depending on the
conditions.
At midnight I noticed what appeared to be a
localised storm cell up ahead. At the time it was out of the range of the radar
so we were uncertain of it's size and distance from us.
It later became apparent that it was a series of
storm cells lying in our path and moving closer. I had been warned about these
systems thanks to Mark McRae at Southern Ocean Sailing so knew we did not really
want to tangle with one and their potential for
strong winds.
We picked a gap in the storm on the radar and fired
up both motors to help push us through. This went really well initially as we
split the gap and looked to have missed them all together. I went back to sleep
only to be woken by Daniel letting me know the system was approaching us again,
and quickly. As I made it to the helm station the wind was about 3 knots but
within a couple of minutes it rose to 16 knots and was climbing. Daniel attached
his safety harness and shot forward to drop the mainsail. As we pulled it down
the wind was now gusting to 24 knots. Thankfully as we got it down the winds
eased to 13 knots but the rain had started and was heavy.
The strong winds were obviously only at the leading
edge of the system and behind it were far more moderate winds and heaps of rain.
In the middle of the system we realised the winds were 13 knots and in a great
position to sail so we re-set the jib and took a ride within the system for a
few miles. This worked a treat until the system just faded and disappeared from
the radar screen. This all happened between 4am and 5am
I have to describe the passage we took through the
storm cells because it was and amazing thing to witness.
There were two areas of blackness on either side of
the boat which extended from the sea all the way above us in a huge arch.
Directly ahead of us was much lighter and looked tremendously inviting compared
to the darkness around us.
As we passed through the gap the winds died to
nothing, it was mirror smooth and quiet. I walked forward to the bows and saw
that due to the darkness the phosphoresence streaming from the bows had
intensified far beyond anything I had seen before on this trip. As we passed
through I looked back and saw that the system had closed behind us and there was
NO light coming from there at all. As we later found the system looked far more
fierce than it actally was but at the time it was something I was very happy
leaving behind.
I must say that at no stage were we under any
threat from this system. They are localised storms that may have the potential
to damage gear but pose no threat to the safety of the boat. I will take extra
care to give them a wide berth in future however!!
We are checking the troublesome bolt through the
boom twice a day and so far hasn't looked like moving. Everthing that we can
check for tightness we are checking and everything that looks like it could
loosen has been wrapped tight with tape as a extra
precaution.
On a lighter note in the wake of this system was a
consistent 14 knot north-east breeze. It has been pushing us along nicely at 5-6
knots for hours and we are currently 1750NM from Antigua.
Andrew Partington
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