1.45N 83.26W 12th July 2011
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Wed 13 Jul 2011 03:17
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I am writing this tonight by the light of the
laptop screen so if there any spelling herrors please forgrive me!!
At last we have been able to escape the pounding we
received over the past couple of days and are now well on our way west to
Galapagos. We gave up trying to beat south at around 8.30am this morning at
between one and two degrees north. Since then we have been steadily working
west [and a little north]. The miles to our destination are slowly ticking
away and the conditions are far more favourable. We have a steady 16 knot breeze
from the WSW and are hoping for the breeze to shift a little south.
Everyone has caught up with missed sleep over the
course of the day. I had a blissful 2 hour sleep this afternoon and feel great
now. The first night of the the nasty weather I did not go to bed at
all.
It amazes me how you can adapt to sleeping anywhere
if you are tired enough. A couple of nights ago whilst Jane was on watch I slept
in a wet weather jacket and shorts on the wet outdoor cushions on the floor
just outside the cabin because the cabin lounge was already taken... and slept
like a baby. I am not alone in this as I have seen Daniel asleep several
times on one the seats outside the cabin, in the howling
wind.
To make up for the pain we have suffered we had a
pretty good sail last night. The moon is approaching full and at one point I had
clear[ish] skies and a couple of albatross [albatrosses, albatross's,
albatrii...] flying around the boat and in through the rigging. Two soon
became four and they kept me company for several hours. I half expected
for them to use me as target practise and despite evidence on the deck
of the boat in the morning there were no direct hits on me. They and the
moon are back again tonight.
A large pod of dolphins belted past us today and
they gave us the full "Seaworld" show with incredible leaps into the air
with flips and spins.
Dean is delighted to be free of any seasickness and
is just starting to enjoy the trip now that conditions have settled. Jane is a
little better but still suffering some nausea. What we have been through is
enough to test anyones stomach.
We have around 369NM to go from a total of around
900NM since we left Panama. This has been by far the toughest leg of the voyage
but hopefully we will have a good run in to Galapagos over the next couple of
days.
We have heard today that Cadel Evans is coming
third in the Tour at around the halfway point but have not heard who is behind
him and can climb!!
Andrew Partington.
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