35:45N 43:38W at 0530 local = 0830 GMT = 0930 BST. COG 067 SOG 6.5 1024.5
Mb rising slowly from 1013 four days ago - sunnier weather ahead but not
much wind likely. Motorsailing. If we thrash it with both engines we could
reach Azores very late Tuesday, but we're bumbling along on one engine at
6knots, likely there Wednesday morning.
Calmer today after the last few days. The wind indicator shows we got a
maximum 42 knots at some point although I always view these "maximum"
figures with some suspicion- the wind is measured at the top of the mast and
varies wildly as the mast lurches towards the wind and away from it. If
the mast lurches forward into the wind through an arc of 5 metres in a
second, that adds about 10knots to the true wind. I'll get Marc to work on
that calculation which should keep him busy for a while.
Anyway, today the wind is a fraction of that at 8knots from the SSE, the sea
gentler. The swell is against us but the wave period (time between waves) is
long, and the longer the wave period the easier the ride. In the
Mediterranean, wave periods are short and hence the distance between waves -
and more importantly between the holes (it's the holes that get you) - is
also short, and sometimes untenable for a small boat. In a big ocean we
might have higher swell but the generally longer wave periods make it much
easier to handle, and it's not to bad today. My favourite wave period is
about two weeks.
Lots of good texts yesterday, including one from Jonathan aka JJ. He came on
Mojomo last year on this route. This year he's in a landlocked office,
possibly somewhere in North Carolina or thereabouts, and feeling nostalgic,
he says. Hi Jonathan. Get back to work and stop fooling about on the
Internet.
Marc and Karim's pa (who goes by the name of BigMag, not sure why) has sent
us an updated and (much) shorter definition of the Great Circle route: it's
the ship's course when the rudder is jammed or stuck. Hah!
MattD's parents have also texted to let us know that they are off to the
cottage again for the weekend. They said that their weather is a bit warmer
this weekend. We hope so - .last weekend (they texted about going to
cottage last weekend as well), they said it was a bit cold - 15 degrees.
Jeez, a weekend away in a holiday cottage in minus 15 degrees! MattD says
no, it's just a dash in their text, not a minus sign. Hm. I'm not so sure -
they're in Canada, where, as everyone knows, all temperatures are minus
almost all the time. Oh and Matt's uncle Ken also reads this and it was
his 60th birthday not long ago. Hi, Uncle Ken.
Karim and Aussie Dan have just read the text from Ma and Pa D and are
beginning to get worried - because there's no update telling us if MatD's
parents reached the weekend cottage safely! Has anyone got any more
information? Perhaps we can get in touch via Uncle Ken? I think that next
time they should set themselves up a blog and a satellite phone so we can
track them.
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