21:14N 29:26W COG 225 SOG 6.5-8knots, wind ESE backing E F4.
The good ship Mojomo continues its mission to boldly go where about 200
other boats in the ARC have already gone just a few days ago. However, it
is still a bit early in the season and hence the blimmin trade winds aren't
nicely sorted out, despite the very best efforts of our weather routing
expert BxWx. Actually, we have overtaken one or two ARC boats already, one
of whom we hear was managing 4 knots, quite an achievement I think,
especially last night with 20knots of wind off the port quarter. Mojomo
cracked along at 10+ knots and surfed at 14 right on direct track to
Martinique 262T. But this morning it's gone to pieces moved round behind us
so we've turned more south to 225ish.
One or two messages have asked about the helm seat, and how on earth we
found the bits and tools to rebuild it using plywood and staples, and the
answer is of course I had a large piece of 4' x2' 15mm marine ply in one of
the foredeck lockers, just in case i have to make something in an emergency,
such as a helm seatback, or a cutting board for gutting fish or (a few years
ago) a strap-on shark fin, for example. And yes, I did have all the tools on
board, good thing too seeing as that B+Q boat wasn't nearby at the time.
Also I spelled "upholstery" wrongly in the title of the last diary entry?
"Uphostery" is exactly the same as upholstery, but means you've just spent
the afternnon bashing your fingers with a hammer trying to reuse the old
staples whilst the boat is doing 10knots.
We've had lots of messages wishing us good luck, so hi to everyone including
Stingo, Ken, Pat, Para for sorting the computer, and especially to Matt who
hasn't sent us any rubbish jokes. My fault I suppose because we told him
ONLY to send jokes that are actually funny, and hence not heard from him for
several days.
Rob and Tom are the "just pleased to be here" youth element on this transat.
We love having people like this on board, because instead of gravely
discussing the weather, reefing and wind angles, they do fun things such as
breaking into song whilst listening to their Ipod on a night watch, and then
wonder why we all rush up on deck. The whole sailing thing is new to them.
Actually, quite often the cooking is quite new to them too, although we knew
this already - the giveaway was them starting their shopping trip at the
supermarket in Lanzarote with a stack of Pringles, Crisps and Milky Bars,
and then asking why on earth we needed more than three onions.
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