23.17 N 026.02 W
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Tue 10 May 2011 14:52
Tomorrow will be a week that we have been at sea
and we are finally very close to our original turning point at 23 degrees north.
I am considering, however, pushing a little further south to ensure we pick-up a
good easterly flow once we make our right turn. Later today we should cross the
Tropic of Cancer.
The last couple of days have been frustrating just
waiting around for some breeze. We have motored and sailed south looking for
more wind and today has finally provided us with some success. The wind
currently sits immediately to our stern and is pushing us along at 4-5 knots. I
would like more but this will do.
Part of the frustration in searching for wind is
that the overnight watches continue whether or not you are making good progress.
Our watch is split between Daniel and myself. We alternate through the night
with the first watch finishing at midnight and the changing every three hours
after that. The weather has been good so this makes the nights a little easier.
We have had clear skies, moon and millions of stars to enjoy. There are times
where I find myself nodding off but you quickly wake up as your head is about to
collapse onto the steering wheel. Sometimes I don't even bother getting
undressed between watches and just fall into a coma on my bunk for 3 hours.
During the day both of us try to sleep at some point to prepare for the next
night. Lyn has spent some time with us on watch but she does not have enough
knowledge of sailing for her to feel confident in being left alone at the helm
station.
What has been surprising so far is the lack of
swell and the lack of other boats. We have only seen one ship since we left Las
Palmas and no private vessels. We have seen the evidence of other people by the
amout of [mostly] plastic waste floating by.
I have had a few emails from people telling me they
have been reading the blog, which is great, and hopefully we will be able to
load some photos in due course.
It is great to hear form people but please for the
sake of saving us valuable download time on the sat-phone can you only send
plain text emails with no attachments.
We are starved of news. We heard that Bin Laden had
been killed but I don't know how the mighty "Dockers" are going.
Regards, Andrew Partington
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