22.02 N 32.20 W
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Fri 13 May 2011 14:15
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Things are tough here today. It is 11.30ish AM and
we have just had our daily deck shower.
The routine is fairly simple. Wait till the sun has
some real bite. Sit on the second step down on the stern of the port side hull.
Pour a couple of buckets of Atlantic seawater over your head, lather up and then
wash off with hot fresh water from the deck shower. Bloody magnificent, and one
of the most refreshing showers I have ever had. It doesn't hurt that it is now
warm amd sunny every day. I read prior to leaving Albany that it is easy to
sail to the Caribbean from Europe, you just sail south until the butter melts
and then make a right turn. The butter has well and truly
melted.
Speaking of water, we are now into our 10th day at
sea since leaving Las Palmas. We still have just under 3/4 of a 530
litre tank and another 90 litres of water in storage containers. If this
holds I may start singing in the shower a few days out from
Antigua.
Our fuel tanks are still 3/4 full and we are
carrying an additional 40 litres with us.
Great day yesterday with 14-17 knot winds about 40
degrees off the stern of our starboard hull. This wind blew all night and with a
calm sea Mojo 2 sailed like it was on rails . We tipped over 10 knots for
periods of time but were consistently at 8-9 knots.
For most of the night we had clear skies and were
sailing directly at the moon. Visibility was terrific and the moonlight across
the water made the watches very enjoyable.
Everyone aboard is well and enjoying the
experience. My mum, Lyn, is on board and she is having a blast. She has always
been a lover of the sea so this life is suiting her just fine. She prepares all
the meals and we are all doing very nicely. Daniel and I spend most of our time
either sailing the boat, tinkering with the
boat or sleeping. To be able to not have to worry about meals is a
real bonus.
For those interested I should let you know how we
are able to send emails 1000NM from the nearest land. I have onboard a laptop
that is connected to an Iridium satellite phone. The phone can be charged via
the boat's 12 volt system but I use a Waeco inverter to produce 240 volts to be
able to charge the laptop via the 12 volt system. The charging is always done
while we are running the engines so as not to drain our batteries.
The iridium acts as a modem to allow us to transfer
data via satellite. We can access weather, email and our own blog.
Thanks to all for the advice on the red fish that
we should not eat but please rest easy. With our luck fishing so far
the only chance of poisoning we have is with an off can of tuna!!
Currently we are sailing west with the wind
directly to stern and making about 5 knots. A wind shift to the north-east would
see us flying again.1675NM to Antigua
Andrew
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