20.11N 044.11W 18th May 2011
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Wed 18 May 2011 11:56
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Another big day for us aboard Mojo 2 yesterday. In
the morning the wind picked up from the east and by mid-morning we were hitting
peaks of 26 knots. The seas were still following but confused. It looked as
though there were two swell lines, one from the south-east and another from the
north-east battling it out to see which one could bounce us around the most.
Either way it felt like we were in a washing machine set at heavy duty. We had
no choice but to get the geneker down so that we ran before the wind with only
the jib. As it was we were still making good boat speed but being tossed around
a fair bit. I suggested to Daniel that today would be perfect to send a good
Eagles supporter up the mast and to my surprise he said "Yeh, no worries"
The craziness of youth!!
Today is not a whole lot better. We were tearing
allong this morning with both the geneker and jib when the wind climbed to 20
knots. we quickly pulled the geneker down so as not to damage this light wind
sail. At the moment we are again sailing with the jib alone. We are in large
seas and are still making 5-6 knots. For the first time since leaving La
Rochelle we have to be careful moving around the boat because of it pitching
from side to side.
We put another 139 sea miles behind us again
yesterday and are flying towards our destination in the Caribbean. As I write
this we have just passed the 1000NM mark to Antigua. Yeeha!
We still have just over half a tank of fuel
remaining and the water is also at a similar level.
As I have mentioned earlier we have a water
capacity on the boat of 530 litres. This means we have used around 260
litres in 14 days. If my maths are correct that means we have each used just
over 6 litres a day, including drinking water, since we left Las Palmas. Not
bad, when I'm sure I was told that in Australia we each use around 200 litres
per day for every day of the year. The downside to this of course is that we all
smell BAD!! Especially given that with the past two days
weather nobody has been in the mood for a deck shower.
If things go well we would hope to
make Antigua in around 9 days. I make that the 27th May but this is of
course subject to some factors outside our control.
Best wishes to all, wherever you may
be.
Andrew Partington.
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