14.23N 066.47W 4th Jume 2011
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Sat 4 Jun 2011 13:05
|
Today for a change of scenery I am writing the blog
from the foredeck of Mojo 2. It is cooler here with the wind passing the saloon
and the mainsail keeping me in the shade. Did I mention it is hot...
again.
Since early this morning we have been surrounded by
dozens of different species of seabirds [I would give you their scientific
names but I don't want to lose you!]. They have been diving amongst the tiny
liitle flying fish we have been seeing over the past few days. These little guys
have it tough because hot on their tails, as well, are a school of one foot
long fish that appear to be a species of bonito. They have a striking purple
colour over the rear 1/3rd of their body to their tail. We have a lure out
but if you are trying to catch fish that chase flying fish it might be best
not to use a lure that looks like a squid. Needless to say no action
yet!!
Yesterday the wind picked up around 9AM and by
mid-morning was about 90 degrees to port and blowing at 15-16 knots. We were
flying along at 8 knots+ for most of the morning but one of those rain systems
we saw so much of in the Atlantic came along to spoil our fun.
We are so familiar with these systems now that we
don't even discuss them much we just put our book down, casually reduce sail as
we see it approaching, close all the hatches and wait for its arrival. With this
particular system it took up most of the horizon so there was no real point
trying to dodge it. As it approached the winds lifted to 21 knots but as the
leading edge passed over us it quickly dropped back to 15 knots. The biggest
problem they seem to create is they mess with the wind direction for a time, and
in this instance the wind came in behind us to slow our progress. Within an hour
of the system passing we had wind back at 90 degrees to port and were
zipping along again.
Wet weather gear is a thing of the past for us now.
For Daniel and I our night watches are in short only and there is not even the
hint of a chill. The days back at the Bay of Biscay where we were using sleeping
bags at the helm station to keep warm seem like an age ago.
In the 12 hours from 9AM yesterday we covered a
massive 80NM but the wind dropped out again last night to around 10 knots. This
morning we have, over the 24 hours period, made close to our Groundhog Day
distance of 139NM. We are currently a stone throw from Aruba at
212NM.
Andrew Partrington.
|