ParaHandy
Well-Known Member
Mojomo#7
10.15 GMT position (cos I forgot) 21deg 46.8 N 37deg 51 W 1392 miles to St Lucia wpt (5 miles from Rodney Bay). SOG 8-9knots surfing to 16knots. Wind down to 25 knots true ESE. Biggish following sea perhaps 3-5 metres.
Pat and I were chatting in the cockpit last night when all of a sudden the boat was overtaken by a ski slope. Of course, it wasn't actually a ski slope - it was a large white wave that splooshed over the boat and into the cockpit. Some other waves dumped into the galley via a small vent, and our smug claim of nothing ever moving on a super-stable catamaran is in tatters.
I hope other transat boats are okay - this last 24 hours with up to 35 knots of wind and now 5-metre swell (or probably more with those occasional red runs coming through) must've given smaller boats a bit of a pasting?
Downwind I suppose but nonetheless, potentially quite dodgy.
Surreal day yesterday with Keith taking over the position of Pop King from Longjohnsadler on last transat. Keith can instantly name the artists of tunes like Gimmee Gimmee Good Lovin, On the Road again, Sealed with a kiss, and (my favourite for yesterday) Sending Out An SOS. Pat was on mother duty and we had a pythonesque dinner of roast potatoes and pork chops with apple sauce all seated in the cockpit -with 32 knots of wind. Keith said I shouldn't worry cos it will blow over, which of course it will - but at what speed, Keith?
I must say I am bit bit miffed at this weather, *especially* since I made an offering to Neptune only the day before. I threw in a 20p piece I found in my saily jacket, some chewing gum and a mostly-used can of WD40 for his motorbike. This isn't bad compared to some more notable ocean yottie types who have been known to give a measly half bottle of sparkling wine, harrumph, Ellen? I would have given a bit more though I haven't crossed the Equator which is when I think it moves to a higher tariff. But surely Neptune, being a reasonably well-known and high-ranking god - a biker with a Trident too - isn't gonna like poxy Cava, is he? Or is Neptune a bit of a wooftah and er, oops the wind is suddenly back up to 28knots.
Everyone is in fine form here, Stingo especially with his Gassing the Skipper gag. New one on me. After 10 minutes shuffling about in the bog and much whirring of electric flush, he came out and told me in no-nonsense tone and accusatorial manner that the loo simply doesn't work. Oh ah, er, sorry, fair enough. And as chief mechanic responsible for such matters I go straight to the loo to test it. Whilst holding my breath against his ghastly stink I run the flush motor several times. Hm, it seems to be fine for me? Damn - I hear tittering and breaking laughter in the saloon - I've been had, the git.
The Mythical Mermaid of Mojomo. I mentioned this briefly before, but didn't give full details. Stingo is very long-distance boatie type so with only a slightly-germinating idea, I asked him if he has ever seen a mermaid. No, he hasn't. Oho. So, I then ran a quite interesting jape whereby I would lower Pat The Mermaid over the side of the boat to tap on his window, give him a cup of tea and invite him to her undersea hideaway. Except that Stingo is too big to get out of the porthole so he'll have to just sit there with his tea and think of what might have been were it not for a lifetime of beer-drinking.
Unfortunately, the unromantic Stingo ruined everything before it got to first base, and assumed that the mermaid tapping at his window was the crew bashing on his ceiling asking for help doing some boring rope-pulling task. So he came up on deck to find the backstage Mermaid support team who gave him a right load of jip. Later, I stuck a sign on his cabin door saying " No admittance to Mermaids and Sea-Nymphs".
Now, this all happened long ago when Pat was fresh-faced innocent and super-keen newbie crew anxious to address the requirements of boat and skipper. About Thursday, I think. I suppose she imagined that her efforts would be sensibly directed towards making the boat get across the Alantic rather than help prat about doing at yet another stupid prank, but anyway.
I explained that we would be obeying all the RYA-approved safety measures for the Dangling Over The Side Pretending To Be A Mermaid procedure, such as her wearing a harness clipped to a cleat, and also using the grab handle thingy with two suction pads onto the hull, oh you know the things - to hold or stand on. Now, although they are mostly used for carrying large pieces of glass across the road in TV sitcoms, these were actually specially designed for real mermaids to hang on to the hull whilst doing the enticing/ murmuring thing to whimsical crew (i.e not Stingo). So if you're reading this and you haven't seen a mermaid either, it's almost certainly because you haven't got one or two of these in place on the hull next to a cabin porthole. Otherwise how the heck would they get a hold on the boat, see?
You've got to think practically about these things. Yeah, okay, I suppose there's an outside chance of a really hardass grizzly ole mermaid leaping high up to grab the guard rail but her likely very-leathery commercial-duty tail will almost certainly wreck the rudder, as happened with Jimi's boat.
But that's not the dreamy sort of mermaid we're talking about here, really.
Anyway, back to the Mojomo mermaid, I wait until Keith is on watch at the helm, Stingo is snoozing below, and I ask Pat if she can dress up as a mermaid, please? No, NOT topless for crissakes, just a normal U-rated covered-up Disney-approved mermaid will do fine. Pat has a little think and says yes, she can probably manage that. Two minutes later she's back in the saloon in a tropical-pattern green bikini. Wow. I mean er well yes Pat, that's fine, and no it doesn't matter about no tailfin. Cor. Er, where was I? Oh yes, then I had to help her into a harness, but it wasn't tight enough, so that needed adjusting and um, perhaps it would be best if she did this bit, really? Well anyway, that's enough about the mermaid stuff, I'm off for a shower.
10.15 GMT position (cos I forgot) 21deg 46.8 N 37deg 51 W 1392 miles to St Lucia wpt (5 miles from Rodney Bay). SOG 8-9knots surfing to 16knots. Wind down to 25 knots true ESE. Biggish following sea perhaps 3-5 metres.
Pat and I were chatting in the cockpit last night when all of a sudden the boat was overtaken by a ski slope. Of course, it wasn't actually a ski slope - it was a large white wave that splooshed over the boat and into the cockpit. Some other waves dumped into the galley via a small vent, and our smug claim of nothing ever moving on a super-stable catamaran is in tatters.
I hope other transat boats are okay - this last 24 hours with up to 35 knots of wind and now 5-metre swell (or probably more with those occasional red runs coming through) must've given smaller boats a bit of a pasting?
Downwind I suppose but nonetheless, potentially quite dodgy.
Surreal day yesterday with Keith taking over the position of Pop King from Longjohnsadler on last transat. Keith can instantly name the artists of tunes like Gimmee Gimmee Good Lovin, On the Road again, Sealed with a kiss, and (my favourite for yesterday) Sending Out An SOS. Pat was on mother duty and we had a pythonesque dinner of roast potatoes and pork chops with apple sauce all seated in the cockpit -with 32 knots of wind. Keith said I shouldn't worry cos it will blow over, which of course it will - but at what speed, Keith?
I must say I am bit bit miffed at this weather, *especially* since I made an offering to Neptune only the day before. I threw in a 20p piece I found in my saily jacket, some chewing gum and a mostly-used can of WD40 for his motorbike. This isn't bad compared to some more notable ocean yottie types who have been known to give a measly half bottle of sparkling wine, harrumph, Ellen? I would have given a bit more though I haven't crossed the Equator which is when I think it moves to a higher tariff. But surely Neptune, being a reasonably well-known and high-ranking god - a biker with a Trident too - isn't gonna like poxy Cava, is he? Or is Neptune a bit of a wooftah and er, oops the wind is suddenly back up to 28knots.
Everyone is in fine form here, Stingo especially with his Gassing the Skipper gag. New one on me. After 10 minutes shuffling about in the bog and much whirring of electric flush, he came out and told me in no-nonsense tone and accusatorial manner that the loo simply doesn't work. Oh ah, er, sorry, fair enough. And as chief mechanic responsible for such matters I go straight to the loo to test it. Whilst holding my breath against his ghastly stink I run the flush motor several times. Hm, it seems to be fine for me? Damn - I hear tittering and breaking laughter in the saloon - I've been had, the git.
The Mythical Mermaid of Mojomo. I mentioned this briefly before, but didn't give full details. Stingo is very long-distance boatie type so with only a slightly-germinating idea, I asked him if he has ever seen a mermaid. No, he hasn't. Oho. So, I then ran a quite interesting jape whereby I would lower Pat The Mermaid over the side of the boat to tap on his window, give him a cup of tea and invite him to her undersea hideaway. Except that Stingo is too big to get out of the porthole so he'll have to just sit there with his tea and think of what might have been were it not for a lifetime of beer-drinking.
Unfortunately, the unromantic Stingo ruined everything before it got to first base, and assumed that the mermaid tapping at his window was the crew bashing on his ceiling asking for help doing some boring rope-pulling task. So he came up on deck to find the backstage Mermaid support team who gave him a right load of jip. Later, I stuck a sign on his cabin door saying " No admittance to Mermaids and Sea-Nymphs".
Now, this all happened long ago when Pat was fresh-faced innocent and super-keen newbie crew anxious to address the requirements of boat and skipper. About Thursday, I think. I suppose she imagined that her efforts would be sensibly directed towards making the boat get across the Alantic rather than help prat about doing at yet another stupid prank, but anyway.
I explained that we would be obeying all the RYA-approved safety measures for the Dangling Over The Side Pretending To Be A Mermaid procedure, such as her wearing a harness clipped to a cleat, and also using the grab handle thingy with two suction pads onto the hull, oh you know the things - to hold or stand on. Now, although they are mostly used for carrying large pieces of glass across the road in TV sitcoms, these were actually specially designed for real mermaids to hang on to the hull whilst doing the enticing/ murmuring thing to whimsical crew (i.e not Stingo). So if you're reading this and you haven't seen a mermaid either, it's almost certainly because you haven't got one or two of these in place on the hull next to a cabin porthole. Otherwise how the heck would they get a hold on the boat, see?
You've got to think practically about these things. Yeah, okay, I suppose there's an outside chance of a really hardass grizzly ole mermaid leaping high up to grab the guard rail but her likely very-leathery commercial-duty tail will almost certainly wreck the rudder, as happened with Jimi's boat.
But that's not the dreamy sort of mermaid we're talking about here, really.
Anyway, back to the Mojomo mermaid, I wait until Keith is on watch at the helm, Stingo is snoozing below, and I ask Pat if she can dress up as a mermaid, please? No, NOT topless for crissakes, just a normal U-rated covered-up Disney-approved mermaid will do fine. Pat has a little think and says yes, she can probably manage that. Two minutes later she's back in the saloon in a tropical-pattern green bikini. Wow. I mean er well yes Pat, that's fine, and no it doesn't matter about no tailfin. Cor. Er, where was I? Oh yes, then I had to help her into a harness, but it wasn't tight enough, so that needed adjusting and um, perhaps it would be best if she did this bit, really? Well anyway, that's enough about the mermaid stuff, I'm off for a shower.
