Mojomo Update

[Twister_Ken]

Submarine (from Wikipedia)

On 3 October 1986, while on patrol 680 miles (1100 km) northeast of Bermuda, K-219 suffered an explosion and fire in a missile tube. The seal in a missile hatch cover failed, allowing seawater to leak into the missile tube and react with residue from the missile's liquid fuel. The Soviet Navy claimed that the leak was caused by a collision with USS Augusta (SSN-710). Augusta was certainly operating in proximity, but the United States Navy denies any collision (see below). K-219 had previously experienced a similar casualty; one of her missile tubes was already disabled and welded shut.


K-219 in distress
Three sailors were killed outright and a fourth, Sergei Preminin, a 19-year old enlisted seaman, sacrificed his life after successfully securing the nuclear reactor by hand, trapped in the engine compartment. Captain Second Rank Igor Britanov was ordered to have the ship towed by a Soviet freighter back to Gadzhievo, her home port, some 7000 kilometers away.
Towing attempts were unsuccessful, and after subsequent poison gas leaks into the final aft compartments and against orders, Britanov ordered the crew to evacuate onto the towing ship. Britanov remained aboard K-219.
Displeased with Britanov's inability to repair his submarine and continue his patrol, Moscow ordered Valery Pshenichny, K-219’s security officer, to assume command, transfer the surviving crew back to the submarine, and return to duty. Before those orders could be carried out, however, K-219 abruptly sank into the Hatteras Abyss[1], about 6000 meters down. While the proximate cause of the sinking is unknown, some evidence indicates that Britanov may have scuttled her.
Preminin earned the Red Star, awarded posthumously, for his bravery in securing the reactors. Britanov was charged with negligence, sabotage, and treason. He was never imprisoned, but waited for his trial in Sverdlovsk. In May 1987, after a new Defense Minister took office in Moscow, the charges against Britanov were dismissed.

 

[Lakesailor]

Re: Submarine (from Wikipedia)

Ah. Dear me. No grog from the friendly Russians then.

All alone, All alone.

 

[davel]

Re: Submarine (from Wikipedia)

Thanks for that - a fascinating event and renforces the heroic image of submariners.


Rather spoils the potential for an adventure for Mojomo though ! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[zefender]

Re: Mojomo Latest

That's a nice writeup. It's good to see TCM back to his normal wordy-post self - I thought the forum had been running quickly over the past week or so. Blinkin' 'eck, not terribly surprising it's not very arduous. There they are, four capable sailers, on a big, comfy cat; loafing about in a flat calm. Let's hope the 2nd half of the trip is similarly benign!

 

[Twister_Ken]

Re: Mojomo Latest

I see their weather routing service is still hard at it. They're carrying the least windy part of the North Atlantic along with them!

They'll have to stop to carry out an engine service soon.

 

[tome]

Re: Mojomo Latest

Thurs 3rd May, 11am BST, 6am local. 31deg 14 N, 56deg 27 W.

No wind yet, and no further fish. Nice weather tho. Still motoring along at
6 knots. The wind has settled to SW overnight but still under 5 knots. There was an exciting moment where it looked as though we were "on" as the wind jumped up to 8.9 knots. But it turned out to be 3.9 knots and the needle indicator was making the 3 look like an 8. Heyho.

I hear that some people (one or two crew family or relatives swmbo's
especially) have been a bit worried because the satellite tracking thing loses connection, and we "vanish" from google earth. I suppose I knew that this might be an issue. Latest is that the password has changed or something, and again, we've disappeared. But we haven't disappeared a all.

The actual device on the boat is a non-commercially available thing from one of Stingo's mates, something to do with lovely people a GlobalTrack who feed the signal I think. Stingo kindly loaned it to me by sending the whole kaboodle by Fedex from South Africa. It's not a safety indicator, though, really. It looks like a smoke detector and plugs into a 4-way cigarette lighter socket I got from Halfords for £9.99. That 4-way adapter is plugged into the 12v adapter, whilst the detector itself sits outside on top of the saloon, wire through the hatch. It is not easy to see if it's working, impossible to see if not working, and quite easy to disconnect accidentally.
So, the point is that it's perhaps the flakiest thing on the boat, hardly ever checked, and we can't fix it if it goes wrong. There are loads of reasons why it might not work, and almost none of those reasons are any cause for concern. And even when it does work, the reason we jig about is that we saw something interesting in the sea, or nearly caught a fish, or went for a swim, or the autopilot decided to have a nap and the steering drifted us towards Africa, or (usually) because changing the direction is quite interesting thing to do whilst on watch a bit, seeing if we can gain half a knot, perhaps.

Of course, boating itself is inherently unreliable, subject to the vague workings of wind and gear etc which might or might all work as we want. But everyone is used to modern life with mobile phones able to keep life on track, predictable t the last minute. On a boat, things like GPS -and especially that tracking thing- gives some semblance or order with waypoints and tracks and computers making it look all very orderly and far more under control than it realyl is. Putting in waypoints, for example, shows that we'll be back in the marina at 6::25pm for example, just as reliable as coming home from work. But it isn't that reliable at all. We might get to Horta in a week, or ten days or a fortnight. We might be able to send some more emails on the sat phone, or not, and the tracker thing might be working, or (easily more likely than any other failure) it might not.

Other stuff. This "mother watch"system proposed by Zefender is working well although perhaps getting a touch out of hand. Four of us, 3 hours on watch,
6 hours off, and one person each day is "mother"and does all the cooking and domestic stuff, no watches. First day, para made a nice melon/ham salad for lunch, and tomato pasta for tea. Fine. He didn't wash up a pan but no big deal really. Second day, LJS made waldorf salad for lunch and fab tuna pasta and left the galley as new. Third day, Paddy made fishy stew from para's fish for lunch, beef stroganoff for tea, hoovered up and cleaned the loos.
Fourth day, I had to up the ante with lobster sauce on fish and baked apple dessert, made mohitos in the afternoon, washed the cockpit and did the loos AND folded the bog paper in pwc's cabin. Hah! But then para made actual real bread the next day, and clever sauce for more fish from a real recipe book too. Yesterday, LJS was seen hunting around for cocktail sticks for afternoon apple and cheese nibbles. It's all getting a bit out of hand, but wil have t come crashing down to earth as there is a lot of pasta and jars of tomato sauce packets.

Fishing wise, I'm afraid para and I have reviewed pwc's position this morning. He's had a run of bad form , and so, very reluctantly, I have put my own fishing rod out whilst he's in bed. So he's lost his spot. But the fact is he's had that starboard fishing station for five days just hasn't got the results we expected. He is trying to retrieve things with a single deep line to catch something very large and leapfrog to top of the league.

My fishing rod is a work of art. Or at least, it was a work of art until I sawed it down to three feet long so it would fit in an bag to get it to UK on Easyjet back from France. If this works I expect the others will get the hacksaw out as well and try the sawn-of fishing rd as well.

Meanwhile I am still on watch. Being on watch mainly means looking at the Raymarine E80 screen. We have chart overlaid with radar and AIS. AIS is quite good because it shows the position of any big ships which all have to have AIS system fitted, and they transmit all their details so you can be nosey and see where they're going, such as the Bulgaria recently going to Houston, due there on the 10th May. It could be a bit more detailed though, as it only shows it is carrying "cargo"whereas I want to know what the cargo actually is, and perhaps the names of the crew as well, how old they are if it's their birthday perhaps, that sort of thing.

Seriously though, is this E80 stuff supposed to be any good? It works, but the operation is a bit kludgy, as though written in COBOL in 1978, and now with added colour. Although we've trawled through manuals and waypoints I can't get the cursor to "snap" to gridlines or waypoints which is painful. A list of waypoints shows just that, no distances to them, and no "nearest waypoints" so no going somewhere a second time and getting a list of nearest waypoints, vital unless you remember the exact name of them all. It does seem that modern handheld chart plotters (or even quite old ones actually like that Garmin 175) are a lot slicker. Even the graphics is a bit weird - the other day I had a fright as there was suddenly what looked like a positive radar hit *very* near the boat. Nothing visible so I zoomed in to find that at closer magnification it was. a red box/waypoint put there earlier in the day! Grr.

That's enough for the moment. The wind is still a couple of days away.
Sunday to Tuesday should be quite quick. Meanwhile we're motoring, 150 miles a day, plenty of fuel, used about 200litres (out of 1100) up to yesterday.

Tcm

Stop press: 9am local, 2pm BST I caught a massive fish! With the sawn-off rod! Only took an hour to gettim. Yellow and blue shiny doarade, 104 cm long. Yeehah! Told pwc he can have go with that rod if he likes. Sending this now.

 

[claymore]

Re: Mojomo Latest

Great report and good to see you are all playing nicely. Its a shame Jimi isn't aboard as by now he would have managed to leave a sock in each hull and his grundies under the saloon table. Para once did intimate to me that he has a medical exemption certificate which gets him out of the washing up.

 

[tome]

From Para...

re Matt's fish: Pat & I would like it to be known that we attached the reel to the rod, made a prescient decision on the type of lure, carefully fed out the right amount and attached the whole caboodle to the starboard rail. He just had to pull it in although here we will admit to some admiration as the rod stops at the first eye! git ... !

 

[webcraft]

Re: Mojomo Latest

[ QUOTE ]
No wind yet

[/ QUOTE ]
. . . Have arranged to send you some of ours. Does F5-6 N suit? Afraid it's all we've got at the moment . . .

Please forward some of your calm by return so we can motor to Madeira and get a decent shower.


- Nick

 

[zefender]

Re: Mojomo Latest

Ooh, I see the wind has at last picked up. Mojomo currently tracked at 7-8kts. The weather maps look like they're in for some fast sailing over the next couple of days. That should chuck 'em out of their slumber!

 

[tome]

Fish, breadmaking, forecasts, eggwhisks

Friday 4th May 2am local, 7am BST.

Wind got up a few hours ago and now sailing at 6-8 knots, much better.
Position 32deg 05N 54deg 15W. Course is 80degrees T, which aims us a bit south of azores and easier wind, according to the forecast. Horta, azores is 1350ish miles away, so probly more that a week, less than 10 days. Under sail at night the boat feels very fast and restless, as though it's doing over 100mph, not 7-8 knots. Turned the engine off and pwc/paddy woke up.

PWC says that in the last email I got a bit too philosophical, and I was also bit horrid about Raymarine whereas in actuality they are jolly helpful people. So, sorry about that and I'll try to be nicer.

How to catch a fish: get the fishing gear out that someone bought for you, and ask someone else (like Para, for example) to help sort it all out, please. With any luck he will hand you back a loaded fishing rod. Follow his instructions about putting the thing in the sea, letting it go etc. A bit later, the reel makes the whizzing noise, you wind it in, and the same kind chap may also use the big spiked hook to get the fish aboard, and then he cleans and guts the fish too. Somehow, it is still counted as "you" catching this fish. However, it may take you quite some time and many failed attempts to find people like Para.

Stll with no fish, Paddy says he is plotting to chuck all the fishing gear overboard - it took me one hour to get a catch and he didn't get a thing for almost a week! Tee hee. Actually, he approves of the sawn-of fishing rod, and says it is "proper Essex", which is where he's from. We have agreed that henceforth the sawn-off fishing rod is to be called Big Vern.

After the excitement of the new fish had died down, Para offered that he would be happy to show the rest of us how to make bread, and paddy and I were very enthusiastic. LJS said he'd sit in as well, but only because there weren't any Country Dancing classes. Para is jolly good at the bread making, and none of us laughed when the flour blew in his face or when top of the salt came off and loads of salt everywhere. He invited questions as the demo proceeded, so pwc asked - Why did the baker have stinky hands? Because he "needed" a poo. Hah!

Parabread is 500g plain flour, 1.5 tsp salt, 25g butter, 1.25tsp packet yeast, 300ml lukewarm water, mix/bash/knead that lot ten minutes, into the tin, let it rise 2 hours and then 25 minutes in oven at gas mark 8.

We get the weather forecasts from our Iridium satphones. Alright, they're not actually our phones, forumites "fatipa" and "chris_e" very very kindly let us borrow them. Oh, and when I say "we" get the forecasts I mean that para gets them, cos (along with the bread making) he spent ages before the trip working out how to do the fiddly datacalls that ask a distant computer in America to send back an email with the small bit of weather forecast area we want. Now though, having been shown how to do it about eight times, I can send emails and get forecasts as well.

Paddy on mother duty yesterday made excellent steaks for dinner. Bit of a loose end after that, so I offered to have a go at making Zabaglione for dessert. Nobody knew what this was, and so para checked with me if (regardlesswhatever the dessert might be) - would it have a bit of alcohol in it? And I confirmed that yes, of course it would, but not too much though. So the project won unanimous support.

I almost came unstuck as hand beating egg yolks with a fork is nearly impossible. So paddy helped me by sawing kitchen fork in half, and with the aid of the Bosch drill and business end of half-fork as drillbit, we had an egg whisk. Bit overpowered but very effective. The zabaglione was fab. For cooks amongst you, I used rum and sugar syrup instead of Marsala wine. For engineers amongst you, it's a Bosch PSB 650 RA with keyless chuck.

That's enough for now. Oh, and look - I know these emails might make it seem one long hoot, but we're doing al the serious safety stuff too, with harnesses, planning, forecasting and checking things, just like in the worrisome yottie books and the duller weblogs. I've only written about the fun stuff.

Bit more sailing coming up so I/we might not be able to write every day.

tcm

 

[Whitelighter]

Re: Fish, breadmaking, forecasts, eggwhisks

Brilliant. Keep it coming even if you have to stop writing it.

(I know TCM won't actually see that comment, but I feel it was worth voicing anyhoo)

 

[EME]

Re: Fish, breadmaking, forecasts, eggwhisks

The issue about 'other folks' who can not help with fishing will be duly addressed when 'Europe' is sighted.

In my defence :

Suffice to stay that one's pupils need to have the attendance-span of >10 seconds. A luxury that Para has by default.

Fair Winds My Friends

 

[Whitelighter]

Re: Fish, breadmaking, forecasts, eggwhisks

[ QUOTE ]
Brilliant. Keep it coming even if you have to stop writing it.

(I know TCM won't actually see that comment, but I feel it was worth voicing anyhoo)

[/ QUOTE ]

Dunce.

What I meant to say was, Keep it coming, even if you have to stop to write it.

 

[No1_Moose]

Re: Fish, breadmaking, forecasts, eggwhisks

I think tcm is turning out to be a bit of an Ellen Macarthur. I expect we'll soon have rambling emails about huge scary waves, frustrating flat calm seas and looming madness. All interspersed wth "I thought I was going to die", "I'm so scared", "this is so scary", "I've never been so scared", "The fish para caught was so scary, it really was so scary", "I'm really getting worried", "the worry is beginning to kick in", "I fell out of my bunk and now feel like I've been given a kicking", "Words cannot describe how I feel", "I haven't slept for 92 days", "I'm really nervous", "I can't sleep", "It's all too scary for me"...


...erm I think I should go into hiding now

 

[Lakesailor]

Re: Fish, breadmaking, forecasts, eggwhisks

Well he did have a bit of a haircut. As long as he doesn't start weeping. Never makes good TV.

BTW Where is the Channel 4 film crew sleeping? And Kirsty Alsop?

They did sign a Relocation Relocation Relocation deal, didn't they?

 

[claymore]

Re: Fish, breadmaking, forecasts, eggwhisks

Parabread made me giggle - especially the bit with the salt. Whatever you do don't let him near the horseradish - Muzzy's bum is only just getting to the point where he can cack solid after 8 months.

 

[tcm]

Re: Fish, breadmaking, forecasts, eggwhisks

6th May Sundays Log

Update from TCM - and LJS's Bank Holiday Pop Quiz.

Sunday 6th May 8am local, midday BST, 34deg 02N, 48deg 67 W, COG around 70T towards Horta just under 1,000 miles away at 5.5 knots, motoring with 5-8 knots wind dead astern. Nice sunny morning after soggy weather overnight.

I really am the ideal skipper for this trip - twin diesels, loads of fuel on board - and then being very stingy about using it. We've slowed a bit cos I backed off to 1800 rpm overnight to make sure the juice alone will get us there. The flippin forecasts are constantly promising wind in a couple of days time, then the patterns change a little bit and - no wind. Nice and sunny though, and I have told the guys that this is easily the most scenic route with no nasty icebergs. We goosewinged with jib and gennaker yesterday, great fun, reached 7 knots.

Each crewmember stands watch in their own particular style. Para seems luckier than most of us with the wind (or probably just better at sailing catamarans) and writes interesting comments in the log such as "whoever is nicking the pencils - stop it!". LJS's watch is orderly and calm, with all the ropes left smartly coiled. All hell breaks loose on pwc's watch - last night he had five exploding ships on the horizon (probably a bit of distant lightning), a whale under the boat (more likely a flukey sonar reading off colder water 12m down), dozens of incoming torpedoes (radar tracks from other boats) and an end-of-the- world scenario as a giant meteor cruised across the sky (actually the moon rising, reflecting red from sunset with a trailing cloud).

We've had a bit of wildlife visit us. As well the (enforced and reluctant) visit of our two fish, a seabird of some sort patrols the surface every day just after dawn, and dolphins enjoy jostling under the bows. A few whales turned up once, so I quickly turned the engine on to make sure none of them became too amorous with the boat. And yesterday pwc says he also saw a large turtle swim westwards right past the boat. Yeah, right - more likely it was an old cardboard box. Poor old pwc got the local time adjustment wrong too - he thought it would make my three hour watch into four hours like his last transat with the ARC - but this direction the clocks adjust the other way and made it only two hours. Doh!

Excellent boat with few if any gear problems: the potato peeler has lost its blade, and we're running short of cigarette lighters. I found a busted clothes peg yesterday but managed to re-assemble it, so at least that can be ticked off the list. The radar has clened up its act since we started to keep the radar pic on the screen, rather than the chart-radar overlay. Error in gosub I expect. The shaky stbd rudder means that we run only on port engine - 125 hours so far means engine on for over five whole days out of just under nine.

I have to give a (serious, real) thank you to Bill Bullimore of Patrick Boyd Multihulls in Gosport, who has given useful advice to people ashore helping us. I think he may actually have an as-new P495 like this for sale too, which would save you this bother of an Atlantic crossing. Half the price of a Trader, up to 9 miles a gallon on max range motoring or free if there's some wind, no gizmos needed to avoid rolling, takes the ground, and a 25-foot wide master cabin with power shower, eh, Gludy?

Longjohnsadler's Bank Holiday Pop Quiz : LJS is a whizz at knowing all the tunes. He hasn't got internet here but still knows the answers to the questions below and loads more. See how you do without googling, answers in next update. Yes, all the spelling is as it should be.

Who sang "Sweet Home Alabama?"

What sized engine did Godley and Cream have?

Who sang "Little Arrows"?

Which actress was Paul Simon once married to?

Which heavy metal rock group signed for Atlantic Records?

Who sang "Hey girl, don't bother me"?

Which band had an album called "Dummy"?

If you're about to go to work by Tube - what would have on your toast for breakfast? (answer is a song and band which sang it)

What does B.A.D. stand for, pop/rock-wise?

Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd died recently- what UK city was he living in?

Here you go folks for those following our intrepid sailors during their hardship.

Mrs TCM

 

[B175Chris]

Re: Fish, breadmaking, forecasts, eggwhisks

A great write-up, read with much interest /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[EME]

Re: Fish, breadmaking, forecasts, eggwhisks

Mrs TCM

He's too relaxed ! Given the 'cigarette-lighter' problem and the laid-back attitude; you have to assume one of his crew-mates has smuggled something aboard from the Caribbean :shock:

Fair Winds and Fine Progress ... Enjoy All