Mojomo's ARC start delayed

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Tengy

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Hi All

I have been asked by TCM to put a post on (he doesn't have good wifi at the mo) to let any of Mojomo's followers know that they will not be able to set off with the rest of the ARC tomorrow due to a rigging issue that can't be fixed until Tuesday. Gutted!

I'll update you once they actually set off.
 
How old is the rigging? I reckon the 5 year racing and 10 year cruising guidelines were not designed for the useage that Mojomo has.
 
Hope you get sorted, under way and making way soon.

In the meantime, Arehucas is a fine way to shrug off disapointment!!

Good luck with a swift repair, will be watching for the mojomo mid atlantic blog.

C + M
 
Bizarrely we started the ARC2011 first across the line. Matt was going for a premature start to see if we got an amusing 3-hour time penalty for having to go and sit for two days in the marina, but it all went horribly wrong and we crossed the line half a second after the gun, first in the fleet, under staysail only. (Couldn't put the parasailor up really with no port cap shroud . . . ). We may have had the engines in reverse for a while . . .

Anyone who didn't know what had happened must have been a little bemused. We had a dozen sightseers on board - the Cape crew, the Parasailor team and a few others, so we appeared to be starting the ARC with a crew of about 20 and under a ridiculously small amount of sail.

So, first to start but shortly after we were last. The good thing was that we got a much better view of the start than if we had just belted off South - I got loads of photos, so there will no doubt be ARC start calendars popping up on BlueMoment for years to come. It was truly spectacular with all the big racing boats, 60 or 70 footers screaming past a few feet away with Kevlar sails taut, others with parasailors billowing - and a great day for it - shiny sea, blue sky and 18 knots from the NE.

Back in the marina, we got a berth on a hammerhead right beside the Sailor Bar, to which we repaired for beer and mixtos. Back on the boat Matt made honey rum bananas for the crew. We are all a bit gutted that we haven't started, but 48 hours from now we should also be at sea, heading round the bottom of Gran Canaria and turning towards the Caribbean.

- W
 
it will be a wonderful trip!:)
g.gif
 
Talbot said:
How old is the rigging? I reckon the 5 year racing and 10 year cruising guidelines were not designed for the useage that Mojomo has.
Click to expand...
THe port cap shroud on my cat was discovered defective 3 days before start of the World ARC at free rigging check (thank you Admiral Insurance) when the boat was 7 years old. Stbd cap discovered frayed 12 months later in South Africa. All remaining original standing rigging replaced then.
 
Tengy thanks for the update. Best wishes to matt and crew

Separately, please can i give you my thanks for those crusing notes you gave to me, thru matt, in San Antonio in August (I was on m/y Match). They were incredibly helpful over the following few days, (and I also show them to my kids as something to aim for because they are written in the very neatest handwriting in the world :)). We left San An early the next day and I called you a bit on VHF to say thanks (matt gave me the channel number) but I didn't get a reply. So, belatedly, thank you very much for the notes which we followed assiduously!
 
No worries, you're welcome. Was a shame we didn't get chance to meet up.

Thanks for the compliment on hand writing...have to admit it's not the first :o)

Just awaiting an update from Matt on the latest estimated departure, so will update again once have it.
 
We shouldn’t be here – we should be at sea. Jerry The Rigger did a free rig check last week, organized by our insurance company Admiral and found the broken strand on multi-strand wire in the main shroud which holds up the mast. He’s sure it wasn’t there last year (and he works for the insurance company…) and so we sorta gotta get it fixed, really.

Jerry and Octavio (the rigger here in LP) mortified that the wrong stuff arrived from Tenerife two days later - meaning we couldn’t make the ARC start - so now Tuesday am we’re waiting for stuff from Palma. We might get away today but dunno...

My fault really – we should have had a rig check earlier, but I waited till the new crew arrived so they could wander round with Jerry. One of the skippers on a race boat sez it’s a basic error – I shouldn’t have had a rig check in the first place. Hm.

So on Sunday 20th we went out for the start with about 16 people on board all watching in the sunshine. Since we’re delayed a couple of days I thought we’d gun the start and see if they’d announce us a 3-hour penalty – but seems we made a perfect start (or they ignored us knowing that really, we’d start later) so back to the Sailor Bar, again. I’ve never seen the marina after an ARC start – a chock-full marina suddenly empty. Apparently there were half a dozen ARC boats who couldn’t make the start.

The new crew are getting along fine. David and Paul are friends, ex-policemen with lots of stories. Nick is a saily friend who lives in Scotland not far from Oban. All of them set off on Atlantic crossings within the past few years - but they had to turn back for various reasons. Completely unlike this trip where we haven’t turned back at all, although there again erm, we haven’t even started yet…

The pre-start fun was good fun. Amongst all the other stuff, we won a prize (again) in the Dinghy Race on the Sunday before the arc start, and then won the fancy dress (weds 16th Nov) with our Red Indian outfits we got in Ibiza. The prize for Best Couple was a night in the Hotel Catalina, which is quite fab in a crumbly sort of way, although the only room left was a twin with two single beds fixed yards apart. Hum. So we nicked the soap and went straight back to the boat.

Loadsd of other stuff happened which I can’t possibly tell you about. Frinstance there was a bit of a fight at the Rolnautic party which I didn’t start. David’s yellow t-shirts are amazing – very close to the arc staff t-shirts (by pure chance of course) but utterly different in that they say Wild Catamaran Crew not World Cruising Club. I’d hoped to use them more but our partying went on till 3am every night. Well, okay, actually 5am every night and once 6am. So we only spoofed a few boats, and not horridly. We’re back on a more normal schedule now.
 
Indomitable ought to be on your calling card.
Hope you have a great trip, eventually.
Webby would be gutted if he had to return to Bluemoment and do a proper December calendar.
 
Yup, I just got the same message. Finally...

Bon Voyage!

Hopefully they'll be doing another great blog and let's face it, it shouldn't take them long to catch up, knowing them! ;o)
 
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