« Tarawa to Solomon Islands voyage, Update #7 | Main | Tarawa to Solomon Islands voyage, Update #9 »
June 5, 2000
Tarawa to Solomon Islands voyage, Update #8
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 23:49:29 -0700
Day 7
Wind NE 10-15 knots
Heading 210 Magnetic
Best Day... (MPG-120K)
Porridge Please... (MPG-120K)
Progress Chart and Statistics
It's coming to evening time now. The wind has finally dropped and mid-size rollers (7-10ft) are gently squeezing themselves underneath Moksha and continuing westward in hypnotic undulations toward the dying sun. Our charge is gently rolling back and forth, as she always does when lying ahull. Chris is playing with the short wave radio, trying to get the BBC World Service - or any station for that matter. I've forgotten the frequency so it'll be chance whether he finds it or not. We both have a fresh cup of tea beside us in the special mug holders bought from the US. It's the best time of the day, along with the dawn. The day's toil is over and we have a special evening to look forward to.
We've been pushing it pretty hard the last few days, trying to make the most out of the unusually favourable wind and ocean conditions. All last night and the night before we took turns at the pedal seat, keeping the cranks turning throughout the small hours, grinding out every last mile we could before the wind changed. And our progress has been good: 60 miles in the last 24 hrs, as good as any day I can remember on any of the other voyages. So tonight, seeing as it's a week we've been out here, we're planning to let the cranks lie idle for a few hours, cook a nice meal, get the guitars out of the back and give The Glenlivet a bit of a seeing to. We'll record some of the results on video for you to see tomorrow if its not too incriminating.
The only other notable events of the day were three dolphins coming to play with the boat for a while (and departing in disgust when they discovered what a pathetic bow wave Moksha creates - dolphins like big bow waves), and our primary GPS - a brand new Magellan Nav 6000 - going dead on us. No disaster, as we have two backups: the Galaxy Inmarsat-C and a small handheld in the grab bag. But once again I'm reminded that you can never take enough spares and backups for trips like this. Get backups for the backups, that's the name of the game.
Chris is late getting his homework in again (was he always this tardy Mrs. Tipper?), so he's promised to have an update ready by tomorrow.
Jason & Chris,
The Moksha motors
Posted on June 5, 2000 6:06 AM