Jadamama - Jadamama blog Day 13

It’s feeling very hot and sticky these last few days on Jadamama with fans on in the cabins at night to try and get cool enough to sleep. We are also seeing larger amounts of Sargasso weed floating by, it looks a bit like bladder wrack but is more clumped and sparked a conversation about whether it was edible. Not that we need more food as Maryrose keeps finding yet more “last bits of vegetables” so I suspect that we will do the entire crossing on fresh food, more or less. Every morning I clear the deck of the flying fish and indeed have been hit by a few when at the helm which certainly wakes you up. We have so much food left that we prefer not to fish any longer as we won’t be able to use it and that would be especially sad if it was a significant catch.

We are managing to stay in the breeze with about 15 knots most of the time and are making up some lost ground. I am keeping a special eye on Betelgeuse as it is the closest thing to another West Cork boat in the fleet. The Masseys have been going on holiday to Heir island for over forty years and my brother and I used to race against them in our Mirror in Baltimore, largely unsuccessfully I might add. We have managed to narrow the gap with them over the last day or so but they still have a nose ahead so it is still all to play for and providing a nice bit of extra motivation.

It is a little hard to stay upbeat about the forecast for the days ahead as we had hoped to sail the whole way in. We have only used an engine so far to deal with breakages or safety issues but it looks challenging to get through the next week without a bit of mechanical help. We will keep it to a minimum but certainly attention is now being given to what the time penalties are.

Maurice