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June 20, 1999

Hawaii to Tarawa Voyage, Update #48

Day 48. Sunday 20 June 1999 0308 GMT
Wind ENE-E 1-2. Heading 195M.
Latitude: 04deg 41.314N
Longitude: 178deg 40.308W

Hot, hot day with little wind. The odd rain cloud will occasionally amble along, stir up the air a bit and blot out the sun for a few blissful minutes. But by and large it's a quiet, dull ocean, the kind that makes pedaling a sweat-fest: you should see my impression of the human watering can; water goes in one end and a few minutes later gets pumped straight out again from a thousand tiny perforations. I believe I've sweated more on this trip than the rest of my life put together.

I was wrong about there not being a current sucking us back north. It turns out there is - by my calculations - about a third of a knot per hour. That sounds like not much but over a 24hr period tots up to about 8 miles, which cuts my hard earned mileage south in half. Its soul-breaking stuff - the amount of effort put in to achieve so few miles. Yesterday we netted only 7.5 miles south after being pushed back 4 overnight. This is when having two people makes a big difference, so one person is at least holding ground made good while the other rests. But we had a pretty good run for a while until 5N, so we're probably due a few duff days.

Another whale paid us a visit today, making a couple of passes before thankfully heading on. Its too hot for reading - my brain overheats trying to concentrate on the compass and a book at the same time - so I'm keeping my self entertained by guessing the colours of M+M's using taste only. Gradually getting the hang of it (thanks Zak!), although I'll going to have to do a lot more practice before I reach land - pure torture!

Jason Lewis,
The Moksha motor

Posted on June 20, 1999 2:02 AM