Theft of the fishing gear!

Miss Molly 4
Bob & Peggy Wilkerson/Geoff & Merel Pettifer
Tue 21 Oct 2008 23:18
18:24.75S 173:10.00W

While Merel was still asleep after her last night watch Geoff put out the fishing line shortly after daybreak. Not long after that a big sailfish took the lure.... and the hook... and the trace.... and the line... and part of the bungee, which snapped under the weight of the fish. Once it had snapped off our fishing gear, the sailfish decided it was not too happy with the hook in its mouth, so Geoff saw it splash and trash behind the boat, trying to rid itself of its loot. Luckily it DID break - you would not want to have to release a fish that size! Merel missed all this, still in dreamland. Geoff rigged a new line, which apparently is still in its try out phase. We have not caught anything on it yet.

Later that morning the wind filled in nicely and we have been sailing since on a comfortable forward reach. Less than 50 miles to go and we will make landfall at daybreak, if not before. So this trip turns out to be the first one without catching a decent meal. Luckily there is still the freezer to feed us.

We are very much looking forward to making landfall in Neiafu, the main town of the Vava'u island group in the Northern part of the kingdom of Tonga. Tonga is already on the other side of the date line, so we will be a day ahead of America and Europe. It looks like there will be a good weather window to sail to New Zealand from Tuesday (Tonga Time) onwards, so although we wish we could linger longer to explore, we think we will leave Tonga when the opportunity occurs.

Cheers from
Geoff & Merel