02.39S 105.33W 26th July 2011

Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Wed 27 Jul 2011 02:01
Another day in the Pacific. Tomorrow at midday we will have been out here a week and if things continue to go well we could make the crossing in about 3 weeks.
Yesterday we sailed another 154NM closer to our destination and it could have been considerably more but the wind decided to drop out late yesterday after a ripping sail all afternoon. Up until 4pm we were making 9-10 knots in very favourable conditions but then the wind speed dropped to 7-8 knots in the space of a few minutes. At dusk we were still making some progress thanks to the genneker but any hope of a 180NM day disappeared.
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset with very calm conditions and clear skies. Just after dark we climbed onto the hardtop bimini to watch the stars come out. There is no moon until the early hours of the morning at present and because of this, and the lack of any other light, the stars are brilliant. You can't look at them for too long though..... they start to do your head in!!
The overnight sail was a real mixed bag from 5-6 knots to suddenly 17 knots, and then back to under 10. We pulled down the genneker at about 9.00pm because a thick band of cloud was forming overhead and  we continued for the rest of the night with the genoa.
Absolutely stunning morning this morning with full sun and 10 knots at 90 degrees to port. We scooted along [current assisted] at over 7 knots. Throughout the day the wind lifted to 11 knots at times and we had a fabulous days sailing on calm seas. We were due to get a period of swell from the south today but it did not develop in any consistent way. We did occasionally get a large set of three swells but they were spaced at about 100 metres apart and caused us no problems. In between these sets we had pretty much flat seas again.
At 9am we started noticing fish jumping clear of the water chasing the flying fish. They were close to the boat but even though I had the lure out and the handline out with a squid lure, I could not get them to strike. In the end I grabbed the light rod that Dean bought in Panama and started casting it out with it's small lure to the side of the boat as we sailed along. On the first cast I had a strike just 8 metres from the boat but it was on the third cast that I hooked one. I fought the fish for a good 10 minutes on this light rig before I had him at the back of the boat. It ended up being a bluefin tuna and given the size of the rod and reel I'm glad its dad stayed at home. As it was it was a real struggle to get it landed. The fish was built like a bullet and pulled like a steam train.
Two hours later and the main reel sprung to life but this time I left it to Jane to haul in a good sized Mahi-Mahi whilst I steered the boat. Our freezer is now packed with fish and Jane has caught her first big fish.
Late in the day I was having a snooze in preparation for tonight's sail when Jane came rushing in to tell me that something had taken the squid lure on the handline and snapped the bike tube we had used to tie it on with. I put on the gloves and started hauling in what clearly was a very large fish. As it came to the stern of the boat we could see it was a good sized sailfish. With considerable effort we pulled the fish onto the deck, removed the lure, and sent this magnificent fish on its way.
Late in the day we are struggling again to find enough wind to keep us moving. If all goes well tonight we should be less than 2000NM from the Marquesas by tomorrow. We are currently 2072NM from our destination but I'm am not so optimistic about covering lots of miles tonight.
Andrew Partington.