Back on the high seas...
Quartermoon
Mike Share & Sammy Byron
Tue 27 Jul 2010 17:36
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We are about 450nm out from
Palmerston and we've probably had the most uncomfortable sailing to date so far!
Wave patterns from several directions have been picking QM up and skewing her in
every direction - the main Ocean swell is pretty big from behind
but not too bad, until another one comes from the side and slams into
you!
The wind was a nice 18-20 knots but
right from astern which is our worst point of sail (the spinnaker is just too
much hassle with 2 of us and the dinghy over the hatch) but we were making good
progress with either just the Genoa and now just the main out. Then overnight
the wind died to about 10-12 knots meaning we only had 6 knots of apparent wind,
not really enough to make good progress so we had to resort to the engine
for a few hours ;-( At least
it's killed the swell a bit....
The sun has just risen and it's yet
another stunning sunrise over the Pacific off our back balcony - I'm almost
awake as the sleeping patterns are slowly coming back after nearly 2 days out
here.
So it just leaves the fishing left to
mention; which has taken a turn for the worse.... Heading to Bora Bora we left a
double lure out overnight to see if anything bit. Something big obviously did
and took with it our 2 most successful lures and a heap of line. Guess
that's why you bring lines in at night... Even more frustrating is the
success/failure of my home made lure. I made it from a coke can so it's nice and
shiny and somewhat resembles a squid (I did say somewhat). We've hooked 2 huge
Dorado/Mahi Mahi/Dolphin (not like Flipper) which we brought in right to the
rail, before they have both managed to freak out, unhook themselves and
swim off. Absolutely infuriating after you've done the hard work and have
decided how you are going to cook them! We haven't caught a good sized
fish since before the Tuamotu's (due to reef poisoning amongst other things).
Anyhow the teriyaki chicken tasted really good instead!
Like any good fisherman I am blaming
the hook which looks a bit open. I have closed it up and am sitting here waiting
for the next catch. 3rd time lucky and all that....
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