Galapagos to Marquesas - Day 8 The one that got away!
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Sun 9 Mar 2014 19:57
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As of midday today, Sunday 9 March 2014, we have now
covered 1270 miles since we set off a week ago, and have
approximately 1730 miles left to go. Since I last blogged,
things have largely been continuing in much the same way. We have been
sailing along very well, and are well placed in the fleet at the moment.
We do however, expect this to change as we get nearer the Marquesas and start to
get the trade winds more behind us - lots of the other boats have coloured sails
such as spinnakers and cruising chutes for downwind sailing, which we don't
have, that said the wind is currently coming across the beam at almost our
fastest angle of sail, so long may that last. There has been much
talk on the morning and evening radio net about weather, winds and currents,
especially now that the fleet is getting more spread out, but everyone seems to
be getting a decent breeze for now. We are heading away from a large hole
in the wind, which we hoping won't be able to catch up with us.
Yesterday, we took advantage of an hours worth of light
winds to run the watermaker and top up the tanks, (it gets a bit upset if we try
and run it when we are heeling too far over), do a load of laundry and all take
a shower while the boat was flat - I can't tell you how excited we were,
usually after showering on a port tack, (wind over the port side), the
showers can't drain and you need to manually assist with a squeegee, it
definitely makes you more careful with water when you know you have to squeegee
it all down the drain! The boat did look rather odd, belting along through the
Pacific with all our laundry hanging off the lines I had hung at back - I think
hanging out laundry at sea should be classed as an extreme sport!
Anyway, the one that got away. After our tuna
triumph a few days ago, we decided to try again, this time hoping for a
mahi-mahi or something like for a change. After much discussion and
consultation of various fishing books, it was felt that our line was actually a
bit short. The boys had bought more fishing line in Panama, and spent the
afternoon unrolling the old line and re-filling the reel. We also changed
from a hard, fish-shaped lure to a 'squid', basically a collection of sparkly
feathers and ribbons, hiding a dirty great hook. The line was then
set. Nothing happened. Again today the line was put out again.
Mid afternoon, the reel started to spin, just behind John's seat. Even
though he was so close, he couldn't manage to get any control over the line and
it continued to go out and out, the rod started to bend almost down to the
water, and so much that John couldn't get it out of the holder, eventually -
SNAP, the whole lot gone, lure, hook and nearly all of the new line! I suppose
that the only possible consolation is that we definitely would not have wanted
whatever was on the the line on board!q
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