Cynthia the sqid strikes mahi...

A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Fri 12 Aug 2011 11:17
44:21.48N
021:13.74W
 
Summer Song has notched up a rare point in the ongoing competition with fish kind. Cynthia the squid lure had been on duty for only a few hours yesterday when she struck: a good sized mahi mahi fell prey to her charms, and we hauled the beast in around tea time. It seems that the squid has but to ruffle its tentacles to attract fish. Imagine what we could have caught by now if we'd only deployed her sooner?! We feasted for supper on the culinary embodiment of the entente cordiale: French style mahi, pan-fried in garlic and butter, accompanied by peas and roast potatoes.
 
We're continuing to make good progress homewards in medium strength winds, having reeled off about 130 miles in 24 hours. It has taken us more than a year to try it, but Summer Song is now scudding along merrily under twin headsails. Following the tradewind route for a year, we've done plenty of running before the wind. We've used the spinakoo often; poled out the gib to keep it flying and even goosewinged when the seas were calm. But until today, we' never tried rigging a second genoa alongside the first. This is a shame, as it seems to be working beautifully.
 
We spinakooed until happy hour yesterday - about 32 hours of non-stop hand steering. Then, as the wind rose and veered into the west, we dropped the main and ran on under the genoa alone. But the rolling of the waves and the unbalanced sail plan meant that Alex had to fight the tiller to stay on course. So with an air of what's-to-lose, I rigged genoa #3 and poled it out on the opposite side to the the main genoa. It's a rather elegantly cut sail and makes an exceedingly pleasing picture of Summer Song as she races northeast.
 
Unfortunately, the boat rolls a fair amount on a dead run, so not everyone slept well. And in what I take to be the first sign of nearing home, cloud has piled in to obscure the sun and an intermittent drizzle has struck up. On the plus side, it gives me ample opportunity to battle on with 'Gone With the Wind'. I'm 660 pages down with 400 to go...