Hi there........ Location as of 7:30 PM S 14 degrees 53' W 156 44. The day was mostly beautiful with puffy clouds all around the horizon. We poled out the headsail and went downwind again, but this time the waves were too random and the wind was too much, and we back-winded the main way too many times, which can lead to all kinds of dangerous problems. The ordeal of taking down the headsail and pole seemed to take forever, and we were exhausted the rest of the day. Finding the best way to go downwind is always puzzling to us due to all the variables; we have ended up with our reefed main only taking us somewhat downwind, which is fine and safe, but quite rolie. We would prefer to just use the headsail and drop the main but that, too is a pain out here in the high seas. Oh well, this works for now and we are still going over 5 kts. Ah, the life of the sailor! So many decisions to make! Last evening the warm breeze continued to blow us pretty calmly, and the starry sky was again welcoming and wondrous. More music, a good read, an hour on the helm, and lots of stretches filled my four hours with joy and it looks like tonight will be much the same. We are very lucky to have this good weather so far. -Suzi
The following blog is a response from David to Darrell Boyle's query regarding fishing:
Howdy Darrell- Well, what you said about open water fishing turns out to be wrong. While in Bora Bora I met an ex-pat that runs (and owns I might add) a restaurant called Bloody Mary's. It's been around since 1979, and this guy says he is more a fisherman than a restaurant owner. He also makes his own jigs, and I bought one along with an hour of instructions on how to use it. Turns out he is a friend of a friend we have in Kona, so after BS-ing about the good old days, he made us dinner and started in on how to catch fish. He was so sure of himself that he said if I didn't catch a fish on our way to Suvarrow he would give me my $30 bucks back. No need for that though: less than 3 hours after leaving the pass in Bora Bora I was hooked into a 4 ft. Mahi that took me about a hour to land. Sidewinder isn't very set up for fishing and getting around trying to fight a fish is a chore to say the least. But I did it, and boy does it taste good! Probably about 10 lbs of cleaned fillets now in the freezer, and I can't wait to get my line back in the water. I was trolling way too far back before. He told me that at the 5 or 6 knts. we go, the jig shouldn't be more than 50 or 60 ft. behind the boat. Another thing he told us is that the boat itself draws the fish in, so the closer you can keep your jigs the better, just as long as they keep their action, which is breaking water every 10 seconds or so and the rest of the time leaving a bubble "smoke" trail near the surface. Now this is for Mahi and tuna, but wahoo is a whole different ball game. They feed much deeper, so you need to have your jig at around 200 ft. deep near a drop off. So there it is Buddy, Fishing 101 from the new "expert" on the subject who is once again the great provider putting dinner on the table. Hope it continues; reeling that brute in was fun! But Suzi started crying because it was so pretty and she hated to see it die . . . didn't stop her from eating it though. We are about 1/2 way to Suvarrow and should be there Sat. morning if all goes well. It's a National Park of New Zealand and there are only two care takers who live there along with a bunch of cruisers who can only spend 2 weeks at a time there before moving on, as we will to Tonga or American Samoa as a lot of the boats do. So tell everyone Hi for us. We are doing great (knock on wood); Sidewinder is sailing as beautifully as she always does, and now we have fresh fish to eat.
See ya later, David & Suzi
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