Landfall St. Helena
18 June 2011 | St. Helena, South Atlantic
Paul
Made landfall at St. Helena at 6:25 pm local time; total time elapsed from Walvis Bay Namibia to St. Helena was 7 days, 3 hours, 25 minutes. We picked up a mooring with the very last light of day. Would have made it in a bit earlier except for the fact we hooked up a tuna 5 miles from the anchorage! Made for a bit of a circus as we were sailing under the spinnaker, doing 8-1/2 knots and were close in to the rocky cliffs (3/4 mile off)for photos. The most important thing trying to land a fish while underway is slowing the boat down, otherwise you end up ripping the lure out of the fishes mouth. This entailed yours truly freeing the spinnaker clew line and letting the sail flog in the wind while Derek battled the fish! A flogging sail makes a heck of a racket! We still had too much headway on so I turned on the port engine and with the engine in reverse, we were able to stop Safari and Derek landed a nice 10 lb. blackfin tuna. A jubilant crew then brought in all t he lines, I sorted out the spinnaker and we continued on towards the anchorage. We missed watching the sunset but gladly traded that for fresh tuna! Had a great dinner with BBQ'd mahi mahi and then turned in for a good nights sleep! Exploring St. Helena awaits!