round we go!!

It's been a few days since we've had an internet connection. On Bubbles we use a radio frequency connection that has some sensitive parts. Sometimes even having the motor running will keep it from connecting. Anyhow, this will be some catch up from the last 2 days.

We've traveled around 430 miles since leaving Bora Bora. The winds have died down significantly over the last 24 hours. Yesterday we decided to take the last reef out of the main and let her fly full sail. While doing so we realized the back corner of the sail (the part that connects to the end of the boom) we swinging loose. Apparently the small clip that keeps the pin in place had broke and the pin was just barely hanging on. Alex jumped out to grab it as I tried to keep the boom steady to the starboard side. A big danger on a sailboat is what they call an accidental jibe. This happens when the winds catch the front side of the main and swing the boom across quickly. If anyone is standing in the way, they certainly get knocked down. It was a nerve-racking fix, but we did a good job of minimizing risk. More recently, the winds died down even more (almost dead now). As they did it made sailing wing-on-wing difficult (or annoying depending on how you put it) so we jibed to starboard and adjusted our course. It definitely cut down on the banging (which overtime will eventually break something).

Yesterday afternoon we decided we really wanted to catch a fish. We set up the new pole that Joe brought and rigged her with a new lure I got in San Diego. I should mention, the guy I bought it from said "this will catch ya dinner" when I was at the shop. I also had some fish oil in the form of pills (supposed to be good for high blood pressure). We decided to bust one open and squeeze it out on the handline. We also sprayed some WD40 on the other line to do some sort of rough comparison test. For the rest of the evening I was keeping an eye on the lures. Miraculously there are birds out here (hundreds of miles from land). Whenever they fly by we watch them, and they watch us. The one even started looking at our lure, and I said "He's eyein' it!" Around 6 in the afternoon, as the sun was started to set, we got a bite! The new reel started screeching and I hoped up to pull on it. Joe came to the back to make sure whatever it was didn't try to pull the pole from us and I reeled it in. Sure enough, we caught ourselves a 25" tuna! As we got her onboard we gave her some rum (right into the gills). Usually this causes the fish to die quietly within a matter of seconds. Well, this tuna started flapping like one of those windup toys. Literally, it vibrated at a steady pace for about 20 seconds. We thanked her for biting out lure and Alex went to work cutting the meat off. I think I mentioned wasabi, soy, and ginger in a previous post. Well, I wasn't kidding - for dinner, we had sushi!