3,650 miles sailed since Panama, 365 miles to go!
24 April 2013
Can't believe we're about to make landfall on our first South Sea island. Hoping to be in by about Saturday. Fact is, we like Pacific sailing. It's been mainly gentle but useful breezes, mainly sunny, mainly reasonable amounts of swell and mainly from regular directions, and, best of all, mainly squall free.
And look - I even caught a decent sized skipjack tuna! I'd been catching mainly 3 or 4 portion sized mahi-mahi, and so had down spec'd my gear. Then this bad boy and his mate hit the 2 lures I was trolling simultaneously. His mate exploded the rig instantly and made off with my favourite rapala. This one did a back flip and got the line round his tail. That meant he was able to apply full boost to his run directly away from the boat. Finally came to a reluctant halt 350 yards out with about 15 turns left on the reel - and flatly refused to come back. We had a 2 hour stand-off, which only ended, as you can see, after dark. However, we've now had him BBQd (it was very calm that evening), fish fingered, and the rest I've confit'd in oil in kilner jars, processed in the pressure cooker (you can get so much more done while sailing in the Pacific!).
Few jobs to do on the boat, but nothing really. The old shed has stood up very well indeed - and I think she'll have turned in an average of 120 miles a day across the 4,000 miles of Pacific, including crossing the equator and the doldrums, so not too shabby for an overweight old girl. Mast still right side up and nothing waving about - thanks yet again to Andy P of Allspars. Helicopter landing pad still ready to receive incoming aircraft - thanks as usual to Jase, in spite of calling the Great Ship a shed (only I'm allowed to do that!)
Pics and arrival confirmation within minutes of dropping hook, I promise.