Hurricanes...by Catharine

Christopher Reeve said: 

"Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean."

Turnagain is still the blue boat in the middle, currently averaging 6-7kts
towards home

Well, these guys are definitely in the ocean.  Day ? and they are making their way slowly across....sailing when the winds are good, and pulling down the sails (so they don't fray too much) when the winds die.  

Today they did some repairs on the main sail, which had frayed when the winds were light and the sail was flopping around like a dead fish...  They had to use a drill to make a small hole in the sail to feed through some heavy duty Spectra twine to fix the frayed bits, and Travis seems happy with the repair so far.  

Travis reports: "It is just about noon here on the great blue sea.  Clouds are on the horizon, and it might get a bit aggressive later today."

Then shortly after: "We just go overtaken by a system or wind change or something...it is raining, and wind is kind of everywhere.  It is like a squall, but with no end in sight and not near enough wind to really be called a squall."

Well, that 'System" is a combination of Hurricanes Iselle and Julio, which should be passing over and just North of Hawaii Thursday and Saturday.  I got word from Julie (our wonderful greeting party coordinator in Maui) that everyone in Hawaii is bracing for the storms, filling their tanks with gas and stocking up on water and other supplies.  Flash floods are predicted, so hopefully everyone stays safe and sound there.  

Hurricanes Iselle (left) and Julio (right) as they approach Hawaii today

Forecast for Sunday, with Hurricane Iselle dissolving at is passes the
Hawaiian chain and Hurricane Julio passing just North of the islands

These systems are forecasted to downgrade to tropical storms, and should weaken in the slightly cooler waters as they head North, and will hopefully mostly pass South of where Turnagain is currently.  I'm sure the guys are watching these closely, and hoping that some of the 'wind' at the edge of these storms helps propel them towards home!

It sounds like the crew is in great spirits, working well together, and enjoying their time out at sea.  I'll keep you posted as always...  

Catharine

Mahi Mahi and More Mahi Mahi

I think we have been out for a while now…. All the days are starting to blend together, though some stand out items included some great spinnaker sailing (again), and lots of fishing. We landed 5, including one we guestimated at 30+ pounds and at least 8 got away. I have almost perfected my Mahi filleting skills, but it is not fast as I am crouched over the fish on the swim deck of the boat. It does keep the mess contained, but the space is cramped without a 3+ foot fish on there with you. Hopefully all the pictures the crew has taken turn out.

Dave and i lost a big one about 40 minutes ago, it was at the side of the boat, then the leader broke or the hook snapped, but it was gone. Earlier today, i saw about 8 Mahi charging at our lures. I was looking out the back of the boat, when one jumped coming in at about 90 degrees of the boat, then right behind that 4 more.. then 2 or 3more. They were going super fast. it is a fun fish to catch.

We have spent many hours motoring, and many more sailing. The sailing today was a surprise for me, I expected we would be motoring for many more miles to the next pressure system, but our total motor hours today were about 6 or 8. So far fuel levels are about what I expected, so that is a bit of stress off.
We are just starting to get into the "garbage zone", but so far it feels like there is less than on the way down here. Maybe our route? Maybe someone cleaned up while we rested in Maui?

Turnagain is the blue one in the middle

Dinner today was Mahi, rice, spinach salad with a great pineapple salsa….. no one has had any issues with the food yet : ( I think "yet" is the key word there). The biggest current issue it appears we may run into is freezer space for the fish!!!! Hopefully, that is the biggest issue we will have on the trip. We are hoping to start getting into the albacore tuna range once we hit 39N (about 400 miles north of where we are), so we will keep the Mahi coming and freezing (or eating) that until they stop biting our hooks then try to arrange our freezer space so we can have some tuna as well.

We are missing our loved ones back home, but making the best of a GREAT sail so far.

Turnagain