August 4-5....Mahi Mahi Fest continues (with gin)...but winds are light

On the down side...

There is not a lot of wind out here.  We fluctuate between sailing and motoring, but at these wind angles the boat is HOT, and the wispy airs are hard on the main sail (it just keeps flopping around) so today we've had to do some repairs.  There's a tropical storm brewing off Hawaii, and we are getting rains but not enough solid wind to push this boat anywhere productive.  

On the upside, Mahi Mahi Fest 2014 is still on, and it turns out that a large bottle of gin is key to getting these fish on board!

It started just before sunrise, I got up and made sure the fishing gear was out, we started catching fish almost immediately. We landed 3 today and lost 2 right at the boat. The hardest part of the whole process is getting the fish onto the boat (after we lost the gaff).  Imagine a 6'4 guy and a 3 ft fish on the transom of the boat in rocking seas, trying to get a clean fillet off of the fish. At one point I was sitting back in the transom enjoying the view. Then, a fish jumped out of the water about 20 ft back, then three more, then another 4. 8 Mahi Mahi in total all charging at our rod and hand line.   It's like we're the only interesting thing our here for them!

At this point, we only had a small scrap of duct tape left on the rod, and a very chewed up hand line lure. The Mahi took them both. The hand line appears to be too stretchy with the bungy as we are having trouble getting the hook to set, but the rod worked perfectly and it was a fight. The current process is to get the fish as close as possible, then I get on transom of the boat. I grab the line by hand and pull the fish to the boat. Sometimes, the fish opens his mouth, ready for the 60# bottle of gin I am about to shove in there to put it out. Other times… not so much and I have to wrestle it around… when this happens, we are about 30% successful in getting the fish landed. We have wasted a bit of gin, but the Mahi is all the better for it!  Once the Mahi has its share of the gin, we put a rope down through its jaw and gills so it can't slip off the transom.

I stepped away for dinner, and just after we finished our mahi tacos, the reel started singing again. Dave drew the straw (and made the lure - first bite on it) and started reeling. The fish had taken a lot of line out by this time, so we didn't mind giving up the job. The fish darted from side to side leaping out of the ocean, going from a blue silver colour combo to green with a bit a blue. Finally Dave had the fish up to the boat, I used the boat hook as a gaff under the gills and was able to get it secure enough to get the gin down (the fish, not me). With the gin portion done, it was time for the rope.

 It was about this time that Dave and I noticed that this fish certainly competed with the one from the previous night for largest fish yet. We won't know for sure, as we don't have a scale, but this fish is up there in weight.

The crew is getting along really well and we all miss home.

See you soon (another 10-14 days depending on if we run out of gas or not - maybe a story for another day).

Turnagain

Sports Day Turnagain Style

August 1st Update    

Today was BEAUTIFUL!!. The temperatures were great, and the wind was only about 10 kts on average all day. While it did not lend to fast sailing, we were able to have the hatches open and keep inside temperatures very reasonable. We made a ton of water, had showers and did some maintenance on the boat.  The furling system is holding together, and the galley faucet that was leaking is now fixed. 

The crew has quickly gelled and is working well together. They have also settled into their respective watches.  Things are great and we are making great time towards home (well… headed to Alaska currently but hopefully the winds will change as forcast and let us curve to the east), even if a few of us need to find our sea legs (hence the short blog today). 

Fishing isn't going great. We have temporarily given up on the Kit-Kat and gone to more traditional store bought lures still with limited success. We had a bite at dinner, but it promptly threw the hook. 

Dave and I are missing "Sports Day" back at home, but have been thinking up some games we might be able to do on board. Dave's kids and mine are the same age, we have traditionally spent sports day being the supporting dad and doing the horse races (being the horse), or the one with the bucket on our head while our kids try to fill it faster than the other kids and their dad's using a sponge (and of course getting Dad totally soaked). So we may do piggy back races up and down the deck tomorrow am, during the traditional land races time frame, and we may try some sort of water event in the afternoon, but have not come up with anything that would be safe at the current speeds we are sailing. 

The winds are expected to start backing tomorrow mid to late day, which will likely allow us to hoist a kite. Then entire crew is excited about that.   

We all miss you
Turnagain

Waikiki

July 28, 2014 9:00pm

After loading the boat and having a quick bite to eat at the Pioneer Inn, we slipped our mooring for Honolulu. Winds were light and "from every direction", so we chose to motor for the first 45minutes to hour. Then there was WIND!!!.. we quickly got the sails out and had steady pressure to 28kts with gusts to 35. Turnagain was in her element, rocketing along at 10-14kts. Slowly the wind built as we got closer to Molokai to a steady 35 and gusts to 38kts. Our top speed for the sail over to Honolulu was into the 16s, but I was not watching as I was busy driving, Dave had a keen eye on the speedo though and was saying something about 16.4kts. Not bad for white sails!

We made quick work of the 75miles to Honolulu and pulled into the Hawaii Yacht Club "Aloha Dock" at 7pm.  We rafted to an Andrews 56 that had completed the Pacific Cup (from San Francisco) around the same time as our Vic-Maui completion. We got straight to sharing beer and swapping war stories.  The furthest in boat of our raft was Tatoosh (sp?), an 80ft wood sailboat that has quite a history, including being owned by Peter Fonda at some point in its history (according to the crew and totally unverified).  The Turnagain crew quickly made for some shore food as we knew we would be on the boat a lot over the next few weeks and ended up eating at the Tropics bar on Waikiki beach.  Service was great, food was average, but I was able to eat way too much.

We will be in Honolulu until Wednesday am, at which time we will leave and head to Ko' Olina for fuel and then around the west side of the island and on to the Strait of Juan De Fuca.

Until tomorrow

Travis

Homeward Bound

Time has passed REALLY quickly since the race officially finished.  Everyone consumed their fair share of mai-tais and coconut shrimp over the past week, and now it's time for the return trip.  Losloper is staying in Hawaii for the season (lucky dogs), and Kahuna will be heading to Honolulu for mast repairs of course!

Ty, Adam, Steve T, Travis, and Jason.
Missing are Steve C and Darin.
In the background is Kinetic with El Ropey...you'll have to
ask them for details!

Callum, Daylie, Sylvia, and Travis with the trophy

The Awards Banquet was perfect....great music, perfect sunset backdrop, and a million trophies to hand out. Turnagain won best in division (never mind the fact it's the slow division...), and of course a few boats cleaned up! (don't need to mention who THEY were...cough cough....Longboard).  Of course Anduril won the trophy for best race to San Fran, wink wink.  Congrats to all!

Five Boats (Avalon, Longboard, Kinetic, Family Affair and Turnagain) will be carrying trackers on the voyage home. Their position can be followed at:  http://yb.tl/vicmaui2014return for the Full Yacht Tracker. Note: this is a different link to the tracker than for the race.  

Turnagain is in blue now

Over the past few days Travis has been joined by MacKenzie, Dave, Eric, and Elisa for the return trip.  Elisa had planned on delivering Kahuna back to the continent, but alas, without a mast that would be difficult so she's joining the guys on Turnagain for the trip back. They left the docks in Lahaina this morning en route to Honolulu for a few days (for provisioning and a better wind angle home).  

Wishing them a safe and fun trip home!