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

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