Monday Oct 29 - Departure
Departed San Diego slip today at at 10 am. It was a mad rush
to install new batteries and get last minute supplies. Very stressful, but with
the help of crew, we got it all done in the nick of time. The crew consists
of Drew (Andy), James, and Brittany.
We met the Baja Ha Ha (HAHA) fleet parade beyond the motor
yacht of reporters and the tug shooting spouts of water high in the air. There
are about 150 boats in the HAHA this year.
We were directly on the start line as the gun sounded at 11am. Drew
gunned the engine (due to no wind) which soon overheated and died. We were all
a panic, but it started again and cooled down at lower speeds. We motored for
about an hour before the wind picked up and we could set the spinnaker. It’s a
beautiful sight to be among 100+ sailboats, most with spinnakers set.
We sailed through the day in light winds and motored at dusk
when the winds became light. We motored all night until able to set sail again
the next day. The crew are getting to know each other since only Drew and I were
acquainted prior to the HAHA.
Tuesday Oct 30 – FISH on!!!
We were able to set sail again at 7am and sail down wind all
day. In fact, we sailed all Tuesday night wing and wing without touching any
sailing lines. I know this because the crew would have woke me if any
conditions changed.
Today was significant for our fishing success, or partial
success, because we landed 2 out of 5 hooked fish. “Mariah’s” score is 2 fish
and the fish scored 3 of my lures. We landed 2 tuna about 2 feet long each,
perfect for fileting. We had fresh pan fried tuna steaks for lunch and some
sashimi for dessert with brown spicy mustard with olive oil in place of soy
sauce and wasabi. We are left with two 1 gallon bags of tuna fillets in the fridge
which is about all we have room for. The tuna make a bloody mess on deck but we
were better organize on the second fish. “It takes a village” to land a fish on
a sailboat under sail: one to reel the fish, one to try to slow the boat under
sail, and 2 to try to net or gaff the fish. James is the assigned fish cleaner since he is
a commercial fisherman. The fish seem to
strike all at the same time: we had 2 fish on 2 lines initially and were able
to net a tuna but the dorado avoided our gaff and broke the line stealing our
lure. The dorado is a beautifully colored green fish with bright yellow fins
and a big forehead.
Drew tried to teach us the card game “Hearts” but fish kept
interrupting.
Wednesday – October 31
“Smooth Sailing”
We sailed all night wing and wing dead downwind making 4 to
5 knots and spent the whole day Wednesday doing the same but achieving 6 knots
in the afternoon as the wind increased to 20 knots. It was a bumpy ride most of
the day but we were making good speed and were still able to enjoy the ride.
James and Brittany
braved the galley under bumpy conditions to make a “fresh tuna” grilled
tunafish sandwich. It was a deeelicious
meal except half way through lunch we were interrupted by another fish taking
our lure. This time we landed a 3 foot long dorado which filled 2 more gallon
zip locks after being filleted. The fridge is about 1/3 filled with tuna and dorado fillets so
we’ll have to put a hold on fishing for now which is a shame because its such a
rush to land a fish as a team.
We finally were able to sit down and play some cards today.
Andy gave us a sound beating at hearts and even “shot the moon in one
hand.” I’m a slow learner at cards but it was still fun.
We tend to watch one DVD at night and viewed “50 first
dates” at night. It was a challenge to watch the movie and avoid getting
seasick while holding on to avoid getting bounced out of bed. Speaking of sea
sickness, Andy appears to be suffering the worst because it only takes him a
few minutes of standing inside the cabin to get sick and rush outside to lose
his latest meal. However, I admire his ability to recover promptly afterwards
with a cheery comment and hearty appetite.
Thursday - November 1
Arrived Turtle Bay at Sunset Thursday and had dinner ashore. More details later. Friday is beach party. Next Blog from Cabo San Lucas next Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment