Blog from Family Affair

by Paul Michael, July 14th, 2012

Friday the 13th was kind to us.  I awoke in my usual fashion, with an all-hands-on-deck call.  At least I got 2 hours of sleep.  Tom discovered a small tear in our asymmetric spinnaker and we lowered it for a 30 minute repair.   He also discovered that the end cap is missing off our starboard upper spreader.  A sail must have caught and tore if off during the past day.  Tom donned the boson's chair, helmet, and GoPro cam and we hoisted him while we were under full main, spinnaker, 5-6 foot wind waves and 6 foot following swells.  We were making about 9 knots straight on a rhumb line for Maui.  He wrapped a piece of fireman's hose over the spreader and then taped it down well.  As if that wasn't enough, Tom got hoisted to the top of the mast 70 feet up to inspect the rigging and instruments.  I was at the helm with my eyes glued to the wind instrument attentively holding us 150 degrees off the wind.  He got the job done and came down to receive major kudos from the crew.  We did another lower of the spinnaker in the afternoon to do some additional preventative repairs.

We were greeted by more friends cheering us on today.  At about 11am what looked like a small sparrow jumped from the water right near the cockpit.   It was a flying fish about 10 inches long.  It was about 5 feet in the air.  He saw the boat and banked off the wind to return to the water.  I'm hoping one jumps onboard so I can briefly examine them closer.

Where there's little fish, there are big fish.  I got my fishing pole in the water with a cedar tuna plug.  Within an hour, I got a very strong hit that peeled off with my line.  I had it one for about a minute and then he got off.  No soon did I reel in 10 yards then I got a 2nd hit which I then lost as well.  The fish gave me two more chances and I blew them too.  I was going to vary my technique on the next hit, but wasn't offered a chance.  We trolled for a few more hours but didn't get any other hits.

We've been passing over some interesting topography on the chart.  Places named Medocino Escarpment the Murray Fracture Zone, and Algerholm Seamount have come and gone.  We'll be passing over the Moonless Mountains tomorrow.  I wish I could explore these places but we're sailing in depths of over 18,000 feet deep so they shall remain something for me to imagine as we continue on our watery world.

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