Living & Learning Aboard the Good Ship Learnativity

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LTY anchored @Rotuma! 08:30Local 12 29.229S 177 07.209 Fab+fast sail 285nm in 41hrs! Waiting 4officials then off 2xplore

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LTY UPDATE: Day#18 –Thursday, June 09, 2011 - Majuro to Fi

LTY UPDATE: Day#18 –Thursday, June 09, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji
Day#18 –Thursday, June 09, 2011

LTY time: 16:00 (UTC +12) = 04:00 UTC
Location: about 100nm NNE of Rotuma, Fiji
Position: 10 59.499 S, 177 53.424 E (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
SOG: (Speed Over Ground) 6.9kts
COG: (Course Over Ground) 207
Wind: 114-20 knots ESE Apparent = 80-100 degrees over Port side
Seas/Swell: 3m @ 6 seconds from E
Air temp: 83.9F 32.2 C
Sea temp: 85.5 F 29.7 C
Humidity: 64%
Barometer: 1011mm
Distance to Rotuma, Fiji: 100nm
Distance last 24 hours: 168nm

DAY #18: MAGIC CARPET RIDE to ROTUMA
Wow! What a ride! We are literally having a blast on this sail down to Rotuma, Fiji. Winds are running 15-22 knots out of the E to ESE and with our heading of 207 degrees to Rotuma that puts the wind right on our beam (perpendicular to the boat) which is about the most efficient point of sail and so relative to sailing and Learnativity we are flying along at over 7 knots and have been since we left Funafuti yesterday afternoon at this time. To put this in some context, this is about double the 3-4 knots we were doing on the way from Mili to Funafuti and in these past 24 hours we have travelled almost 170nm. I had thought we would arrive in Rotuma about Saturday afternoon but at this rate we will be there in the early morning tomorrow, which is Friday over here on this side of the date line.

Not that we are in any hurry to get there as the conditions out here are nigh perfect and we are enjoying the whole experience immensely. Passage making and sailing like this is probably one of those things you can only really understand and learn experientially and so it is quite difficult to put into words. Time doesn’t stand still so much as it seems to be more liquid like and just flows by at this steady and unnoticed pace. We do have day and night of course and we do sleep but these are also both more part of a continuum of time and activities that all flow together without much notice of their passing from one to the next. The seas or swell is running about 3 meters or 10 feet or more but these are spaced apart enough (about 6 seconds) and coming at about a 20 degree angle to our hull and aft of us so the effect is more similar to that you get in a car if you are traveling down a straight road out in rolling hills country. As each swell reaches the hull it rolls us slightly to Starboard (right) and then up and over, rolling to Port as we ride gently down the other side and then do it all over again. There is also some similarity to riding in a train in that we just keep rolling along these invisible liquid tracks and the clickity clack of the track is replaced by the surf like sound of the waves that come off the hull as we slide down each side of the swell. And as in a train you don’t tend to look down to see the ground or sea in our case, rushing by as you do gazing outward to the horizon and watching the slow movements of the sun, moon, stars and clouds as the hours flow by. It truly has the feeling of riding on a magic carpet, undulating in the complex yet repeating rhythm of the wind and seas. Magic indeed!

We got started about 3pm yesterday (Wednesday here) afternoon and motor sailed out through the reefs at Te Ava Pua Pua pass down in the bottom SE corner of the lagoon and waved a fond farewell to Funafuti with great thanks for such a good time. As soon as we were well clear of the reefs we turned hard right to a bearing of 207 degrees or about SSW, Linda put up the jib (front most sail), cut the engine and we were soon doing almost seven knots in the 18 to 20 knot ESE winds and this has all stayed pretty constant for the past 25 hours. Have barely touched the sheets (lines to the sails) since we left, just some minor tweaks to trim the sails as the wind shifts a bit from time to time and to move the contact and wear points on these lines from time to time to reduce wear.

We had a beautiful sunset and soon the stars were popping into view and we enjoyed a great night sail with nary a change to the wind or the ride as we slithered silently through the seas under a surprisingly lit up sky from just a half moon above and lots of reflections off the water and the clouds surrounding us on all points of the horizon.

It is also amazing how beautiful and mesmerizing so “little” can be. All land has of course long been out of sight and so “all” we have is the vastness of the ocean surrounding every one of the three hundred and sixty degrees around us and the spherical curve of the earth very evident in full 3D effect. Instead we have a steady display of big beautiful billowy white clouds surrounding us on all points of the horizon and providing even more shapes and figures to be found in them than all the constellations in the stars which replace them as day slides into night. And all of this slips endlessly by in that liquid flow of time where you are more emotionally than visually aware of a slow gradual continuum of change. An experience we hope all of you have or will be able to experience for yourself at least once.

For now we count ourselves amongst the fortunate few who get to enjoy this now and day after day, and will do our best to share it with you as we go in these stories and some photos to follow.

Speaking of photos, we tried to upload a bunch of them from our time in Funafuti when we were ashore there yesterday but the net connection was initially slow and then the island lost the connection completely so we were unable to get any uploaded and will try again when we get to Fiji and our next decent internet connection. They WILL be worth the wait though I think as we got some great shots of the town, the sail down there and especially our day diving on the sailboat wreck in the Funafuti lagoon. So don’t touch that dial! There’s much more to come from the good ship Learnativity

Admiral Linda, Captain Wayne & Commodore Ruby (aka the Wonderdog)

Aboard the Good Ship Learnativity
Exploring the world one nautical smile at a time.

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LTY UPDATE Jun08@14:45 local Depart Funafuti4Rotuma Fiji 300nm ETA Sat AM Local Xclnt wx wnd15-20ESE Fiji here we come!

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LTY UPDATE: Day#17 –Wednesday, June 8, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji

LTY UPDATE: Day#17 –Wednesday, June 8, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji
Day#17 –Wednesday, June 8, 2011

LTY time: 11:00 (UTC +12) = 23:00 UTC
Location: Anchored off town of Fongafale, Funafuti, Tuvalu
Position: 08 30.789 S, 179 11.761 E (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
SOG: (Speed Over Ground) 0.0 Anchored
COG: (Course Over Ground)
Wind: 10-15 knots ESE True
Seas/Swell: flat inside lagoon
Air temp: 91.7F 33.2 C
Sea temp: 86.4 F 30.2 C
Humidity: 68%
Barometer: 1015mm
Distance to Rotuma, Fiji: 290nm
Distance last 24 hours: 0

DAY #17:
We are just ashore in the village of Fongafale in Funafuti Tuvalu getting an internet connection before we set sail south to Rotuma which will be our first port of Entry into Fiji. We’ve had a fabulous few days here in the incredibly peaceful country of Tuvalu and couldn’t have asked for a better time. We’ve spend hours walking around the small town and down the street (there is only enough width to most of the islets for one street) to get a feel for the people and their culture. Everyone is very happy and the children are especially anxious to practice their English with us with big smiles, waves and hello, how are you and bye-bye.

Very little commerce here of any kind. This is the capital of Tuvalu’s nine islands and there is a large wharf for larger boats but there is very little going on. Shops and stores ashore are simply small individually run shops with an assortment of mostly dry goods, hardware, clothes, etc.

Yesterday we moved Learnativity up north a bit and tied up to the top of the mast of a sailboat that had sunk just off the shoreline many years ago. We spent several hours having a blast exploring this wreck which was now the home to a large range of fish, coral and plants. We hooked up our Sea Breathe SNUBA unit (electric compressor) that lets us be down as much as 60 feet or so as long as we want with nothing but a small hose connecting us to the top and works out to be a fantastic way to do this kind of underwater exploring. Linda took lots of photos and will be posting some of them up to her FaceBook page shortly and then we will try to do a much better job of updating and uploading many more of our photos from the past few months so you can get a better idea of what we’ve been seeing and doing.

We should have a relatively short sail down to Rotuma which is about 300 nm SSW of here and although it is over 300nm north of the main islands of Fiji it is a part of Fiji and just opened last year to be a Port of Entry into Fiji so we can stop there and check into the country. I used this last year as my final departure point from Fiji on my way north to the Marshall Islands and I was boat #7 to have ever checked in there. The people are great, lots of fruit and veggies and some amazing little “mini beaches” all along the rocky coastline so we are going to head back there, get checked into Fiji and enjoy this very remote and isolated part of Fiji. After Rotuma we will head for the east side of Fiji and by checking in at Rotuma we will be able to take our time to explore this very uninhabited and rarely visited part of Fiji. Stay tuned for more as we make our way down south.

That’s it for now. I need to go finish our checkout procedures while Linda does some updates, get some gas for the dinghy and then we will sail off to Rotuma sometime later this afternoon.
Linda, Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
Exploring the world one nautical smile at a time.

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LTY UPDATE 08:35 Jun05 Local 08 30.789S 179 11.761E Stayed out til sunup Now anchor dn Funafuti Blissful beauty surrounds us Rest2day chkin2m

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LTY UPDATE: Day#13 -Friday June 4th, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji

LTY UPDATE: Day#13 -Friday June 4th, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji
Friday June 4th 2011

LTY time: 17:255 (UTC +12) = 05:25 UTC
Location: About 40nm WNW of Funafuti, Tuvalu
Position: 08 02.499 S, 178 29.161 E (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
SOG: (Speed Over Ground) 5.2knots (motoring; wind just died and on nose)
COG: (Course Over Ground) 122 degrees True
Wind: 8-10 knots ESE Apparent (wind as felt by sails)
Seas/Swell: 1 m @ 6 seconds out of E
Air temp: 91.7F 33.2 C
Sea temp: 86.4 F 30.2 C
Humidity: 68%
Barometer: 1015mm
Distance to Funafuti: 42nm
Distance last 24 hours: 87nm

DAY #13: SLOW, SMOOTH & STEADY DAY SAILING
Today was much the same as yesterday, just a bit slower and calmer with the winds and the seas both down. Sailed all night in very nice conditions though the wind is still opposing us a bit too much coming from the east and south too much so we are not making as much easting as we need to stay on our heading to the entrance to Funafuti. However we’re close enough that we decided to keep going and just motor the last few hours into the wind to get to the entrance.

It’s now just after 5pm here and if you are following us on your maps or Google Earth you’ll see that we just passed to the east side of the tiny atoll of Nukufetau. Would have been ideal to be able to stop there for a bit both because we went right by it and it looks very interesting and seems to be quite populated. However it is part of Tuvalu and we have not yet cleared into the country and Funafuti is the only Port of Entry so we are not able to stop. So on to Funafuti it is!

We’ve been having a beautifully leisurely sail all day as the seas are down below one meter and the wind is running about 15 knots so we’ve been doing between 3-5 knots with a wonderful motion over the the swells that are coming at about 45 degrees to us from the east. It makes for a Zen like existence as the sounds are all so soft and muted; matching the motion and time just seems to be a liquid that flows rather than something that ticks by.

Not that we ever are, but we are not in any hurry to make time to Funafuti as we will already be arriving before first light at this rate and we want to have better light to go through the pass on the north side and wind our way through the coral strewn lagoon to the anchorage on the SE side. I do have my track from coming out that way last year and my anchorage spot so if the conditions are very good and there it is clear and not too dark we may follow this track to get in a bit earlier as we know it is safe and works, but we’ll just play it by ear when we get there. Now that we are motoring our timing is a bit more predictable and looks like we will arrive at the north pass at about 1am or so. Linda spotted an anchorage that is outside the reef on the NE corner which according to the charts is a good spot and clear of any obstructions so we may check that out as well and just put the hook down to hold us while we get some sleep and then head in the pass later in the morning. All part of the fun and diversity of travel by sail and never a dull moment or repetition it seems.

Otherwise not much new to report today. No dolphins to play with us and no fishing today or the next week or so while we eat up the big fella from two days ago. We did have a flock of gulls come out and check us out as we approached Nukufetau and one guy in particular seemed bent on landing on aboard. However all he managed to do was skid across the solar panels on the cockpit roof and fall Ker plunk into the ocean! Quite comical and good entertainment to end our day as the sun starts to set. There is a big build-up of tall billowing clouds behind us to the NW and the sun is already lighting them up from the inside as it approaches the horizon so we’ll keep watching to see what kind of a show Mr. Sun has for us tonight. The starts have been doing encore performances each night so far and have been even more interesting to watch as they dance with the clouds that have been in the night sky all the way since we left Mili.

And with that we’ll leave you for another night and wish you well. Tomorrow we’ll be anchored in Funafuti and enjoying some time ashore to explore this capital of Tuvalu so we’ll be bringing you some different insights with that as it happens. Night all!

Linda, Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
Exploring the world one nautical smile at a time.

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LTY UPDATE: Day#12 -Friday June 3rd, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji

LTY UPDATE: Day#12 -Friday June 3rd, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji
Friday June 3rd, 2011

LTY time: 16:55 (UTC +12) = 04:55 UTC
Location: About 220nm NNW of Funafuti, Tuvalu
Position: 06 40.018 S, 177 51.603 E (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
SOG: (Speed Over Ground) 4.8knots (sailing with Main & Jib sails))
COG: (Course Over Ground) 154 degrees True
Wind: 13-22 knots E Apparent (wind as felt by sails)
Seas/Swell: 2.5 m @ 6 seconds out of E
Air temp: 90.3F 32.4 C
Sea temp: 87.3 F 30.7 C
Humidity: 68%
Barometer: 1015mm
Distance to Funafuti: 128nm
Distance last 24 hours: 120nm

DAY #11: AMAZING NOTHINGNESS
A wonderfully uneventful day today; simply one of peaceful sailing. Well, it was interrupted a bit by needing to do some motoring for several hours last night and then again this morning as the wind turned south and was pretty much right on our nose. However by about 2pm this afternoon it had backed enough north to douse the motor and be back to the tranquility of sails alone. The wind is still has a bit too much south in it coming now pretty much right out of the East so we are not able to maintain the exact heading we want to get to Funafuti and it is keeping us a bit west of that, but we’ll just continue to keep the angle to the wind as low as possible and still keep our speed up and hope the wind continues to back more to the north. If not we’ll use the engine to help us get the last bit of easting we need into Funafuti.

The slower speeds we are traveling, now running between 3-4 knots per hour on average means our ETA in Funafuti will now likely be Sunday morning which is the day after tomorrow for us over here. When the winds were opposing us this morning coming out of the SE we considered the option of just sailing past Funafuti and going to Rotuma which is quite a bit more to the west, but as the day progressed and the wind backed around more to the NE we’ll continue to head for Funafuti and enjoy exploring that culture and island for a few days.

When I was there last year I discovered a 40-50 foot sailboat that had sunk inside the atoll and I was able to salvage a pretty good spinnaker pole with just my snorkel gear and tow it back to Learnativity. So it will be fun to go back and check it out again this year and see if there is perhaps more useful gear to salvage. We have a great little “hookah” or SNUBA outfit which is a small 12v DC electric run compressor that let’s two of us dive down to almost 60’ with just a regulator and a hose. We used it with great success back in Majuro to clean the entire bottom of the hull of Learnativity of 7 months of growth and when we get to Funafuti, if the wreck looks to have lots more to salvage we’ll put a big battery into the dingy and use our SNUBA gear to spend more time exploring it. Should be lots of fun.

This whole area of the Pacific was very active during the Second World War and so there are also hundreds of planes, helicopters, tanks, artillery and vehicles all over these atolls and make for even more interesting snorkelling and diving, although the natural wildlife is easily the most amazing and interesting for us. Fiji was about the best I’ve seen so far and so we are particularly looking forward to enjoying a lot of time below the surface when we are there and putting our SNUBA outfit to very good use.

Linda took the watch from 2am to 6am this morning and so she’s been napping most of the day, much to Ruby’s delight. No fishing lures out today as we already have our fill for at least another week and only catch what we can eat. Funafuti will likely have some fresh fruits and vegetables that we can purchase as they have some agriculture there and we’ll just wait to see if they have enough for us to buy some or not. We’re fine food supply wise without it but fresh produces is always good to have on board and we’ll see if we can replenish our supplies before we push on to Fiji. Once we get there it is fresh produce heaven as the markets are truly breathtaking both in their visual beauty with all the colours, shapes and textures as well as with the diversity, quantity and quality of more fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices and fish than you ever thought existed. Just one of the many reasons I fell so in love with this region last year and why we are back to spend more time there this year. We’ll have some amazing photos for you while we are there.

Based on my experiences last year Fiji has very good WiFi and cellular based internet access in most places so we will be much better connected while we are there and should be able to add photos and even some video to our postings to help us share the whole experience with you.

Linda, Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
Exploring the world one nautical smile at a time.

Regular Email:
Linsmith2009@gmail.com
Wayne.hodgins@gmail.com

Email when @ sea: whodgins@ocens.net (Yes! This is the correct spelling OCENS)
We typically retrieve and answer Emails to this account via our satellite phone at least once every 24 hours. You can send as much text as you like but are asked not to send any attachments such as photos.

FaceBook pages: Wayne = www.facebook.com/wayne.hodgins
Linda = www.facebook.com/linda.woodhouse.smith

Learnativity blog: www.learnativity.typepad.com
Linda's new blog: IMITF.wordpress.com (I Made It This Far)

World Phone Voicemail:+1-501-492-9634 (has voice mail that is forwarded to us via Email)

Text Messages: (to our sat phone)
send short 140 character Text msgs via Email to: 881632510270@msg.iridium.com
These are great! and free for us to receive and only 50cents for us to respond to. We will receive these right away and be able to respond quickly.

Other contact info:
Skype: woodsmith2009
Whodgins

Twitter: WWWayne

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LTY UPDATE 10:15 Local 06 10.125 S 177 37.645 E SOG5.0 COG147 Wnd15-22ESE Having 2mtrsail wind too S May skip Funafuti if stays go S 2Rotuma

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LTY UPDATE: Day#11 -Thursday June 2nd, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji

LTY UPDATE: Day#11 -Thursday June 2nd, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji
Thursday June 2nd, 2011

LTY time: 16:55 (UTC +12) = 04:55 UTC
Location: About 220nm NNW of Funafuti, Tuvalu
Position: 04 17.128 S, 177 25.1350 E (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
SOG: (Speed Over Ground) 3.3knots (sailing with Main & Jib sails))
COG: (Course Over Ground) 154 degrees True
Wind: 8-15 knots EE Apparent (wind as felt by sails)
Seas/Swell: 2.0m @ 5seconds out of NE
Air temp: 86.0F 30.0 C
Sea temp: 85.5 F 29.7 C
Humidity: 74%
Barometer: 1015mm
Distance to Funafuti: 221nm
Distance last 24 hours: 138nm

DAY #11: A VERY FISHY DAY!

Our night sail went well last night other than being interrupted about 4am when the wind suddenly backed around all the way to be coming from the south and died out completely. Not sure just what was going on as it also got very warm in the still air, with a haze around us as best I could tell in the dark of night and it felt very “sultry” as my Dad would have put it being very humid and sticky. But I just let it be for about half an hour and the wind soon backed around to the E and finally NNE and picked up to about 15 knots and we were off again making good time the rest of the night and all day today for the most part.

When Linda (and Ruby) awoke this morning they were greeted by a large pod of dolphins, must have been fifty or more of the bottle nose variety and we had a great time up on the bow watching tem cavort just inches below the surface for the next half hour. These ones seemed to always be in pairs for the most part as they swam back and forth with about ten at a time swimming inches in front of our bow and the rest spread out on either side. There was also a large range in size amongst them from some little ones we suspect were babies all the way up through very large ones we which we could see were sporting quite a few battle scars on their top sides.

Then just about noon as we were having our daily shower up on deck the fishing rod went ziiinnnngggggg and we definitely had a fish on this time. I tried to be a bit more patient, let him run a bit and then reel him in slow and steady. We couldn’t see anything for the longest time, even when the line was all the way in alongside the aft corner of the boat as he had apparently gone down quite deep but after lots of reeling the flashes of silver were visible deep below, gradually becoming brighter and larger as I reeled him up to the surface. Linda grabbed the gaff and went down on the transom swim steps as I brought his head out of the water and she deftly hooked him behind the gills and between the two of us we could just lift him up onto the deck. He was a beauty, I think a black finned tuna it is called, with gorgeous iridescent blue and white diagonal stripes along the upper half of his body that looked like they were the shape of lightning bolts. He was 70cm long and my best guess is about 30lbs or 14Kg as we don’t have a scale on the boat. In any case we soon transformed into a beautiful set of ten steaks each a good 50mm thick and are now safely tucked away in the freezer. Not bad for an afternoon’s work and perfect timing as we just had the last of the Wahoo that Linda caught just before we left Majuro and we’ll have more than enough tuna to get us from here to Fiji now.

Weather continues to be about perfect and about the same as it has been with winds down a bit to about 10-13 knots on average and giving us speeds of about 3-5 knots most of the time. These lighter winds and seas make for a very pleasant ride and with no schedule or plan we’re pretty happy with any speed that the wind alone will give us and the tranquility of the whole experience it creates.

With Mr. Tuna all tucked away in the freezer and the deck all cleaned up we were able to get in our showers and just as that was all done Linda spotted a pair of dolphins alongside and she went up to the bow to watch and try to capture some of their antics on the bow. So if I can take the liberty of calling dolphins fish, we had fish at the start, middle and end of yet another great day on passage out here in the southern hemisphere. As the sun started to make its nightly dive for the sea to the west we decided to have dinner “alfresco” up in the cockpit and Linda turned the last of the Wahoo tuna into delicious cold tuna spread that we had on some fresh bread with lettuce, olives and mayo as we watched the sun light up the clouds all across the horizon in pinks and orange pastels and the stars woke up one by one for their nightly display for us.

Linda, Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
Exploring the world one nautical smile at a time.

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LTY UPDATE: Day#10 -Wednesday June 1st, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji

LTY UPDATE: Day#10 -Wednesday June 1st, 2011 - Majuro to Fiji
Wednesday June 1st, 2011

LTY time: 16:45 (UTC +12) = 04:45 UTC
Location: About 350nm NNW of Funafuti, Tuvalu
Position: 03 12.118 S, 176 32.860 E (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
SOG: (Speed Over Ground) 5.8knots (sailing with Main & Jib sails))
COG: (Course Over Ground) 154 degrees True
Wind: 14-22 knots NE Apparent (wind as felt by sails)
Seas/Swell: 2.0m @ 5seconds out of NE
Air temp: 92.4F 33.6C
Sea temp: 85.5 F 29.7 C
Humidity: 67%
Barometer: 1013mm
Distance to Funafuti: 347nm
Distance last 24 hours: 138nm

DAY #10: FISH ON; FISH OFF
We passed through two storms with high winds in the middle of the night, about 2am and 4am and needed to reef the main sail (shorten it) for the rest of the morning but nothing out of the usual for passages. Winds continued to stay high in the mid-twenties all morning as we passed through more storm clouds but by noon these had passed to the north of us so we had them behind us and has been a sunny and warm day ever since.

This morning started with a spectacular sunrise and I was able to capture some of it on film so I’ll post these and other shots when we next have a good internet connection, most likely not till we get to Fiji though. We took out the reef just after noon and have been sailing along comfortably under full main and jib doing 5-6 knots in 15-20 knots of wind out of the ENE. All to say that we continue to have great sailing weather and covering ground and sea very well doing about 130-140nm per 24 day. Haven’t needed to motor at all for several days now and the silence of having just the sounds of the wind and the sea are very soothing and something we never tire of. If these conditions keep up we should be anchored in Funafuti sometime Saturday. Not sure how long we will stay there or where we’ll head to afterwards as we’ll just wait to see what the weather is like for both time in Funafuti and for sailing onward.

We spent some time working on our fishing setups today with some success but no fish on board yet. We had a great looking tuna on the rod and reel setup I’ve been using for years as Linda reeled him in to the boat. We got to see a very large tail fin sticking out of the water as she got him about 10m from the boat and then the line snapped and we lost him and the new lure. I had wound on a new spool of 120 lb. test spectra line which is very strong and thin so we can get a lot of distance on the smaller reel, but I think the old swivel where the line attached to the leader on the lure was too rough with some rust and wore through with all the pull from this large fish. But we put on a new swivel and lure and soon had it back in the water. Before leaving Majuro we had also bought a hand spool and some 150 lb. test monofilament line and so we spent some time putting 1500m of that line onto the hand spool and rigging it for a lure. This isn’t quite a “meat line” level of line where you can pull in no matter what you get on the end, but it is much more heavy duty and simple and we’ll see how it works out. We played around with some different setups to attach this hand reel to the boat rail and a way to have about 10’ of line slack and tied up with some surgical hose that will supposedly let the fish swallow the lure first as this releases quickly on the first strike and then hooks in deeply as the line tensions on the main hand spool and we reel in diner. We’ve had the lines out all afternoon and had a few hits but nothing that stayed on for long and these two lines are still out now at about 5pm and we’ll see if there is anything out there as dinner time approaches. At least we have some lures in the water and have at least a fighting chance of hooking something, so stay tuned.

Otherwise another beautiful day out sailing meandered along as we did some boat chores, reading, showering, etc. Linda seems to be fully recovered from the nasty cold she picked up and back to her happy healthy self and we both continue to enjoy this very special existence out on Mother Ocean on this passage.

Linda, Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
Exploring the world one nautical smile at a time.

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