Greg has been a very keen fisherman as conditions permit and today he hooked a meter long tuna who make quite a spectacle as he struck the lure!
This was followed by a magnificent tuna salad prepared by Michelle.
(**Note: Tuna hooked and tuna consumed not guaranteed to be the same fish.)
We’ve had some exciting but uncomfortable sailing since the engine was turned off early yesterday. Last night we experienced a sudden (but expected) wind shift to the SW which brought some strong winds which moderated to the W.
We adjusted heading accordingly and sailed comfortably all night in a moderating sea.
Conditions at the moment are pretty well perfect! Broad reaching on port tack with winds at 10knots from the W. We have put away the main and mizzen and are on genoa and mizzen ballooner achieving 6.5 knots boat speed in 12 knots true wind. Very comfortable!
With the water maker back to full capacity, it will be showers all around today.
One problem to report is that on Thursday night (1am Friday actually) we tried to restart the engine, but all it went was click, click…. After some time spent in the room of pain (ie. the engine room) and trying to make sense of the manual, we decided that the problem related to a safety switch that prevented the starting of the engine while it was in gear. This was “bypassed” and we managed to kick her into life around 2am. Phew! The idea of sailing through channels to our anchorage in Tonga did not fill me with joy.
But, all is good today (well, at this moment!)
Thanks Michelle, Dave and Greg for the orchestra of flavours tonight… the audience could not get enough!
Dave and Michelle are talking nighttime strategy and Greg is whipping up something magnificent (again!)
Michelle started the motor early yesterday morning and we don’t expect to turn it off until late Friday. We have been on main and mizzen for most of the time but just recently unfurled the genoa to take advantage to the breeze we have.
A couple of technical issues have been encountered and thankfully sorted out. Just a few hours out of Opua, we overloaded the genoa furler when we tried to reduce sail in very heavy conditions so somebody had to put their body on the line and go forward to manually wind in the very large sail. It took 2 trips forward and enduring lots of water over the bow, but the heroic action was ultimately successful. When conditions eased the next day, we could gain access to a forward locker to reset the tripped breaker. Genoa furler working again now and it is currently flying us towards Tonga.
Water maker was another concern as it has been not making very much water and today it just would not make any. It turns out that the raw water filter installed recently was not the right sort and had clogged up. We changed the filter today to an original spare and we are back to 100ltrs per hour. Crew showers were enjoyed by all this afternoon (we even put a small load of washing on!)
Early afternoon we simultaneously hooked 2 bonito on our trolling lures but they did not make the grade so were returned.
We are on the rhumb line to Tonga and doing well. Still no ETA though.
