20 Years Ago Today -- April 22, 1996 -- Day 14

Mon. 96-04-22 - Day 14 - 11° 03' N  124° 06' W  Log: 1,228nm

Up at 1700Z. Romping sail! Still handsteering, but John has put another repair attempt into motion. Vane back in commission by mid-afternoon, and working fine.

An exciting and momentous day today... cleaned up the decks in mid-afternoon - 3 large (8") flying fish, 6 small (1-2") flying fish and a 7" squid, all dead on deck. Caught our first fish today, a 20" female Mahi Mahi (called Dorado in the Caribbean). She was bright yellow/gold as she dragged behind us. I filleted her not too badly and John cooked her up in the frying pan for supper -- yummy!

We decided we were close enough to our planned turning point at 10° N 125° W, so turned the boat South at 2100... oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the dorado was caught on a white lead-head/feathered lure... the only one I have like it.

We tried the trolling generator again but the rope gets hopelessly kinked up, so had to give it up -- John's [rightfully] pissed off because Downwind Marine sold him this very expensive rope for the purpose and it's useless.

Lottery (round 2): Dave: 130; John: 135.5; Log: 129; GPS: 142. John takes it 1:0. Now that we've turned South, though, we have a dilemma about what to measure.

Each of my night watches was entertained by dolphins -- one to two dozen at a time, for 10 - 20 minutes. Great company.

I'm now reading Michael Palmer's "Silent Treatment".

The waves were big and tossed us around a lot today. Not quite as relaxing as I had pictured the trades. Still running with reefed main and poled-out yankee, but gybed the main over today when we turned South, on a broad port reach.