20 Years Ago Today -- May 3, 1996 -- Day 25

Fri. 96-05-03 - Day 25 - 4° 58' S  134° 56' W  Log: 2,325nm

Made good 139 nautical miles in the past 24 hours, our best day yet. Only 368 miles to Hiva Oa. Slept 'till 2000Z -- well, I just lay there awake after 1900, thinking about how to serve up the wahoo. Felt not bad today, especially considering I only slept about 5.5 - 6 hours.

Still crappy weather, with lighter winds and lots of rain around. I baked bread this afternoon -- 2 loaves + cinnamon rolls again. The buns were better this time, with lots more sugar in the layer with the cinnamon. The bread didn't come out as good looking this time, probably because it was real bumpy when they went into the oven. Haven't tried it yet. Used the Ardmachree white bread recipe again, but put ~ 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 1/4. I should copy that recipe!

I cooked up the wahoo by frying in margarine with seasoning, salt and served over spaghetti with a trim of Ardmachree's mango chutney. Excellent, except the fish was mostly bones and was a lot of work to eat.

CD: Stanley Clarke -- East River Drive (while baking)

Saw a dolphin or two tonight -- first time since the NE trades. [Actually, they may be pilot whales or false killer whales... about 10' long]

Still squally tonight. Mostly cloudy.

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.

20 Years Ago Today -- April 21, 1996 -- Day 13

Sun. 96-04-21 - Day 13 - [@2100Z] 12° 03' N  122° 03' W  Log: 1,093nm

Up at 1700Z. Sunnier and warmer today. Day was quickly ruined when I pointed out that the wind vane wasn't deflecting all the way and identification of a broken axle. John dismantled the vane and attempted a fix, but broke a thread tap off in the piece and we spent the rest of the day trying to get it fixed. At the end of the day, the new axle doesn't fit through the bearing. Onto the backburner for the night...

I cooked ravioli and a salad (we're on the last lettuce) and served it with biscuits I baked (very unsweet, but fine otherwise).

Sunset again brought us dolphins -- this time 50 - 100 small dark ones that occasionally jumped out of a wave, but were not aerobatic. About 5' max length, and pointy saber-shaped dorsal fins [presumably porpoises of some sort].

Hand-steered much of the day and all night, but the night was a bit warmer and the sailing was fun. We're making good time and doing lots of surfing (up to 8 knots).

No CDs. No lottery, as we were busy with the vane and not in the mood. We're over 1,000 miles, so John takes leg one of the lottery 5:4. Hopefully I'll do better on leg 2.

Doing lots of thinking lately on night watch, about people I've known, and what to do with the rest of my life (unfortunately no conclusions on the latter). People include Mr. George Cummin, Emily Carr Middle School science teacher -- a truly great teacher; and Winsome Johnson, a Jamaican girl who sat near me in Grade 13 English class and said I must visit Jamaica. [I hadn't seen either of these people in well over 15 years, so it's interesting to dwell on them at this point.]

Brought in the fish line after dusk -- no leader, no green hoochie. Just the swivel left. Hope a dolphin didn't get caught on it.

20 Years Ago Today -- April 20, 1996 -- Day 12

Sat. 96-04-20 - Day 12 - 13° 31' N  120° 06' W  Log: 951nm

Up at 1700Z. Mostly overcast. Seas ~9', wind NE 17 - 20 knots all day and all night.

Dinnertime was today's highlight. John cooked up some canned chicken with rice for supper, along with a salad. Between courses in the cockpit, I looked aft and saw a freighter crossing our stern (westbound) about 5 miles off. First one of these we've seen since the Revelling Gigalos. Then, as I started to clean up, I saw a dolphin jump past the starboard portholes. Rushing on deck, we were entertained by a pair of high jumping Pacific White-sided Dolphins for about 20 minutes as the sun set and the soundtrack of the Phantom of the Opera played on the cockpit speakers. Great!

I had a lot of trouble with the windvane unable to keep us on course during the more boisterous part of the night, although it was OK when things quieted down. I was damn angry by the end of my first watch, as I was tired, cold, and couldn't even write the log without the boat rounding up.

The highlight of the night watch was another visit by 5+ dolphins for at least 20 minutes, playing around our bow. The night was dark and they were hard to see, but excited enough bioluminescence to see they were there.

No CDs.

Lottery: Dave: 141; John: 140.5; Log: 135; GPS: 137. John wins. 4:5

20 Years Ago Today -- April 11, 1996 -- Day 3

Thurs. 96-04-11 - Day 3 - 20° 32' N  107° 46' W  Log: 140nm

Up at 1600Z (~11:00 local). Still not completely over that slight nauseous feeling. I made fried eggs with cheese in a tortilla for my breakfast.

Mostly high cloud today. Water is a deep beautiful blue today. Yesterday's was similar, but more grey (gun-metal). I saw a number of schools of flying fish jump out of the water, and once saw the pursuing tuna follow them into the air.

Very light winds since late morning, but still making some headway under sail alone. Motored 1.5 hours in late PM to charge batteries, but wind still very light afterwards. Sailed at 1 knot or less until about local midnight, with no steerage at all for 1/2 hour. In early hours, wind shifted to light W - WNW and we got some OK sailing in after that.

John cooked beef, fried sort of like tampiqueña for supper. Overnight watch was so quiet I heard lots of dolphins breathing on the surface, and saw the silhouettes of two in the bioluminescence beside the boat.