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 17, 1996 -- Day 9

Wed. 96-04-17 - Day 9 - 17° 15' N  114° 54' W  Log: 583nm

Up at 1645Z. Similar weather to yesterday, but better wind and by mid-afternoon we had classic NE winds, 10 - 12 knots and we were rolling (literally) along wing and wing at ~4 knots.

Today's lottery: Dave: 42; John: 54.5; Log: 55.3 (and all over the compass); GPS: 54. John wipes me! 3:3. Forgot to mention that we introduced another award, for the person with the least cumulative error. Loser buys the winner a movie in Papeete.

I was sitting in the cockpit around noon today when a squid flew over the combing by my shoulder and landed by my feet. It was pink and ~7" long. I quietly threw it back, but should have taken a picture first.

We trolled a green hoochie (squid) lure from dawn to dusk, but no luck.

I cooked a tuna "casserole" for dinner -- tuna (canned), mushrooms (canned), and cheese (mozarella) mixed with pasta in a pot. Pretty good. Served with salad of lettuce, carrot, jicama (Mexican turnip) and raisins. John baked a loaf of pressure-cooker bread today, as we've run out. Pretty flat, but not bad. Rescued an 8" flying fish from cockpit on night watch.

CD's:

• Miles Davis -- Sketches of Spain
• Sarah Vaghan -- argh, this album is scratched and wrecked!
• Chick Corea - Elektric Band
• Bill Evans -- Quintessence

20 Years Ago Today -- April 14, 1996 -- Day 6

Sun. 96-04-14 - Day 6 - 19° 00' N  110° 59' W  Log: 336nm

Up at 1700Z. Sailed through the Islas Revillagigedos, or "Revelling Gigolos" as the skipper of Markenurh calls them. Sailed south of San Benedicto and north of Socorro, at 5 - 10 miles off each. San Benedicto had steep bluffs on the south (visible) side. Socorro was much bigger (visible virtually from sunrise to sunset), tall and not steep, with the impression of large grassland areas.

Gorgeous cloudless day with 10 - 15 knots from the NW. Rather rolly at times as we got lifted to a beam reach. We logged about 109 miles on the log. Lottery: Dave: 105; John: 111; GPS: 101. Dave wins again.  2:1 for me. Today was kind of easy, as we could see exactly where we were.

Towed an orange squid lure all afternoon with no luck. Put a reef in at dusk but shook it out a couple of hours later. Made good time all day, but a bit slower this evening. John cooked hot dogs this evening. Our fresh food supplies are starting to dwindle.

Put on my headphones for a couple of hours on my first watch and listened to:

CD's: Mile Davis -- Amandla; Doo Bop.

Continued reading the Bourne Ultimatum. Oh yeah, spotted whales spouting south of us off the west coast of Socorro Island. Looked like puffs of black smoke.

Had a cockpit shower in mid-afternoon with a fresh rinse. Cold!