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