Location: CPT to St. Helena
Yep, we’re definitely in the tropics now! Shade has become an invaluable resource. I guess that’s the one benefit to motoring instead of sailing, we can put up the mini tarp and huddle in the shade but then again, when we’re sailing, the nice breeze keeps us cool.
After some nice morning reading, I rolled out of bed and clambered up on deck. I sipped my morning coffee as I took the helm and watched watch team 1 get to work with their 812 projects. Henry and Sam hooked up the elephant ears and gave Tia (our rescue dinghy) a nice freshwater flush. Grant and Hannah K went to work pulling all the supplies out of Angkarn (our dive dinghy) and giving her a good pontoon and deck wash. Camilla cranked out a boat check and then scurried back up on deck to help before heading back down to the chef. After both dinghies received a nice, refreshing bath, they then received a thorough application of 303 (dinghy sunscreen). All this work, and watch team 1 wasn’t done yet! Sam went to work inspecting the coin collector on the washing machine and then giving that space a good clean and shop vac, while the rest of the team went down below to spray and clean all the surrounds (the area just under the hatches). Finally, the hardworking team came back on deck to enjoy some final watch moments before lunch.
We were disappointed with our fishing performance thus far into the passage. It seems we are always missing one key component to our setup. Last time it was the swivels, this time the lures! We’ve had a couple of good bites, one so good that the fish actually snapped the metal hook in half! Since then, we have been using a lure we weren’t very fond of. It’s a deep-diving lure, which would be great at slow speeds, but it puts a lot of stress on our setup when we are moving at 8 kts. It also has smaller treble hooks, and the fish tend to spit it out easily. After another fish bit and spat the deep-diving lure, we finally had enough. Henry, Grant, and I decided we would refurbish an older, rustier, but larger hook and set it up with some plastic squids. By the time we knocked all the rust off the hook and gave it a good vinegar and salt bath, followed by a rinse and WD-40, we only had time to let it out and see how it dragged just before the sun went down tomorrow will be our day!
We’ll keep you updated on our fishing successes.
Mac
P.S. Happy Birthday, Dad!