Day#6
Yippie, Made the 1/2 way mark of 707 miles between Easter Island and Gambier.
As the sun rose and the first light started to show the world around us, those first sights were none too pleasant. Squall lines all around and a huge one formed behind us in the picture. Luckily we were cruising along at a decent clip and were able to stay in front and take advantage of the fresh breeze and keep on trucking. Successfully avoiding the rain that was falling all around us.
Another nice tranquil day of sailing, knocking off the miles and napping as the swell and winds caress the boat toward the destination. Beam reach with quartering monsters. All is good till rudely awakened from a nap to the sounds of “fish on”.
Yeah. What will it be this time, Tuna? Wahoo? Mahi? Well, wait it is taking ALL the line. Slow the boat, it is still peeling line. More drag, slowly cause we’ve all learned that lesson too many times. Hmmm. Full drag and still loosing line. Oh oh, it’s going to be a long battle. 90 mins later finally near the boat but no sighting. Oh my. Marlin. Too too big, Tried everything to retrieve the lure, but he was not getting near the boat, and 3 meter seas did not help, sorry to the beautiful fish, and hope that hook rusts out soon. 🙁
2 more days of wind in our forecast, followed by 2 days of not much, hoping tomorrow is spinnaker weather and the seas mellow down some.
Have also made contact with the SSB Radio net that meets twice a day to track boats and keep everyone up to date on where people are and how to locate resources in French Polynesia. The Magellan net meets at 0400z on 8.173 and I think the othe time is 1800z but haven not confirmed that yet. Just another way to keep in touch and find out about local happenings, tonight was a way to get discounts on things in Tahiti.
Cheers Happy Friday
699 of 1414 miles left to go. [realtime]