Miles Traveled:1,926
Miles To Go (to Antigua): 806
Heading: 285
Current Speed: 7.5 knots
Fastest Ride so Far: Jim/Otto with a 17.2 Knot mark on 11/26 Butter Indicator: I put it out in the sun. It melted. Done deal.
Context Free Thought of the Day:
“Jim. Go back to bed. Kim’s watch starts in five minutes.” – Mike W
Sailing:
It’s Groundhog Day! And no one is complaining. No gybes. No reefs. Just more of the same, day after day, sailing before the trade winds in sunshine with good wind, fair seas and heading to Antigua.
We saw yesterday’s contact “Zed 7” again last night. She gybed, slowed up, and crossed behind us during move night.
Fishing:
Rod and reel deployed. First tried another “rapala-like” lure but with a smaller spoon and shallower diving profile to avoid the last rapala disaster. Let out a lot of line to give it a chance to get some depth behind this 8-10 knot “trolling” speed boat. Seemed to work for a while. Then, on one of it’s periodic jumps out of the water, it snagged itself on the line rendering the swivel useless, and unbeknownst to us, began spinning far behind the boat and twisting the heavy monofilament line into a coiled spring. Soon every bit of slack created another coiled knot in the line and around the pole until the reel was rendered useless (Strike One).
After pulling the lure in by hand and cutting loose another 100 yards or so of line, we were back in the water with a weighted purple squid that didn’t spin at all. An hour or so later it was hit by a fish that started taking out all the line. As I slammed on the drag, Kim saw a silver fish break the surface many swells behind. The line kept spooling out despite maximum drag, and by the time I got it under control the fish was off the hook. It took a long time to reel that line back in (Strike Two).
Redeployed the purple squid, this time with a shorter line as I was tired of reeling in miles of empty line. It spent most of the afternoon bouncing of the top of the swell behind us (Strike Three).
Food:
Deb’s homemade zuchinni bread with a smear of soft butter and Yogurt Fruit Nut Medley for breakfast. Captain Jim is counting everyone’s M&M’s and implying that someone is stealing M&M’s out of his bowl. I’m not saying this is a Captain Queeg situation, but… I’m just sayin’
Genoa Salami and Cheese wraps for lunch. Manchego. blue cheese,and Lomo salami for snacks. Pork and rattatouie over rice for dinner. – mw
Movie Night:
Las night’sTarrentino was um… well… Let’s just say Four Rooms was three rooms too many. Back to a reliable entertainment. The Dude will abide on the mainsail tonight.
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My intent is to cross-post daily logs to my blog MW Mobile Blog (MikeWallach.com) and Jim & Deb’s Morpheus Sailing Blog from SailMail. Due to the technology limitations, these will be short -text only – posts. I’ll backfill pictures and video once I am home again.
PostScript – All on-board have an opportunity to add comments here on the bottom of post prior to transmission if they so desire:
Morpheus Sailing 