Willie's Adventures Sailing and Fishing

Well we need not have worried about any lack of wind. We can easily make 7 knots over the ground with any sort of wind in excess of 15 knots. We managed about 140 miles in our first 24 hours which is good and would make for a speedy passage if we an keep that sort of performance up. We are mainly sailing on broad reaches a or running dead in front of the wind. Depending on whether the wind is above or below 15 knots we pole out the headsail. Above 15 knots or at night we tend not to use the pole. The mainsail is not in use and we balance the boat using the mizzen sail at the rear so that the forces on he rudder are kept to a minimum. We had an experiment this morning trying to fly two headsails running straight downwind which ended badly with an unplanned gybe. Fortunately no one got hurt and nothing got broken. Too many chiefs problem. The co- owner is back fishing with a cobbled together line. I rigged the first 10 or so feet as wire so if all the line is run out now , wire will be chafing and not monofiliment. I also suggested tying a row of empty beer cans to the reel as an audio clue that something has grabbed the lure. Let’ s hope that works. I have been fishing all day but with no success . I may be forced to join the dark side and use a marigold glove as my lure if things don’t pick up!

We are getting our weather forecasts everyday by radio, which although slow and fiddly works well and much better than my satellite phone. Having said that, the voice reception on the satphone has become much better offshore, provided you can get out of the wind. It is great to be able to call Sarah and other friends and family.

The next piece of land we will see is Isla Malpelo owned by the Colombians and which is just a barren rock with no anchorage or landing area. It will take another 24 hours to get there or so and then we should be able to turn right and head directly for the Galapagos with the benefit of more easterly winds. A couple of days after Malpelo we will cross the Equator and have a party to honour Neptune. Wish me luck for a fish that I can land.

More later.