Rudder -
So to anchor in Hiva Oa you need to anchor fore and aft to keep from hitting the other boats. Unfortunately the anchor line got hooked on the rudder, and with the strong surge/current/wind combo the force was extreme and ended up splitting the rear of the rudder open for about 18". Now the question is do I have to drop the rudder and re-fiberglass it, or can I just patch it with underwater epoxy for the next year?
Decisions, decisions......
Courage
Saturday, May 17, 2014
The Happenings . . .
The legendary Marquesan hospitality continues. Well I get ahead of myself. The island of Tahuata has this stunning beach that just beckons for evening bonfire, and boy did we have some bonfires! It is primarily just cruisers here, and a fantastic place to swap stories of the famous puddle jump. Everybody's first question is "how long did it take you?” The boat with the record for the longest time finally made it. I think they were a little over 40 days, but didn't really have the heart to ask. They said that when they arrived they had seaweed about a foot long hanging off their hull, and nearly everyone in the anchorage came over to look at the record seaweed.
Now there we were motoring into Hiva Oa and the fishing rod starts singing that oh so sweet song! And this is the song of the 'oh so big' fish as the reel never stops screaming! First order of business is to slow the boat down, then increase the drag on the reel. Finally after 10 minutes the fish is swimming off the stern and it is a big one. Now ever since we caught the giant tuna Shannon likes to land the fish! She is down on the bottom swim step with her gloves on. (Sometimes you can actually hear her growl!). To back her up I get the giant trashcan. The plan is to pull the fish up onto the lowest swim step, and then pop the trashcan behind him so that he is trapped. My warning of "careful he doesn't bite you" came just a few seconds before the fish was landed on the swim step and Shannon got cut. Unfortunately the fish did not fit into the trashcan, and would just wiggle right out. I ended up just grabbing this monster by his tail and carrying him right up to the cockpit. He turned out to be a 4.5' long Wahoo! And Shannon's cut turned out to be a lot worse than I expected. It required between 8 to 10 stitches, the number of stitches I count is 8 but Shannon assures me there are 10.
We shared the Wahoo with some of the boats and ate all we could of the delicious meat. What a feast!!!
Courage
Now there we were motoring into Hiva Oa and the fishing rod starts singing that oh so sweet song! And this is the song of the 'oh so big' fish as the reel never stops screaming! First order of business is to slow the boat down, then increase the drag on the reel. Finally after 10 minutes the fish is swimming off the stern and it is a big one. Now ever since we caught the giant tuna Shannon likes to land the fish! She is down on the bottom swim step with her gloves on. (Sometimes you can actually hear her growl!). To back her up I get the giant trashcan. The plan is to pull the fish up onto the lowest swim step, and then pop the trashcan behind him so that he is trapped. My warning of "careful he doesn't bite you" came just a few seconds before the fish was landed on the swim step and Shannon got cut. Unfortunately the fish did not fit into the trashcan, and would just wiggle right out. I ended up just grabbing this monster by his tail and carrying him right up to the cockpit. He turned out to be a 4.5' long Wahoo! And Shannon's cut turned out to be a lot worse than I expected. It required between 8 to 10 stitches, the number of stitches I count is 8 but Shannon assures me there are 10.
We shared the Wahoo with some of the boats and ate all we could of the delicious meat. What a feast!!!
Courage
Thursday, May 15, 2014
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