Fishnet catches us.

44 41N 162 02 W. 7-JUL-2020 07:54 HST — Jennifer sleeps while I officially stand watch. It is foggy with little wind. Little wind has been the problem.

The passage has been good one, fair weather with great winds for the first week or so. The first few days we sailed above hull speed for hours and hours at time. One day was a 164 nm, well beyond what one should expect for a boat this size. (Broad reach, wind speed in the high teens, full main and 135% Genoa.)

The winds lessened in succeeding days, which became an easy passage with an upright boat and the miles sliding by.

Our wind vane has been working perfectly. A wind vane is silent. With constant direction, it needs no attention and one almost loses sight of the mechanics of the boat moving towards it’s destination.

Jennifer hired a weather router, who has been very nice to hear from each evening and to find that he watches our progress during each day.

Early in the trip, we had plenty of slack time, and it seemed, according to Bruce, that we might even have to slow up to let weather pass. But then, of course, an abundance of something turns into a shortage. Winds, predicted by Bruce and the multiple computer models we use, did not show up. Our easy 120 nm per day shrank to 100 some days and we began to fall behind.

Jennifer has commented on the easiness of the passage. The pleasantness of it. If the passage to Hawaii had been like this… The weather on the Hawaii passage was pretty good, but the mechanical failures were the major problem. Hand steering for 800 miles was terrible.

This is so much better because the weather has been wonderful (blue skies, tons of electricity), because there have been fewer breakdowns and we have experience crossing.

We’re eating well, as we always do. The last of the Hawaiian purple sweet potatoes remain and the last pineapple.

We’re sleeping better because of the self steering, and having a weather router to advise and explain is a comfort.

We’ve settled on night time watches that work for us: Jennifer takes 8pm until mid-night and I take mid-night on. We each must make sure that we sleep during the day.

The wind has not been showing up the last few days, so we are behind. There are some low pressure fronts coming through that we’d like to be north of. So last night, on the advice of Bruce we motored for 12 hours to give us a leap forward. We can’t motor very much because we don’t carry that much fuel, about 80 hours.

The irony is that with a proper breeze, we sail much faster than we motor.

Things do break and not everything is perfect. We’ve developed a number of deck leaks that must be hunted down. They are from the stress of being under sail: The port genoa sheet track and the deck strap that holds down the portland pudgy.

Yesterday, for some unknown reason, the secondary bilge pump blew its fuse. The gee-whiz electronic float switch in the primary failed while we were in Hanalei Bay. The pump is now a manually-switched pump.

The propeller shaft seal has started to leak again, so the secondary had taken over handling that water. Yesterday morning, Jennifer noticed the bilge was full of water, which was easily pumped out with the primary, but the secondary fuse was blown. It blew immediately again when I replaced the fuse.

Jennifer thought some insulation may have worn through on some wiring in the bilge, but it all looked good. I pulled the pump and opened the strum box (coarse filter) but all was clear. Once reassembled, it all has worked fine.

And then… as you can read below.

We’re well. You can write or text us directly. Your comments may be delayed until we get to Dutch Harbor, or my friend Erwin may moderate them.

We’re in contact with other sailors making the passage to south central Alaska. There aren’t a lot of boats and we all learn about each other and correspond. I suspect we each believe the other is a better sailor.

Stay well everyone. We should be in ‘Dutch’ by the fifteenth after bumping around the Aleutians for a few days.

32 40N 165 06W, 1-JUL-2020 11:42 HST — Jennifer naps on the settee across from me on the leeward side of the main cabin. My wallet with credits cards, a few receipts, and $50 in cash is sodden and drying on the cabin table next to the Bluetooth keyboard where I type this.

The night before last we used the auto helm to steer the boat because we felt we needed to stay in a very tight pathway between two fronts. Because the wind vane follows the wind, rather than a compass path, it can wander.

This morning we set up the wind vane which, after a while did not seem to be steering a decisively as it normally does. Looking over the transom I saw two fishing net floats on the port side of the transom and a trail of netting on the starboard side.

We’d picked up a fishing net.

Jennifer immediately suggested we use a GoPro camera to figure out what was wrong, but I, for some unknown reason, discarded that advice and climbed down the swim ladder on the transom and cut the floats lose.

Two notes: Immediately using the GoPro would have not changed what we did, so I do not feel as stupidly male as I might. And, the serrated blade on my Leatherman Wave cuts through line like no knife I have ever seen.

With floats cut lose, the net did not release. The GoPro showed a single line caught around the prop. The floats had been on one end of the line, the net on the other. We hauled the net aboard planning to remove the line, but the act of removing the tension on the line around the prop allowed it float free.

The net had a variety of resident crabs that were scurrying around the cockpit. We used cooking tongs to return them to the great blue beyond.

We bagged up the net, which sits in the aft cabin. Hopefully, Dutch or Kodiak will be able to take this off our hands.

The rest of the day was wonderful sailing.
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Author: johnjuliano

One-third owner of Caro Babbo, co-captain and in command whenever Caro Babbo is under sail.

5 thoughts on “Fishnet catches us.”

  1. John,
    Good to hear from you. During my time on the CGC Boutwell (‘76 – ‘78) we spent all of our time north of the Aleutians as that’s where the Soviet, Japanese, and US fleets were. We only stopped in three places while on 90 day patrols: Adak (fuel/mail), Dutch Harbor (mail), and St. John (mail) in the Pribilof Islands. On the way to/from Kodiak, we always transited via Unimak Pass.
    Wishing you both continuing good health and safety.

    1. Thanks, Dave.

      I’d like to return, but I’m just learning how short the season can be, though Wade and Sara on Comfort Cruising sail here as late as November.

      We’ll leave Dutch in the next week heading to Kodiak and then Homer.

      There are two CG cutters in the harbor doing station monitoring practice. One is the Monroe, the other the Healy.

      I believe the proper name of the Monroe is the James Monroe. Depending on who manages the radio, it is referred to differently.

  2. Glad to hear you’re having good sailing and a minimum of equipment failures as you head to Alaska.

  3. The harbor master in Dutch Harbor, Leo, took the net from us. The plastic bag we had put it in leaked, so the aft cabin needs to be emptied and washed.

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