Currently, we're about half way to Mag Bay from Turtle Bay, motoring as we have been through the night but now with no sail up because the wind has completely died. It's a rough ride right now with big swells and chop and no wind to steady the boat by. This leg started out with some excitement, as we saw several whale spouts just outside of Turtle Bay, and they were going our direction but we weren't lucky enough to get an up-close look and I didn't want to hassle/chase them. There wasn't much wind last night until about midnight, and when it came, it came pretty hard. We'd been motoring along with minimal wind, and then I woke up when Denali was on watch and it was blowing all over the place - 7 knots up to 20 with 30-knot gusts. That's just not fair. I thought about putting the main up (reefed) for a sleigh ride, but with the wind already gusting like that, I decided it wasn't worth the craziness to go into the wind for the few minutes it would take to do it, especially as we couldn't see the seas coming at us. On my next shift, however, I put out the staysail and that had an immediate effect of stabilizing us in the severe chop, as well as getting us all the way to hull speed (about 7.5 knots) with only a little help from the engine, and surfing speeds (down the face of a swell) up to 8.95 knots.
We just crossed over Moore Bank, and Uncle Sam Bank is 4 hours away, so I've got a line in the water with a Rappala lure that's got some crazy jiggling action. It hasn't even got me a bite yet, but it looks cool, and it dives down a bit, which I'd gather is better than skipping across the surface in these conditions. But what do I know? Guess I'd better go study my new "Fishing for Cruisers" book some more.
One great thing... the water is now 62.6 degrees. And in the daytime it's not really cold at all (currently 68 degrees). We'll be to Mag Bay around 6am tomorrow.
TT
