Blog from Family Affair

by Paul Michael, July 19th, 2012

We sailed conservatively through the night in light winds and our jib up.  It was a nice starry night and we began to see the slowest speeds in light airs since we began the race.  Finally at daybreak, we got underway with spinnaker again, but the day was mostly light air as well.   It was slightly frustrating.  There was barely enough wind to keep the sails full and with the ocean swells, the sails flogged back and forth making a racket.  It was only into the late afternoon that we got some decent wind to work with.   After a great sunset, we continued on into the night with spinnaker travelling in and out of the rain squalls.

We've been starting to pick up AM radio stations on the HF radio from Hawaii.  It's nice to see the miles tick down on our final approach to the islands.  We all have mixed emotions.  We love this sailing and being out here.  Some don't want it to end.  They're asking me if I can make a navigation error to keep us going on to the south.  It's very tempting.  On another radio related note, on VHF Channel 16, the short range international hailing and distress frequency, someone played the entire Sarah Mclachlan's Arms of an Angel.  The channel has been mostly silent for over a week.  I wonder if it was a tribute to someone lost at sea. 

We tried fishing again today.  Sandy had a really nice strike.  It was pulling really hard as we were sailing at about 7 knots and weren't going to slow down.  We had a nice mahi mahi up to the stern of the boat.  It was a bit smaller than the one we got yesterday and it came off the hook before we could get it on board.

We've been seeing many more flying fish.   It is amazing how they school and how far they can fly.  50 or more will leap from the water and fly together a few feet above the waves.  Perfectly synchronized, they can travel up to 50 yards at a time.  It is very difficult to get a picture of them because they come and go so fast.

With the nice sunny days we've been having, it's giving us a chance to catch up on our laundry.  We hang everything on the lifelines outside the boat and from the fishing poles mounted on the ceiling inside.  Our only limitation is that we didn't bring enough clothes pins.   I had a funny sight of Sharina today as she went topside.  Not many women don a life jacket, carabineers, quick release tether, and a personal locator beacon just to hang laundry. 

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