Net Magnet
Return Day 11 8/10/2014 15:00 (716 Miles to Golden Gate Bridge)
Yes we are still motor sailing and probably will be for a few more days. The engine is doing well with the modification of removing the innards of the thermostat. We are motoring along at just over 6 knots and on occasion when the wind decides to come out to play we can get her all the way up to 6.5 knots but typically not sustained. We are still on track for a Saturday arrival which should make the delivery in less than 17 full days.
Right now we are in what looks like a very big lake on a very calm day. It is flat, blue and calm, very nice conditions for a motorboat ride, too bad we are in a sailboat.
Just as I was preparing to end my shift this morning just before 5 a.m., I was thinking about going below to wake David. However the engine decided to beat me to it by waking David when it stopped immediately. I reached back and turned off the key as David put on his life vest and came up to the cockpit to join Lindi and I. Naturally it was raining! He said he wasn’t going to dive on it in the dark so we raised all of the sails and drifted at maybe 1 knot close to the direction of San Diego with something creating considerable drag below the hull. Since there was nothing for me to do I went to bed because I’m thinking that come daylight there may be some work to be done and it would be good to get some rest, Juan completely agreed.
At 8:00 a.m this morning I heard the engine start, I sighed a bit of a relief, then when I heard it go into gear without shaking the boat apart Juan sighed a huge relief. I climbed out of my bunk and was greeted with hot pancakes by Lindi while David and Nico were in the cockpit drying off. They just finished diving on the prop and cutting away what they described as a huge fishing net with a very large bolt rope that was the reason for the immediate stoppage of the engine. Everything seems to be working properly and we were back on the rhumb line to the Golden Gate Bridge planning to arrive 3 hours later than we had thought yesterday. Juan was strategically planning how he was going to shanghai David and Nico when he goes cruising with Lindi so they can dive on Antigua instead of him if she has similar issues!
Just now as I was preparing to go below right after David came up to relieve me I saw a large net less than 10 feet off our port side and Lindi said that was small compared to the one we hit this morning. It’s good to be vigilant on our watches when we can because Avion is obvious a magnet for large fishing nets. Unfortunately they do not have Japanese glass balls attached.
We did score yesterday on those glass balls. Late afternoon, before sunset, Lindi saw a large green glass ball, about 16 inches in diameter, and hollered to Juan to alter course to fetch it. Great here is an opportunity to prove that Juan can indeed capture the ball as gracefully as Nico. After his third pass with no results Nico came up out of bed and instructed Juan what to do at the helm and was able to scoop it up with his long arms on his first attempt. Juan was right; given enough time and help he could in fact retrieve a ball! Within an hour Angie saw a very small glass ball the size of a baseball that Nico retrieved with no effort, on his first pass no less, Juan was just a little humbled. It is amazing to find something that small in this vastness we call the Pacific Ocean. Jon
avionbianca 
Leave a comment