We catch a fish

MW SailMail post:

Catching the fish is admittedly old news, as Debbie and Jim have already told the story in prior posts. Still I thought our one and only fish catch was worthy of a bit more color before we move on to even more lessons on how to not catch fish from the Morpheus. Yes, we have two more lessons to divulge, but I just cannot talk about that right now. I'd rather rehash our one and only fish catch one more time.

I am admittedly a bit slow in adding details of that single catch because I was, quite frankly, intimidated by another bit of news. Via private correspondence on the boat we learned that some of these posts are being used in Mrs. Humphrey's 5th grade class as illustrations of creative writing. This certainly gives one pause. I mean, rambling on a blog about fishing, and sailing, and demon birds from hell is one thing. But helping shape the malleable young minds of the next generation is another thing all together. Shouldn't I be doing more? Shouldn't I be trying to pass along the collected wisdom of my 55 years? Or something?

Whatever.

When we last left off, Rule #3 of "How to not catch fish" documented a jumping Dorado/Mahi-Mahi behind the boat just after the line was reeled in. Rule #8 documented Jim actually hooking a dorado with the hand line a few minutes later, but losing it with a very sportsmanlike long distance release. By the way - for the benefit of Mrs. Humphrey's 5th Grade class - I did not actually write Rule #8. It was appended by Jim while I was on watch and shortly before he posted it to the blog. Hence, I am not responsible for the double negative of stating a rule supposedly about NOT catching fish with another negation - "Don't hook a fish right at sunset". Yes, kids - the whole thing confused me too.

Whatever.

The important thing, is the next morning after Deb relieved me from the sunrise watch, I put the cedar plug on the now seriously downgraded line of Chris' reel, and within 5 minutes had a two foot Dorado on the line. The call of "Fish on!" roused Jim from a sound sleep and he dragged himself up the companionway saying "This better not be a joke." With Jim and Deb's help we landed the fish. Finally. Then we sent Jim back below decks so he could preserve his illusion that filleting a fish on the transom can be accomplished without spilling a drop of blood, guts, or slime on the Morpheus.

What remained after the clean and bloodless filet on the transom shelf

Within two hours the Morpheus delivery crew was enjoying a small appetizer plate of mahi-mahi sashimi. Within four hours we had mahi-mahi sautéed in olive oil with onion and garlic, served on a bed of rice, and drizzled with the garlic infused olive oil. There is not a lot of meat on a two foot dorado. but we were able to stretch what we had, and were left looking forward to the next fresh caught fish meal.

Alas this brings us to the unfortunate events of Sunday afternoon. But that will have to wait for a future post.

It is still too close - too painful - maybe tomorrow.

Instead, we conclude with a new series - Life Lessons for Mrs. Humphrey's 5th grade class from the crew of the Morpheus:

Remember kids - Starving writers really starve, whereas starving software salesmen eat pretty darn good.

x-posted from Morpheus Sailing Blog.

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UPDATE:
Hmmm. Well - to keep this all in perspective - Upon my return, I learned that on the day before and the day after catching this dorado in the Pacific Ocean, my sister and brother-in-law each pulled the same size fish (a Northern Pike to specific) out of a somewhat smaller body of water in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Big Shag Lake).


Show-offs.

Another Day in the Pacific High

JG SailMail Post:

Day #6 of our journey finds us 963 miles from Hawaii, and 1266 miles from San Francisco.

As usual we spend most of our day learning new ways NOT to catch a fish. I will let Mike describe the events of the day, but should mention to Chris that we've already lost 600+ feet of his high test line, and his lure collection will need some "enhancement" upon our return. Fear not, his birthday is 8/16!!

We've also become very good at clearing sections of net from our propeller. Nice that Mike feels so comfortable swimming around taking pictures of the boat and birds in the area. I do not really have any desire to add myself to the oceans food chain.

Still dealing with very light winds. Had hoped to catch the tail of a low sliding over the top of us today. Perhaps we will miss it?? Rage was reporting 35 knots only 100 miles to our North last night. Where is our wind?? Initial 160 gallons of fuel now down to about 120....

-Jim

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Yup - another day, and another propeller foul with another fragment of fishing net, requiring yet another swim in the Pacific.

I was back in the water and this time I needed to dive under the boat to pull the net off the prop. For some reason we didn't take pictures or video. Perhaps it was because there was a bit more wave action, a bit more current, and it was all just a bit more pucker inducing all around. No problems though, I got the net off the propeller on the first breath.

Flat seas, light winds and motoring opens up a lot more Morpheus venues for the daily cocktail hour assembly. The pic at the top of the post above was taken from the bow. More on the cocktail hour tradition in a future post.

Hi from the "High"

Before we get to Debbie G's SailMail post from Morpheus, a few words about the Pacific "High" for our land lubbing reader. The Pacific "High" is shorthand for a high pressure zone which is generally found in the latitudes north and east of Hawaii, on the way to San Francisco. The "High" generates predictable winds on it's perimeter, and a predictable lack of wind if you find yourself in the middle of it. Which is where we find ourselves on this date. It is also usually located in the general area of the North Pacific Gyre, which has become notorious of late, due to a great deal of recent attention in the media about The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Now the "high" is a magical place, with spectacular ocean vistas like the pictures above. But it also looks like...

this...

and this...

and this...

and this.

While motoring through the high, we would see debris (mostly plastic, but also many net fragments) go by the boat every 5-10 minutes. Among the odder items were plastic baby bottles and hard hats. For a while we moved the watch from the companionway to the bow in order to try and avoid the bigger bits of debris in the water.

And with that context - Debbie's excellent post from the Pacific "High" - updated with pics and video:

Well, we are in the high and motoring straight to SF. We should be motoring for another day, then the wind should pick up. 

Yesterday was an adventure! I was on watch at dawn. Beautiful sunrise. Then Mike caught a Dorado/Mahi Mahi! Catching, cleaning, and deciding how to prepare it took a good chunk of time. O, then we had to retrieve the bucket that fell into the H2O while Mike was cleaning the fish. Then we found and retrieved a glass fishing ball. I made the ultimate catch using my straw hat! 

At this point, a HUGE brown albatross type bird joined us, trying to figure out what we were doing. (Wing span about 7 feet. Looked like a big goose size.) The bird obviously thought we might be a source of food. Off we go, closely monitored by the big brown bird (BBB), and then his BBB buddy. 

Then we ran over a piece of fish net that fouled the propeller. You have never seen Jim levitate so fast from down below to the back of the boat to kill the engine. We start floating around again, so we are joined by BBB # 3. BBB 1 decides to swim into our fishing line, so we have to cut the line and let it slip backwards through it's feathers, or he would have impaled himself with the hook! Mike was not pleased to lose his lure. 

We attached an under H2O camera to the boat hook, and took a video of the propeller. Yep...propeller fouled with net.

Jim briefly puts boat in reverse and a 2 x 2 piece of net floats to the surface. Just to make sure, Mike jumps into the H2O with mask and snorkel to make sure the propeller is clear. Did I mention we are in the MIDDLE of the Pacific Ocean, a thousand miles from land, and the water is 3 miles deep. You can easily see down 100 feet. 

BBB # 4 comes to investigate. Mike start splashing birds to keep them at least a foot away... Um.. Mike? These are sea birds. They don't care if they get wet.... BBB 1 - 4 decide to give Mike 2 feet of space. Mike checks propeller. All is clear. Mike gets classic self portrait shot of himself, bird, Morpheus, Jim and me from the middle of the Pacific High. Mike climbs back in the boat, and we are off again. Rest of the night went well. 

Trying to get home by Chris' Bday, but we may miss by a day or 2. Will have a big party when we get home. OK?

Love to all. Keep me posted on the Olympics! Denise, say hello! - Deb 

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We get a little help from our friends.

I received this urgent e-mail from golf buddy Bob, who was monitoring our progress on the FIS tracking system. Noticing a problem, Bob took no chances, and immediately sent this message to Morpheus via SailMail, to my home e-mail, and left it as a comment on the Morpheus Sailing Blog.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Monitoring the Morpheus
Date: Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:02:27 -0700
From: Bob
To: Mike, Morpheus

Mike, I took a look at your progress back. Looks like you need to talk to the captain (or take over) The U.S. is off to the right. - Bob

Well, I got this message just in time. Double checking Jim's navigation procedures, I was quickly able to determine the problem. The grateful captain posted a reply to Bob as we narrowly avoided disaster and an inadvertent cruise to the Bering Sea:

Bob,
Thanks for that helpful hint!! As Mike suggested in his response to you, I WAS holding my charts sideways. Have worked that issue out now, and I think you'll see some improvement the next time you check the tracking info.

Thanks again, - Jim

UPDATE: Bob continued to monitor our progress, and a few days later reassured the rest of my worried foursome.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Mike's Journey
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:26:27 -0700
From: Bob
To: Mike
CC: Rick; Don; Roy; Dan; Mike K.


All - I sent an urgent email to Mike on the Morpheus when I noticed it looks like they were going to miss the U.S. They are headed in the right direction. What are friends for?

Track last updated Aug 11 at 2:25 PDT. /Bob

Whew. That was close.

Mike caught a fish!!

This is the post as originally reported by JG:

Mike caught a fish!!

A small Dorado, but still a fish!

It was about 18 inches long.

He is happy.

My boat is covered in fish guts...

- Jim

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Now, there is an obvious problem here. To whit: The size of fish as reported by Jim. As clearly seen in the video compilation at the top of this post, and as well as photos that will be in later posts, this fish is clearly over 24". It is not a big fish, but certainly bigger than Jim's report.

Really Jim, this display of petulant envy just does not reflect well on you. I am very disappointed in your behavior.

Things we have learned about how to not catch fish from Morpheus.

MW Sail Mail Post from Morpheus - Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean

As noted in prior posts, we have had two lines in the water almost continuously since leaving Hawaii. Over the course of journey so far, we have gleaned some valuable lessons on how to not catch fish from the Morpheus. For the benefit of future sailors on the Morpheus who intend to invest time, money and effort fishing from the Morpheus in an ocean that is filled with fish, but would like to avoid the messy business of actually catching anything, we offer these helpful tips.

1) USE LURES WITH CORRODED OLD HOOKS.
On day two Jim decided to put a Rapala lure on the hand line. It looked like a brand new lure, but has spent some time in the tackle box as the hooks were a bit rusty and corroded. After a day in the water, the Rapala emerged with bite marks all over the body of the lure, and points broken off the corroded treble hook.

2) BUY EXPENSIVE LURES PAINTED LIKE A FISH THAT DOES NOT ACTUALLY LIVE IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
On day one I fished with a lure I purchased at Hi's Tackle Box in San Francisco. It is a cedar plug painted like a Rainbow Trout. The local aquatic denizens were greatly amused.

3) AT THE END OF THE DAY, REMOVE YOUR LINE FROM THE WATER IMMEDIATELY BEFORE FISH START JUMPING BEHIND THE BOAT.
This just happened. I interrupted writing this post to go on deck and reel in the rig we have had in the water all day. As I was unhooking the retrieved squid lure to put back in the box, I looked up to see a three foot dorado jump right behind the boat where the lure was moments ago.

4) USE THE SQUID LURE.
It is friggin' useless.

5) HOOK A FISH THAT IS BIGGER THAN MORPHEUS.
Well we don't actually know big the fish was, as we did not get a good look at it. It may only have been as big as Morpheus is wide. We only saw a hint of the fish and the tsunami it triggered when crashing back into the water about 100 yards behind the boat. It may have been more than 100 yards back even at the time of the jump. If Chris is reading this blog, I would be curious to know the test strength and length of line he had on the big brass reel. I am guessing it had several hundred yards of 75 lb test. Note the use of past tense. But I am getting ahead of myself.

This happened yesterday. I used an overpriced big black brute of lure that I also purchased at Hi's Tackle Box. You can see a picture of it if you look back on my blog to the posts shortly before leaving for Hawaii. The staff at Hi's told me it was a Wahoo lure. It was affixed to Chris' rig by a fifteen foot titanium leader, also purchased at Hi's, which they assured me I needed if I intended to catch a fish with teeth. It is shocking what has happened to the price of commodities like titanium during the Bush administration. But I digress.

I spent the morning at my usual post reclining in the cockpit with my back slouching against the bulkhead, hat pulled down to eye level so I can focus with intense concentration on the action of the rod in the holder and the line in the water. By the way - I have independent confirmation that I was at my post fishing, as Debbie took a picture of me there, apparently under the mistaken impression that I was sleeping. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was concentrating. I will update this post with said picture later as evidence.

Of course, no one can maintain that level of intense concentration indefinitely. After several hours I decided to take the action that all fishermen know is guaranteed to bring fish. I went below and made myself systematically unprepared for a fish to be on the line. I removed my safety harness and put it away. I booted my laptop and rendered my camera inoperable by beginning to download photo's. I stuffed a sandwich in my mouth. At that exact moment - I heard the scream of the drag on the reel and Jim called out "Fish on!" My plan was working perfectly.

By the time I got the safety harness back on and made my way to the rig, we had seen the end of the jump, and 3/4 of the reel had already spooled out. (JG's comment in previous post: "This was the biggest fish ever!! Seriously, ESPN Big Game Fishing Stuff! HUGE!") I slid the drag to the maximum level "strike", but to my chagrin, the reel continued to spool out. There was very little line left on the reel. Scott handed me the gloves, and I was able to add enough drag with my hands to stop the line from spooling out. That is the way it stayed for a while, fish on line, I am holding the line, pole bending, little line left on reel. There was no hope of reeling line in. Then the line popped and the fish was gone and all the line with it.

Then I noticed a secret button on the reel that would have permitted me to increase the drag more than I had it set.

6) DON'T BOTHER TO LEARN THE EQUIPMENT YOU ARE USING UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE MOBY DICK ON THE LINE.
I don't think it would have made a difference in the end result, but it probably would have lasted a little longer.

7) DO NOT BRING A BACKUP LINE. I MEAN, WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF HOOKING A FISH THAT CAN SPOOL OUT YOUR ENTIRE 75 LB. TEST LINE?
Chris has another rig on board. A much lighter open face reel. I have transferred that line to the big brass reel. It looks like the 10 lb test line that my Dad uses to catch bass and pike in Big Shag Lake. Yeah. That should work.

8) DON'T HOOK A FISH RIGHT AT SUNSET!!*
Jim hooked a 2ft Dorado on the hand line this evening right at Sunset. A bit late to be dealing with fish cleaning etc. Not to worry, in his rush to land this one before it also found a way to escape, he pulled the hook right out of its mouth while it was planing across the waves behind Morpheus at 7 knots.

* Rule added by JG shortly before posting.

Originally x-posted on Morpheus Sailing Blog

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08/08/08 08:08 PM - Update from Morpheus

Sunrise Watch

JG post via Sail Mail:

Long periods of boredom, interrupted by a few moments of excitement. That really does describe this route home from Hawaii. You have to enjoy the journey, otherwise this would drive you crazy. To date, I think we are all enjoying the journey.

Current Conditions

- 1571 nm from San Francisco
- 640 nm from Hawaii
- 10 knots of wind
- Heading NORTH
- Boatspeed 7.5 knots

Events of Note over past 48 hours...

ALTERNATOR ISSUES

You don't know what you have until it's gone!! It's really pretty scary when you think about all the things onboard this boat that help us get home and require electricity. Ranked in my priority order...

- Autopilot
- Water
- Navigation Instruments
- Compass Lights
- Starting the engine
- Refrigeration
- Nav. Lights
- Lights

The list goes on and on. Anyway, I'd been getting the sense that we were not getting the normal charging output from our alternator during the last charges of the race, and the first few days of the return. Nothing terrible, but things didn't seem up to spec. Two nights ago though, we started the engine with the batteries quite low and I looked at the alternator output only to see a big ZERO charging amps!!! (of course it was just about midnight)

What followed was two hours of pouring over alternator and regulator manuals. Following suggested trouble shooting processes, and ultimately tracking down a broken wire that should have been connected to the alternator. Cheers of joy were probably heard for miles as we all knew that if we could not solve this, we'd be pulling a U-turn.

The solution seemed simple but was a bit more complex as it turned out. To reconnect the wire we needed to re-crimp a new end fitting on and reconnect to the alternator. To do that it was best to disconnect the alternator circuits from the batteries. To do that meant throwing the battery breaker, and that left us in the dark. Humm...no autopilot and no compass lights in 18 knots of wind. That could be and was interesting. We ended up with me steering and Deb holding a flashlight on the compass dome for 20 minutes while Mike and Scott took care of the repair work below.

It took two tries, but we got it right with no additional troubles. When the engine was started we ended up with about twice the charging amps as before. Perhaps we were dealing with a loose connection for some time??

FISHING ISSUES

Here again is an area that has thrown us a few surprises. We've been fishing with both Chris' big ocean rod and reel, and my handline setup. To date....no fish. In fact, we've become so frustrated that Mike will soon be writing a blog post entitled..."How not to catch a fish!". We believe that we are becoming experts at this.

So far, we've lost two lures, and entire reel of fishing line, and a hook without landing a single fish.

YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

Just to give you some idea of what you will hear from Mike, you can expect to hear all about how he used his $26 lure to hook the biggest fish ever seen by anyone on Morpheus. I'm here to tell you, he is definitely not exaggerating. This fish was huge. Absolute ESPN Big Game Fishing Channel stuff!! The thing jumped in the air shortly after being hooked and while none of us saw the fish, we did see the biggest spray of water ever as a result of a fish. There was water thrown at least 6-8 feet in air, and perhaps 10 feet across. This fish was gigantic!!!

Mike's sad story to follow.

NEED MORE NEWS OF THE WORLD

- Olympic updates/results
- News
- Stock Market, bank failures, etc.
- Sailing results (Aldo)
- Stories of the Paccup Crew's re-entry into the real world.

That's it for now. Expect we'll have the engine on and be making somewhat of a right turn sometime in the next 24 hours.

-Jim

x-posted from Morpheus Sailing Blog

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Quoth the Booby

It is Scott's watch. Late afternoon. Scott is sitting in the companionway watching for squalls. Otto the autopilot is at the helm. The captain and first mate are sleeping below. I am in the cockpit, back resting on the bulkhead, facing aft, listening to Amy Winehouse "Back to Black" on the iPod, and watching a big sea bird circle the boat.

The bird corrects course in mid-air, matches the speed of the boat, swoops in just off the water from aft, and lands above the transom sitting on the rescue kit mounted to the lifeline.

So there he is, less than 10 feet away. I am looking at him. He is looking at me. We are looking at each other. The bird decides I am no threat and starts preening and grooming himself. Blue beak with orange at the base of the beak. White body with some gray. Feet are webbed, yellow orange, like a duck. [I took pictures of course, and will update this post with same when we get back to the land of the big intertubes. In the meantime feel free to ID the bird - Deb guessed from the description it is a Blue Beaked Booby.]

The bird and I stared at each other for almost 30 minutes as Morpheus pounded through the swells. Then it got weird. The bird talked. You know - like a parrot. Now I don't expect anyone to believe this, I almost didn't believe it myself. But I was there, and the bird was clear as a bell.

As I looked at the bird, I remembered the story told by the race crew of something that took place only a week or so ago, at just about this distance from Hawaii. My understanding is that Pete was at helm, and he was attacked by a large seabird. The bird dive bombed Pete several times, each sweep coming closer until the bird's wing feathers were brushing against Pete on each pass. This was no ordinary bird, as Pete swears he saw the glowing red light of malevolent evil shining out of its eye sockets. It was a demon bird, sent from the gates of Hell itself, or maybe from Hula Girl (everyone knows that Cayard sold his soul to the devil - aka Larry Ellison). Fearing for his own everlasting soul, Pete cut short his watch, and scrambled below. There he waited until he was sure that the bird had left before coming back topside.

At least, that is how Pete tells the story. It sounds a bit different when related by other members of the crew. Ask them.

But I wondered, could this be the same bird?

Finally the bird tired of my company and left, but the words emanating from his beak were still ringing in my ears. I'll admit I was shaken. That night, I could not sleep. I awoke in a cold sweat and was moved to describe the episode in verse:

Quoth The Booby
(with apologies to Edgar Allen Poe)

Upon the Morpheus, after main sail tending,
I sat and pondered the night watch pending.
While I lounged in the 'pit - too well fed -
I heard a flapping, just above my head.
There I saw a seabird soar
Then flap and land on the transom floor.
The sun and salt spray burned my eyes,
But with no worrisome impending gybes,
we stared at each other - me and the bird so bold -
A blue beaked booby with eyes so cold.
"Tell me!" I said, "What do you seek?"

Quoth the Booby - "Where is Pete?"

x-posted at MW Mobile Blog and Morpheus Sailing Blog.

Morpheus Blog Entry via Sail Mail

Scott on watch not being sea sick.

My first blog entry via sail mail:

MW blog entry
06-August-08

We have been at sea for 48 hours 2 minutes 36 seconds as I hit the period on this sentence. We know because Scott has a stopwatch feature on his watch, and started the clock the minute we left the harbor. It is a nice watch. I have taken to asking Scott how long we have been sailing every few hours. By end of the trip I will be asking every 15 minutes. At some point I expect him to just give me his watch. I look forward to adding it to my collection.

Jim will have to update you on the specifics of course selection,speed, wind conditions, and general progress but it has been a pretty easy run so far. I'll just supplement Jim's log with some random shipboard observations.

FOOD
We are eating well. Generally granola or grapenuts for breakfast with yogurt, fresh bananas and dates. Our first night out Deb prepared baked chicken with a vegetable rice medley, which became a delicious chicken salad for lunch yesterday. Last night it was a Mexican style Lasagna. Which brings me to the next topic:

SEA SICKNESS
Nothing to report, no one got sick. Deb, Scott, and I all used a patch. I didn't think I would need it, but stuck one on anyway - just for the dream entertainment value.

FISHING
Two lines are out. One hand line and one on the pole. No nibbles yet, but that may be because Morpheus is clipping right along at 7-8 knots, and the fish can't catch up. Yesterday we had a rubbery squid on the hand line and a cedar plug painted like a rainbow trout on the pole. Shortly before taking the lines out of the water I had an Epiphany. No fish out here has ever seen a rainbow trout. Huh. Today we have the unpainted cedar plug on the pole, and a Rapala on the hand line.

SHAVING
As in - Jim and I are not. We are preparing our face warmers to fend off frostbite during the cold approach into San Francisco. Scott decided to shave and therein lies a cautionary tale. Bouncing around inside an enclosed space with sharp instruments in hand while attempting a a delicate and precise operation like shaving - well - lets just say that I am questioning Scott's judgment. No matter - No harm, No foul. And I must admit the end result is quite striking. Kind of a picasso-esque avant-garde pattern of shaved and unshaved squares across his face. Its a good look.

Debbie reminds me to conserve SailMail bits, so I'll end this here. More later.

Post Script:
Deb wants Rob to know that he is in trouble. Something about leakage around the mast onto Deb's bed. Jim promptly threw Rob under the bus, saying it was Rob's job to repair that leak. Understandable. Rob is not here. Jim is.

Out.

x-posted at Morpheus Sailing Blog and MW Mobile Blog

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1946 Miles to Go

6:30pm PDT
13 knots of wind
TWA = 60
Heading = 10

Just short of 24 hours and 150 miles out of Hawaii. Not bad for spending the first 12 with a single reefed main.

Woke up early this morning and rigged the hand line while Mike was still asleep. Had hoped to catch a fish before he even woke up, but my normal success rate remains constant. Have now been dragging two lures for 8 hours with no luck.

All onboard are slowly getting used to life at sea. Last nights 18 knot winds have changed to today's 12 knot winds and that's making the process pretty easy. No seasick crew to date. Just several very sleepy ones!!

Making great progress. More reports later.

- Jim

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2015 Miles to Go!

First Sail Mail post to blog. - JG entry:

7:30am PDT
19 knots of wind
TWA 60 degrees

First 12 hours of the trip are in the books. All have gone through their first watches and all goes well. No sign of any seasickness, although I may have sensed a bit of something in Mike's case. If he's feeling "off" he's doing a good job of dealing with it.

Had a good afternoon of kiteboarding on the sandbar. Had been shut out my previous two trips and was bound and determined to make it this trip. Good thing the winds just barely cooperated today, or we'd be there until they did!!

We've left aprox. 24 hours behind the bulk of the group heading home. Will be fun to see how many we can catch over the next two weeks.

Right now its reefed main and no jib so only about 7 knots. Just keeping it comfortable and letting everyone get their sea legs.

Hope our transponder is working. Is it giving you 4 hour updates or 6??

-Jim

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MW NOTE: This is the first of the Sail Mail back posts that were supposed to be cross-posted simultaneously with the Morpheus Sailing blog, but I screwed up on the blog e-mail address. I'll make up for it by adding photos as I back fill.

Mainsail is up.

We are sailing.

On our way to San Franciso...

Unless we get out of harbor and decide to go Kaui first. Regardless - we are outta here.

Jim buzzes the Morpheus

Back at the sand bar

Jim and Scott are checking the anchor and making a fuel run to top off.

Morning on Morpheus

My first cup of press pot Pete's French Roast on board. We moved Morpheus from the sand bar to a more protected anchorage inside the harbor at last light. Move was made necessary when the wind shifted and Deb discovered there was only inches of water under the keel. No harm no foul. Today we will probably head back to the sand bar and assess. If sufficient wind, Jim will do some kite surfing. Then we'll decide to either head home directly or by way of Kauai.

We are hoping...

... that Scott does not drink all our beer before we weigh anchor tomorrow.

Time to go for a swim.

At the sandbar...

Near the mouth of the harbor. We will anchor here this afternoon and probably tonight. Still in cell range.