This update was sent Saturday from the crew of Dana Point boat Mystere, somewhere in the Pacific:

Day 12 of the Mystere Transpac Journey: It’s still a race, but also an incredible journey.

This morning at the shift change just at dawn, we decided to change from the heavy asymmetrical spinnaker (1.2 oz) to the lighter .5 oz symmetrical spinnaker.   The winds had lightened and the .5 oz is
easier to carry and gives us better time in light air (8 to 10 knots).   This was our first spinnaker douse that was less than stellar.    The bottom half of the spinnaker went in the water and was pretending to be a shrimp net.   

Keith came to the rescue and managed to pull the spinnaker foot and dump the water so we could get the spinnaker on board.  

Jorge’s comment: “What a mess!”  What an
understatement.   

We immediately raised the .5 oz spinnaker and stuffed the wet mess down the hatch.    When a new call was given - FISH ON!  Our first fish!  
As we pulled the monster toward the boat there was a lot of speculation as to what it was.   A dorado, an albacore, a piece of junk.    As the fish drew nearer, it was determined it was a huge albacore tuna about 18 pounds, according to Eric.   

Anyway,  Paul ran for the rum.   Apparently, if you pour rum down its throat, it will die and stop flopping around.  
As Eric lifted the fish aboard, Jorge poured the rum.   I don’t know if the fish got any, but he did a quick flop and slipped the hook and got away. The general conclusion reached by this fishermen convention is that fish around here would rather have other rum than Mount Gay. Oh well, to each its own…(To prevent this from happening again, Paul and Jorge (McGivers) engineered a gaff by taking the boat hook, and cutting up the metal bucket handle with the bolt cutters, combined with some
hose clamps… instant gaff!

 The troll line and lure are out again, and we are better prepared.)

With the light winds last night and today, we were forced to postpone the ‘half way party’ until tomorrow. The preparations are underway and
we expect quite a turnout. We wish we could invite you all, but the fire code limits the capacity of this ‘facility’ to six. But, we hope to have you all present, in spirit.

Concerns about the delivery crew availability and willingness to adjust their schedule are over. Alex, Brian, and Branden (delivery crew along
with Jorge) have communicated their intentions to wait and/or party until our arrival. And talking about that, weather permitting, it still seems possible Mystere will make landfall by this coming weekend  … or Monday.

All is well. All systems on Mystere continue to perform well.
Love from all of us,

Jorge, Paul, Keith, Jerry, Cindy, Eric.

For more on beach and boating news, along with 3-day marine video forecasts, go to ocregister.c0m/beaches

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.