0800 Position 16-49S 150-59W. At anchor in Avea Bay, Huahine
The wind never did fill in as forecast yesterday. It only got up to about eight knots from right behind us, not too good when we are motor sailing at eight knots making the apparent wind strength zero. We powered all the way to Huahine and arrived in Avea Bay just after 5PM. We found a charter catamaran moored in our spot off the Relais Mahana. The nerve… We anchored behind him but are still close enough to get wifi from the hotel with the extender.
I had three fishing lines out yesterday, and at noon something big hit my long line. It broke the 300 pound strength monofilament leader right at the swivel and was gone before we could see what it was. The lure that I had out there was a hideous resin plug that I had butchered in the '80s with a hack saw to get more action out of it. Unbelievable. I dug through my bag of reject lures, found another the same size and color, and put it out on the same line. Just as we were approaching Huahine it also got hit by something big and the leader broke again right at the swivel. Damn.
We typically land more than fifty percent of the fish that strike our lures. On this voyage we are well below ten percent. I have probably lost seven or eight lures to fish strikes, and most of the time the fish aren't hooking up if we don't lose the lures. I can't figure out what the problem is. It could be that Van Diemen is much faster than other boats I've sailed on and the shock loads on the gear during a fish strike are greater. Van Diemen's hand lines are made from a woven line that is not as stretchy as the monofilament nylon that I've used on my boats. We are using bungee cords to absorb the shock loads of the strikes, but perhaps they are not long enough. I will keep working on it.
The Relais Mahana Resort seen from Van Diemen's saloon table
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