Have I mentioned we love our Seawind 1160? It sails wonderfully, but its light air performance is supreme. Forget what you think you know about the mythical tradewinds. Somedays it is really 15 knots from the East. Lots of days it's more like 4 - 7 knots. If your boat won't go in that kind of wind, you better bring a lot more diesel or plan on bobbing around waiting for your tradewinds to return.
We launched out yesterday in 10 - 12 knots of wind on the beam. Boogied along at about 7.5 knots for hours. Wind died down to 6 knots, we were still doing 5 knots. At about 3 knots of wind we still can make almost 3 knots of boat speed if we work the angle properly. Right now in early to mid afternoon we're in the peak of the breeze for today, and it's still only 7 knots true wind a bit forward of the beam, and here we are doing 6 knots. Certainly things are better because the seas are basically flat, but that's also a byproduct of light airs. The full main and screecher are doing their thing beautifully today.
Diesel is relatively cheap, but when the motor is spinning it's wearing out gears and bearings and belts pumps and pretty soon the engine oil or transmission oil will need changing or a raw water pump will be leaking or a hose will blow or some other minor catastrophe will occur. It's also noisy. There's something supremely satisfying about motivating in light airs under sail. It's quiet and efficient, kind of like making electricity with solar power. No muss, no fuss, just results. In these light conditions with flat seas we can sail with the saloon and some cabin hatches open so JollyDogs stays mighty comfortable and well ventilated inside. That's another attribute of the Seawind 1160 - they're designed for sunny tropical climes where excellent ventilation is critical to comfort.
Turns out that sailing around 5 - 6 knots is also good for fishing. A sushi grade yellow fin tuna, originally about 26" long, is now in the fridge. Pat, we nailed him on the little squid jig. We were also towing the Rapala style lure that Jim and Darda gave us- it's a diver that swims like crazy, but evidently something a bit "large" ate it. We got back the meat line and a broken swivel at the end of the steel lure. Them's the breaks. Now that gigantic squid jig lure that Pat left us is out there doing its thing.
Out here in the land of plenty (of water) we'll be eating fresh sashimi or poke or sushi for dinner. We gave up a lot to come out here and do this, but there are upsides
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