It hasn’t been fast sailing, but mostly quite steady. In 32 hours we have covered 212 miles. Only about 1350 miles and 12 days to go!
The weather was pretty much as predicted, except for before dawn this morning when I had to dodge through a cluster of thunderstorms. Most of today was motoring in light, contrary winds, late afternoon brought winds from a good direction, but still light. Right now we are sailing at 4.5 knots in 6.5 knots of wind. It’s calm and quiet, with a full moon.
Our original sail plan continues. We will be making our way east first, and then head south once we hit the tradewinds, that should be in six or seven days. We are currently in a steady southerly flow. In three or four days a front is due to catch up to us, which will strengthen the winds, and switch them to the northwest.
It’s been pretty uneventful. If conditions hold like this, we’ll probably start serious trolling for fish tomorrow.
fetchinketch 
Hello dear Bill, I wish you the best weather for your voyage, and may your predictions come true. Reading Fetchinketch makes me dream of my next voyage. Thank you.
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Nice to read that you are making good progress.
I am curious to know what line you use to troll.
What length, what size, what how strong?
Fair winds, Philippe
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Philippe,
As with the choice of a sailboat, the choice of fishing tackle is complex, and full of compromises. I ask my tackle to do many things, so my exact choices are not really suitable for most sailors who want to catch fish simply while trolling. Here are a couple general guidelines: stronger is not always better. In the case of working a fish while standing on the deck of a boat, tackle with line of greater than 80lb is not useful. You simply can not pull hard enough with your arms to utilize stronger line. Also stronger tackle is more complex to rig. Standard knots become troublesome, and specific equipment is needed to deal with the heavier lines. To me, and idea size would be would be 50lb. That will land any fish of a size you would want to deal with, even tuna up to 80 or 100 lbs.
A rod of about 6 feet long is plenty, and the choice is not really very important if it is rated for the line strength you are using. Line for normal trolling is nylon monofilament. It is inexpensive, long lasting, and has a forgiving amount of stretch.
Normally my lures are two to four boat lengths behind.
Bill
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Very nice from you to share these details. We will start trolling this year for the first time. Thank you so much and fair winds.
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