fetchinketch

One of the popular sports here, especially with the native Hawaiians, is racing outrigger canoes. Very skinny boats with an outrigger for balance they are usually crewed by one to six people, although much bigger ones are around.

Here in Ala Wai, Thursday evening is the “girl’s night” for practice and Friday is for the guys. They practice on the ocean, and up in the canal.  On days when the races are being held, the shoreline is lined with  spectators running along with the boats, cheering loudly for their favorite team.

Another popular pastime here is the SUP, or Standup Paddle Board. Basically a beefy surfboard you stand on and propel with a long paddle.  In rougher open water, they are the provenance of the young athletic crowd.  In quieter backwater lagoons everybody plays along, some a bit less athletic than others.

And finally for today is the story of our new neighbor.  A few days ago a new boat was making its way into the harbor, and coming in to tie up.  Our immediate neighbor, being alert and ready, jumped up onto the dock to catch lines and help them in.  He was in for a bit of a surprise.

The boat was being single handed by an athletic woman maybe in her mid forties. Nothing too surprising yet, except she was, as our British friends might say, totally starkers.  Yep.  Not even a pair of sandals on her feet.   Without a stitch on she tied up her boat and settled it into its spot on the dock. You meet all kinds on the docks.  Sorry.  No pictures.

A slightly belated Happy New Year to everybody.

We have been continuing to explore around Honolulu, and will likely be going further afield on Oahu in the next week or two.  In the meantime we have been sailing a bit, and fishing a bit.

We had an excursion to the north side of the beautiful island of Moloka’i.  The weather forecast was for light winds, but not exactly true.  Crossing the channel it ranged up to 30 knots, all straight on the nose.  The boat blasted through without too much trouble. Like every time we have been out in the channel between Oah’u and Moloka’i we saw a group of pilot whales cruising along, and this time a few humpbacks spouting and occasionally breaching in the distance.

The cruising guide said the anchorage we were aiming at was safe in any wind strength except from the south.  They also did mention that it could be rolly in a north swell.  As we crossed the channel the weather service issued a large wave advisory for the night, for a north swell.  Oh well…

As we approached Moloka’i we hooked a small big eye tuna.  An unusual catch for surface trolling apparently, they are supposed to be more of a deep water fish.  They are valued second only to bluefin tuna for sashimi.  It made AWESOME tuna poke…

It was dark when we arrived, at the anchorage so I picked what looked like the best spot.  It was about another hour or so before the north swell came up.  As the guide book suggested we rolled.  We rolled a LOT.  Neither of us slept much just trying to stay in bed. In the morning light I realized I picked the WORST possible spot.  Right off the only rock cliff in the middle of one of Hawai’i’s  longest beaches.  The waves bounced of the rock and reflected right back out to us. Live and learn…

We sailed back in beautiful conditions the next day. No more fish, unfortunately.

We took the boat out fishing today.  We actually tried yesterday, but it was blowing so hard (30 knots) that we came back early.  It was much nicer today, 15 to 20 knots.  We actually caught our first Hawaii fish, the cutest little tuna I have ever seen.  A Yellowfin, about 2 pounds.  So small he didn’t even take any drag off the reel.  I’d show a picture, but we dumped him back to grow up before we got the camera out.

In Hawaiian a tuna can be an “Ahi” if it is large, or if small, it is called a “shibi”.  This one we caught today was very much a shibi.

At first this seemed strange, having a different name for a small fish and a big fish of the same type. After a moments thought, we do it all the time in English.  Dog/Puppy  Cat/kitten Cow/calf.

Fishermen do it all the time everywhere for fish.  “Mine” is always bigger than “Yours”!

Karen picked out some awesome fillets of opah at the market the other day.  A traditional Hawaiian macadamia nut crust, served on stir-fried cabbage and we have dinner better than the fancy restaurants. If you have never tried opah (sometimes called “moon fish”) it is a special treat.  As good as the best swordfish.

Merry Christmas to everybody!

Tomorrow we’ll be attending the marina potluck dinner down the dock.  That should be fun!

OK, This one is tough.  I’ll give some hints, but first here is the object:

Feel free to click on it and get a full size image.

This was found in a shop on one of the very shi-shi shopping streets in Waikiki.  It was not for sale, it was a tool of the trade.

The shop sold a single type of item that varied in price from $350 to $1500. The proprietor was very proud of this thing, and explained that is was very rare and made by only one old family in Japan.  Since it had a description of what it was clearly printed on it, I had to smear that out to make it a challenge!  I left the manufacturers name  visible just in case somebody is better or more persistent with a web search than I was…

This morning as I was pouring my coffee I hear engines maneuvering a boat in the fairway.  I poke my head up and see a very large (47 feet) catamaran setting up for an approach to the dock in a strong cross wind.  They abort their first landing attempt, and back back out with the skipper making a phone call to the harbor office asking for help to get into the spot they assigned him because it is really tight.  Everywhere else in the world marina staff would jump to help a boat coming in.  After all the last thing they want is for a new customer  to play “bumper boat” as he tries to fit into a slip.

Not here…  The state of Hawaii “can’t accept the liability to help.”

Really???  It seems to me that marina staff SHOULD have a DUTY to help.  They SHOULD be skilled and they are available, and it is THEIR marina.

I know I always get in trouble with my lawyer friends when I say “but it SHOULD be that way.”  Well, it SHOULD be that the marina staff sitting on their hands when somebody asks for help SHOULD incur liability for problems resulting from their inaction. Let’s imagine the courtroom scene for a second…

[Lawyer] What did you do when the skipper threw you that line?

[Marina Staff] Nothing, I can’t accept liability for doing anything.

[Lawyer] You saw the boat drifting toward a collision with the other boat?

[Marina Staff] Yes

[Lawyer] And you did nothing?

[Marina Staff] I can’t take the liability of tying off that line.

[Lawyer] So you let the boat crash?

[Marina Staff]  It’s not my fault. I didn’t do anything.

Our dock neighbor who used to manage a marina in the Seattle area just shakes his head…

How did they get in to their spot?  I “incurred the liability” of helping them handle their lines like any sailor, anywhere in the world, would. Just like any responsible marina would help their customers.

<Morning time rant complete.  Back to our regularly scheduled programming!>

Our running joke here has been the weather forecast.  It has been the same every day.  82 or 82 for a high and 72 or 71 for a low. Then the big change-up, with the showers be “scattered”, or “isolated”?

But our forecast has now switched to “winter”. It is still 82 every day, but the forecast lows are all the way down to 65!  Oh! The horror!

I’m betting we aren’t getting much sympathy from the people who are living where there is real winter weather…

First is in the “It’s a small world” category: On Tuesday evening I discovered that I had let the holding tank (where the toilet water goes) fill to the tippy top.  So just as it is getting to sunset I rustle up Karen and we head over to the pump out station.  Nothing exciting, its pretty routine.  As we pull up to the pump-out dock two women are standing there to help catch our lines.  As we tie the boat up and pull in the lines, one of the women looks at me and says, “Bill?”  Turns out it is Anne, a former sailing student of mine who, after sailing around the world, lives on a boat here in the marina.

On the way back to our space we had a less pleasant surprise… I back the boat in toward the spot, and Karen uses the boathook to grab our bow line from the mooring ball. This is way harder than it looks, and she can’t quite get the line picked up.  I pull part way out, and this time I try, but with longer arms and a longer reach, I have no better success.  Now we are getting a bit crooked in the wind, so I pull all the way out into the fairway to set up for a second pass.  The sun has set now, and it is getting quite dark.

As I slowly idle down the fairway getting the boat lined up for another try, the engine stops.  It doesn’t falter, or sputter.  It goes from smooth running idle to absolutely nothing instantly. Hmmm…  we now have what we might call a “situation”.  We are pointed away from our slip, coasting toward a deadend on the dock, with a cross wind, with boats to the left and to the right. Karen gets on the phone and gets in contact with our neighbor to let him know we have a problem and to get his help from the dock.  I am looking for an empty slip I might be able to coast into, but not finding anything. I am trying to figure if I can sail myself out of this problem, but it is such a tight space I am not at all sure I have the turning radius to make it happen.

One thing about diesel engines.  There is almost nothing that causes them to stop that allows them to restart.  Almost always the cause is a problem in fuel delivery.  Almost always. Until you fix the problem, there is no point is trying to start them again.

Running out of options, I figure, what the heck… I turn the key and the engine fires right up.  OK, now I am confused, but I’ll take what I can get.  I start to back up toward our slip keeping everything slow.  I put the boat in forward to slow our backward progress, and the engine stops again.  It starts right back up.  Back close to the dock, I realize that I have reverse gear, but no forward.   To make the boat go forward, I roll out a sail, just long enough to get us moving in the right direction.

Now we are moving toward our slip slowly, downwind.  We have one chance to pick up the line from the mooring ball, which Karen gets on the first try. Our neighbor catches our bow lines, and we are home.  A few deep breathing exercises and a glass of wine, and I am almost relaxed again. We didn’t touch anything we weren’t supposed to touch, and we even looked pretty good in responding to out “situation”.

What happened?  I am not 100% sure yet, but my working hypothesis is we wrapped a line around the propeller.  Anne, (from the first story above) works here at the marina doing underwater maintenance for the boats.  When she gets a chance she’ll be by and have a look… Hopefully a few seconds with a knife and all will be good.

UPDATE:

Sending the waterproof camera over the side of the boat on a pole, shows the problem: That’s the propeller in the lower right of the picture.  And, no, it is NOT supposed to have that big wad of stuff wrapped around it…

Item #1: Is called a “Tuna Missile”  If you  hook a large tuna it is used to bring the fish into the boat without ruining meat by sticking it with a gaff.

The neck opens up, and you slide it over your line.  A heavy line is tied to the missile.  It is then dropped down the line.  When it reaches the fish, the pointy bits close around the head letting you haul the fish onboard without damaging the meat. It is popular with commercial fisherman for whom getting the highest price per pound is critical. There was a fish market in Oakland that I frequented where you could buy fresh tuna steaks for $14 to $18 a pound.  In the next case over were “trimmings” from the same fish for $3 a pound.  Frequently the trimmings were pieces with gaff holes, or other handling bruises. Worth a bit of extra knife work at home for the difference, but you couldn’t send a piece like that to the high end sushi restaurant. https://hiliner.com/product-catalog/gaff-hooks/tuna-missle/

A hint that might help with the second item, is that it is a modification of a traditional Hawaiian lure that was made with a large cowrie shell and a rock as weight instead of a painted egg of lead.

It is an octopus lure.  You lower it down to the bottom, the long pointy legs hold it upright.  In the clear water you watch… When an octopus comes out and grabs the painted part, thinking he has found his dinner, you yank it up, impaling the critter on the sharp upward facing prongs. Presto!  Octopus stew for your dinner!

An excursion today down to Pier 38 which is a central part of the fishing business here.  It is where most of the tuna boats offload their catches, and every morning is the site of the only fresh tuna auction in the United States.  Interesting, but we were there to visit POP, a large supplier to both the recreational and commercial fishing fleets.

A big store with great selection and surprisingly good prices.  If anybody has other fishing stores on Oahu they can recommend, do PLEASE post in the comments section!

But today I do have a quiz.  There were two items we came across for sale that when Karen asked me, “What’s that?” the best I could do was shrug my shoulders.  So her suggestion was that we use her pictures on the blog as another “quick quiz”.  I’ll do the “easy one” first..

First picture is a catalog photo of one ready to use, and the second picture is the one off the store shelf to give you an idea of scale…

Based on it’s name, and it’s location in the store and a close look at it, I did figure this one’s purpose and use.  If it helps, the one in my hand retails for $585.00

The second, I confess had me totally stumped.  I had no idea what it was or what it might be used for. This was in the recreational fishing part of the store. If you had told me they would have something there that would leave me baffled as to its use, I would have laughed…

Karen queried the staff and came back with the answer.  I am holding it in the orientation in which it is used.  To help, under my thumb is a ring to tie a line to, and the short pieces of tubing cover sharp points that would be exposed in use.

I can’t wait to hear your best guesses!  Answers posted here tomorrow…