Unfortunately, this nice start to the trip:
didn't last.
We had a problem with the holding tank that caused the V-berth to become unusable almost right after we departed, which meant that de cap bro and I were hot bunking in the salon area for most of the trip. I didn't mind as I had already known I'd be in the salon for the trip. Kind of like having a seat warmer for your bed. Bummer to mostly lose access to the V-berth, tho.
The weather turned sour after the first week, and with one or two days exception, it was kinda miserable most of the rest of the way. The cockpit was sealed up as best we could, but with the winds, the sea state, and the overall weather, it wasn't what you'd call a milk run. We knew we were going to be pointed to weather most of the way, but this was a little worse than I had expected. At one point we even hove-to for a half day because it was just too miserable to do much else. I slept through most of that.
On top of the weather, the autopilot broke, as it always does on pretty much every sailboat I ever set foot on. Here's how the conversation went before we left Honolulu:
chopstick: OK, so I need to let you know - every boat I've ever been on, the autopilot breaks. I'm an autopilot curse.
de cap: I've never had it break on any boat that I've been on.
chopstick: Hopefully your streak continues and mine stops here.
Sadly, it was mine that was to continue.
De cap fixed it a few times, but it was determined to stay broke so we eventually just gave up and hand steered most of the passage. That, along with the weather, was sad times.
Not all hope was lost, though - de cap made muffins a few times:
and they were the best muffins I've ever had, partly due to his mad baking skillz, partly due to the overall miserableness of the weather.
It wasn't just muffins, either - de cap bro continued his magic with some amazing dinners:
which was even more impressive given the tiny galley he had to work with:
which was constantly at a steep angle for most of the passage.
The weather got bad enough that we had to stop fishing for most of the remaining passage, but we did get a few more on board before that:
not pictured is a huge wahoo, a tiny little tuna, and a couple more mahi. We also effectively let one mahi go as the weather was just too rough to bring him in. I say effectively because he either made it off the hook or someone else came along and ate him.
de cap bro did eventually try to poison us with this:
but both de cap and I refused to eat it. It was the only thing we refused to eat in 23 days.
While the passage itself was pretty meh due to the ****ty weather, it was a blast sailing with de cap and de cap bro. These guys are consummate professionals. They know what they are doing and are very, very good at what they do. Mostly I just had to stay out of their way, not fall asleep on watch, and clean a dish every now and then. The weather put a damper on things (literally), but I'd sail with these guys again in a heartbeat. At no point was I ever concerned for my safety, and de cap never once asked me to do anything I wasn't absolutely sure he'd be willing to do himself. You guys should definitely try and wheedle your way onto one of his passages if you can.