GETTING READY

This trip started with a flurry of activity when I left my job in July. The next few months were spent getting Michi ready for extended cruising. This included adding refrigeration (gotta keep the cerveza cold), Solar Power, High Frequency Radio (Ham radio so I can get weather faxes to see all of the storms hitting the states - can you say El Nino?), and a sturdy anchor and windless (just in case El Nino visits Mexico). Getting ready included daily trips to West Marine where I think I bought one of everything they had.

And of course, I learned Scott's Rules for Boat Projects.

FISHING

One area where I did not find a lot of written material was data about how to fish from a cruising boat. I wanted to find out what equipment to buy and techniques on how to fish. Since I was a fresh water fisherman I did not know a lot about ocean fishing or trolling. I will focus on trolling and leave fishing at anchor for someone else. Here is some of what I learned.

To start with, there are three basic types of fishing rigs you can use while sailing. These are:

1. A Cruising Kit (The best and easiest!)
2. A bait tackle reel with trolling rod (like the Powerboats use)
3. A spinning rod and reel (What you may already have. But better left for anchor)

All three above can be used while under sail. I will outline the equipment and techniques for using each below. You can also use a bait casting net. From personnel experience I've seen these work real well. While moored at Marina Mazatlan I was sitting in the boat when I heard a large splash and bunch of yelling in Spanish. I rushed to the deck to see one of the local's haul up a load of bait fish using a bait casting net thrown right under the bow of my boat. He hauled up 4-5 bait fish plus two large Red Snappers! I could not believe it. What makes this ironic is that the Sport Panga fleet moor's on the dock I was at. They take tourist out up to 50 miles away to go fishing (a lot of time for Red Snapper). The tourist come back all gray if the seas are rough. And all along they never had to leave the dock. No wonder they post a sign "No Fishing in the Marina"!. Since bait casting nets are an advanced topic I will save this for another time.

Cruising Kit

This is the easiest and most fool proof method of fishing. Basically its a line with a lure you throw off the back of the boat (make sure one end is attached). No fancy gear required. This is what the local fisherman use. You can buy cruising kit versions that are more fancy (they cost from $50-100), or you can make your own. They consist of the following parts:

The rubber shock absorber is designed to take the load of the fish when it strikes and while it's fighting. The nylon line is attached to each end with enough run between the middle to take the its entire stretched length. You will notice in the picture that I have a loop on the end. I just wrap this around a cleat and drop the rest off the back. The line only needs to play out about 30-50 feet or so. It's OK to be in the turbulence of your wake because it is the action of the lure that attracts the fish. You don't need a lot of line. The 'business' end of the nylon line is connected to a swivel with a snap (so you can change lures). The lure portion is another swivel attached to 6 feet of steel leader (Steel so fish with sharp teeth don't snap the line and take your $10 lure), attached to another swivel that attaches to the lure. (I have it setup so each lure has it's own leader. In the above picture the lure is a Rapala Magnum which I find works the best. )

When dragging these things at slow speeds (Below 5 knots), I use the Rapala. Above 5 knots I can use the squid or feather. It's best if your lure is splashing on the top of the water because it is this action that attracts the fish and makes him strike. (You can even see them following the boat sometimes before they strike.)

Once you have a fish on the line (He will be dragging on the surface) you can drag him till he dies or pull him aboard alive. Be sure to have a hook ready. I like to get them aboard fast because now he is bait. One time I forgot to check and all I pulled aboard was a fish head from a 24 inch skipjack. I would have loved to have gotten the fish that got the rest!

The Pro's of this system is that it is easy to use (No hard setup, no technique), Cheep to buy (The whole thing can be had for the cost of a low priced trolling reel) and it works. When sailing and you get a fish, just drag 'em aboard. No fighting required. This is also the only Con. You loose some of the 'sport' in fighting a fish. In essence you are hooking meat for dinner. You will only be able to get a pre-made kit from a Fishing Tackle store in San Diego. You can buy the Lures and leader at Siegle's of Oakland since they are only one of two Bay Area stores that specialize in Salt water gear.

Fishing Lures

There are a number of ways to attract fish to your line while trolling. The simplest is to use a lure. The following are what I use the most:

It is the action of the Lure that gets their attention. The Squid and Feathers get the fishes attention best by bouncing on top of the water. For these you need to be going Fast. Ideal is from 6-8 knots. (Powerboaters troll with these around 8 knots). I have caught Dorado with a Squid at around 5 knots so speed is not always important. (Luck?). Local fisherman use feathers (mostly because the are cheaper and easy to make.) These are the types you get in a pre-made Cruising Kit.

The Rapala gets the fishes attention by 'swimming' in the water. The hooked nose actually drives the lure underwater. I think these lures are best at slower speeds (Under 5-6 knots). So I use them a lot! I show two sizes of the Rapala Magnum because it's the smaller of the size that I get the fish on. (Lots of Sierra!). The larger is great if you are going after the bigger fish (Like Dorado).

When I'm trolling both the Rapala and the Feather it's the Rapala that lands the fish!

You will only be able to buy these lures in stores that deal in Saltwater fishing gear line Siegle's of Oakland.

HIGH FREQUENCY RADIOS

This was a completely foreign topic to me. At first, I was not planning on getting one of these things. Then a friend of mine asked: How are you going to get your weather information? I don't know, I replied. I thought I could get it from the VHF like I do now. "No way" was the answer.

In a nutshell, you need a SSB radio that also is Ham equipped. This is how you get your weather (via the nets or weatherfax). There are other ways to get weather info, but SSB/Ham also lets you contact other boats that are out of VHF range. So just for it's social function you need one.

Since I new nothing about SSB there were a lot of issues for me. Like how to install it, what is the right radio, do I need a Ham license, etc. So I went to the local Ham stores, "SSB" they said, "What's that?", I went to West Marine: "SSB, how do you spell that?", I finally went to a place in Alameda called HF Radio. Here, they understood SSB and got me started.

I won't go into the technical details. HF Radio or other SSB savvy stores can help you. But even after going through the learning curve and using the contraption in Mexico I learned a few things.

Here they are:

1. Buy a SSB radio that supports Ham frequencies (send and receive) Most of the maritime Ham nets use Ham frequencies and not the marine SSB frequencies. One benefit is that you can get phone patches to the states and call friends at home. Usually, you can give a phone card number to one of these guys on the net, they keep it and use it to make the call for you (you may not always get a States-based ham in the area where they can make a local call.)

2. Make sure that it's REAL easy to change frequencies. My radio (ICOM 710) has to have the Send and Receive frequency programmed into memory before I can talk. A real pain, but my dealer at HF Radio made the changes for me to make it easy.

3. You need a HAM license. Minimum, Get a Technician license. This license is useless in itself, but with a Mexican Provisional license you can use ALL the Ham frequencies. If you are out of Mexican Waters you will need a "General" license. This requires a 5 word per minute Morse code test. (Not easy), but you will be able to talk on most of the frequencies that the Nets run on world wide.

4. Get a laptop and a weatherfax program. With the laptop connected to your HF radio, you can download weather faxes. (see the schedule in PDF format). Weatherfax software usually comes with the hardware to connect the radio to your computer.

5. Listen to the advice on getting your radio installed or get it professionally installed. The antenna installation is critical to the proper working of your radio. Don't skimp here.

Some Links:

National weather service marine products dissemination pages (information on weather fax and other marine weather products)

Worldwide Radio fax page (general info, software, hardware, etc.)

WEATHER

Adding Refrigeration

(or why I need to change the engine coolant to get cold beer)

So here is what a boat project looks like. Every project must have a goal. Now, the goal is to keep the beer cold. This can be done in one of two ways. Buy ice and stick it in the icebox or add refrigeration. Now, since buying ice is a lousy boat project I decided to add refrigeration.

Now there are many types of boat refrigeration. Without going into lots of detail, I picked a cold plate that is powered by 12/120V so It works at the dock. Great if you hangout a lot in the marina. So, what does it take to install this unit. Well, first you need enough electricity to run the thing, second, you need a well insulated ice box, and lastly you have to install the cold plate and compressor unit (the easy part.)

First is the ice box. Since my boat is a production model, the ice box insulation was to thin for the tropics. So, I need to make the walls thicker. To do this I ripped out the cabinets, built a new frame and added an additional 2-4 inches of foam. I added the foam on the outside because I already had a small icebox. Also, because the outside of the icebox is now bigger, I have to move stuff, like the water heater. Since this is warmed by the engine I have to disconnect the thing from the engine, which means I have to drain the engine coolant and lengthen all the hoses that go to the thing. See how things multiply!

Next the electricity. I need enough electricity to run the frig without running an extension cord to California. This is about 50-80 amp hours a day. So I decided I need multiple sources of juice: Solar panels and the Diesel engine. For the solar panels I decided to mount these on an arch on the stern. This required building an arch (shops wanted $2K). I also had to add a regulator. For the engine, I upgraded the alternator so that I could charge the batteries in less then an hour. All in all, these modification proved to be very effective. Most of the time, the solar panels ran everything. I could go days without running the engine.