Quote:
Originally Posted by naru
I praise you for your renegade pursuit! Ghetto fab indeed bring back the early 2ks
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Thanks!! It's funny but back in early 2000s when I built the skiff I did fish it a lot for tuna but eventually the twin outboards got so many hours on them I started to get nervous taking the boat offshore.
Running a small boat offshore is not like running a larger boat in that often you have to slow way down due to sea conditions. Sometimes I can be thirty or forty miles offshore and when the wind comes up I'll have to slow down to trolling speed and just slog it in uphill. I'm talking six knots or roughly twice the speed you paddle your kayak.
For instance once the wind came up Thursday it was bad enough that I instantly had to troll in and that meant six hours into the wind to get back to Dana, but at least it was daylight and I could fish. Another trip I was down at the 425 in Mexican waters with five big Yellowfin on board. I got that last fish at sunset, then after glassy conditions all day the wind switched to 20 knots out of the North. That meant roughly six hours directly into building seas in the dark where you could not see the waves coming. Once the gear is all stowed and you are in your foul weather gear that is a lot of time to think with nothing to do but feel the waves coming and try to avoid them. To maintain control and keep the boat from turning sideways in the confusion or rolling the boat.
Kayaking it's just you the boat and a paddle. Short of the paddle breaking all you have to worry about is your own fatigue. I've been 10 miles offshore with the sit inside I built when the winds hit but it's not the same thing. In a skiff you are completely dependent on technology.
It reminds me of something Lindburgh said about crossing the Atlantic. That his motor is turning at a set RPM, a individual piston spark plug is firing over a thousand times a minute and it needed to fire over a million times before he could successfully cross the Atlantic. All it would take is a few missfires a little carbon buildup, a series of events to stop that process and he'd end up helpless and alone in the middle of the Atlantic. Not to be too dramatic but these are the kinds of things you think about when your way offshore in a small boat alone.
Now that I got my new engine I'll be headed out more. That V twin Suzuki is amazing I fished all day Thursday out to 30 miles and only used around seven or eight gallons of fuel. This is the first trip in years where I felt totally confident about the boat and it's abilities. Glad to be back doing it, couldn't of picked a better year.
Jim