sail trolling Santa Cruz, 6/8/23

I fished SC yesterday in my AI, launching at just after 6:00am, covering a hair under 9 miles in a tad over 5 hours. The weather was nice, and it was perfect sail trolling conditions, with only 1 hour where my sails were furled and I was supplying all of the trolling power.

Fishing-wise, it was slow early, but there seemed to be a solid bite for at least the last 90 minutes I was on the water. I got a fair number of blues and olives, with a couple of the blues being plus-sized. I tossed them all back, as I was after big game, and I had my chance...

I was out in deeper water than I'd usually troll, and hooked into something hefty, hefty, hefty. I had a ton of line out, as I was trolling pretty fast, and that was the only way I could keep it near the bottom. After about 10 minutes of back-and-forth, I thought I finally had it under control, but it decide otherwise, and made a strong run, got to the bottom, and broke off my leader. What a bummer! I'm not sure what it was either---usually, after that length of time it would be clear whether it was a halibut or lingcod or whatever, but I didn't get a clear feel, so it'll forever be a mystery.

Btw, the otolith lady was at the dock when I landed. I asked if she'd seen many exotic deep-water rockfish, and she said only a few so far, and mentioned Green Spotted RF and Greenblotched RF. Imagine trying to distinguish between those two...

Anyways, sailing back to the harbor was the highlight of the day, and it almost made up for the lost lunker. Almost.

Here's a long, boring sailing video, with me jabbering nonsense much of the way...

Looks like a fun ride. My AI with the Suzuki 2.5hp max out at 7-8mph. You getting 8mph for free seems like a great deal. I noticed your bow did not submerge at all. I remember the last time I sailed my AI (probably over 10 years ago) in Alameda, the bow kept submerging. Did you put counter weight on the back of the kayak? Also, what is that thing on the port side? Looks like a haka with a bait tube.

I got view number 2  . Sure looked like a fun sail!  I dont know how you control all those lines though.  I have a hard time with the main sheet and furling lines.  . Nice to hear your getting some action, but too bad about the big tug that broke off. I saw your car on the camera and was patiently waiting   

Thanks for the report and video NM.

Looks like a fun ride. My AI with the Suzuki 2.5hp max out at 7-8mph. You getting 8mph for free seems like a great deal. I noticed your bow did not submerge at all. I remember the last time I sailed my AI (probably over 10 years ago) in Alameda, the bow kept submerging. Did you put counter weight on the back of the kayak? Also, what is that thing on the port side? Looks like a haka with a bait tube.

As for the submerging bow, I've had that issue in the past too, especially with a trailing swell. In those kinds of conditions, I've sometimes been afraid of pitch-poling even when I was only going 4-5 mph. But, this year, I modified things and I think I'll be able to avoid that problem. I had a short 6" bowsprit previously, but I've extended it to about 16". That changes the angle of the jib, so that it should now be pulling the nose up, rather than pushing it down. Time will tell if it works in all conditions, but it certainly seemed to work as planned yesterday.

Now if I can just figure out how to carry a 3rd sail for going downwind...

I dont know how you control all those lines though.

I tie the 2 lines for the main together, so that's just 1 to keep track of. The jib adds 3 more lines, but one of them is just for furling and unfurling, and it's out of the way. The other 2 are a little more problematic when fishing. Then there is one for the mast topper, but that rarely has to be touched.

I fished SC yesterday in my AI, launching at just after 6:00am, covering a hair under 9 miles in a tad over 5 hours. The weather was nice, and it was perfect sail trolling conditions, with only 1 hour where my sails were furled and I was supplying all of the trolling power.

Fishing-wise, it was slow early, but there seemed to be a solid bite for at least the last 90 minutes I was on the water. I got a fair number of blues and olives, with a couple of the blues being plus-sized. I tossed them all back, as I was after big game, and I had my chance...

I was out in deeper water than I'd usually troll, and hooked into something hefty, hefty, hefty. I had a ton of line out, as I was trolling pretty fast, and that was the only way I could keep it near the bottom. After about 10 minutes of back-and-forth, I thought I finally had it under control, but it decide otherwise, and made a strong run, got to the bottom, and broke off my leader. What a bummer! I'm not sure what it was either---usually, after that length of time it would be clear whether it was a halibut or lingcod or whatever, but I didn't get a clear feel, so it'll forever be a mystery.

Btw, the otolith lady was at the dock when I landed. I asked if she'd seen many exotic deep-water rockfish, and she said only a few so far, and mentioned Green Spotted RF and Greenblotched RF. Imagine trying to distinguish between those two...

Anyways, sailing back to the harbor was the highlight of the day, and it almost made up for the lost lunker. Almost.

Here's a long, boring sailing video, with me jabbering nonsense much of the way...

Looks great, the rig can add 2mph easily, next time if you prepare an other rig set, can you make two set? I would like to buy one set from you

Looks great, the rig can add 2mph easily, next time if you prepare an other rig set, can you make two set? I would like to buy one set from you

It's good to hear from you, Mr. X! And, thanks for the the spinnaker--my next project is to figure out how to carry that too, so I can get better downwind performance.

I'd say that the jib gave me about a 50% boost in speed. It was near optimal conditions for it, so that's probably a best-case scenario, but a boost of a couple mph is realistic under a lot of conditions. That might not sound like much, but on one of your long days on the water, it would add up to a lot of miles.

The first thing that's needed is a mast topper, then the bowsprit is kind of important (and a bit tricky). Other than those things, it's fairly easy. I might be able to rig one up for you but, realistically, it's not going to happen until winter...

Was curious about the strain on your mast, as I saw a few videos of collapsing masts under strong wind on TI's.  Does the jib add to the strain, or is was it just purely the wind on the main?  I don't know why I'm rhyming...

  (Allain)

Great video NWM.

Was curious about the strain on your mast, as I saw a few videos of collapsing masts under strong wind on TI's.  Does the jib add to the strain, or is was it just purely the wind on the main?  I don't know why I'm rhyming...

The strain, it’s plain, is mainly from the main…

I was actually looking at this after I furled the jib. I couldn’t see much difference, which was somewhat surprising, and reassuring. The Hobie mast does flex quite a bit, almost like a windsurfer mast.

I’ve read about some broken masts on the Hobie forum, and the consensus there was that a rivet in the sail rubbed on the mast, resulting in a weak spot near the base. With my AI, I think that the 1/4” threaded rod that connects the stainless mast supports to the base of the boat would probably give way before the mast. This goes double for front-to-back force, which is why some sort of back stay is needed with any head sail (jib, spinnaker, etc.). That threaded rod is worth checking once in a while. On the TI (and possibly on 2015 and newer AIs), it’s 5/16, so there’s no risk of it breaking.

Sweet video. Makes me want to get into sailing

Makes me wanna take my AI out for a sail. Thanks for the report, sorry about that biggun you lost...just tell yourself it was a rock and you'll feel better.

I have a hard time with the main sheet and furling lines.  .

+1...same here, 2 lines is enough for me.  I probably couldn't manage that all those lines in the video lol

Well it had been a while, but I felt like during my last outing that it was a lot harder than I remembered just keeping those lines clear and ready to use when needed.  But I guess it sounds pretty easy, just for me it would still probably end up like this: