HMB Hobie Sail and Crab Chill 11/10/12

Arrived just after 7am to see all the guys already rigged and ready to go; 6 AIs and 1 other peddler. Scrabbled to get my gear together to make there launch, no luck.... to slow....

On the water by 7:45, at my crabbing grounds by 8:30; greeted by wind waves, wind and swells as I exited the jaws. Dropped my gear and wondered aimlessly about while my pots soaked; contemplating for 2.5 hours whether or not to use my fishing pole....

After an 1.5 hours, I pulled my first pot to see what quality was in it, 1 rock and 3 shorties; not looking to promissing. Wondering if I indeed washed the mojo from the kayak last week. I moved the pot closer to my other pots; hoping that the area that produced last weekend, will come thru again.

Decided not to pull the other pots and let them soak; and the rigged my pole with the basic, hook, line and sinker. Pulled a bunch of croakers up before I got a good tug on the pull; turned out to be a nice starry flounder...

After another 1.5 hours had pasted, heard over the radio that GB2 was pulling his gear and heading in... So I decided with the current weather conditions, that wasn't a bad idea.

2nd pot produced 3 keepers, 1 sport and 2 commies / 3 pot another 3 commies / 4th pot = 2 sport & 2 commies... LIMIT!! wahoo!!! Went back to re-pull the 1st pot, 1 commie and 2 jumbos.... which I let Sailfish and Num-Ba-Won  pull...

Meet the fleet back on land; Hot Links, Clam Chowder and snacks awaiting me...

We encounter some challenges today, but I will let other elaborate.... Mine was an awesome dismount off the kayak just before shore when my calf muscle cramped up...

Glen

Good crabbing with you Glen. It was good sailing, fair crabbing, and poor paddling/peddling. 10-12 kt NW and mixed swell 6/2 was interesting. Launched with  Pat, Ray, Sonny, Mike, Martin, and Glen. Headed south a few miles and dropped 5 ambush hoops and 2 102,s. Sailed out to the reef and green buoy with Pat. Sailing conditions were good and it was a blast. Didn't fish because when we got to the reef it was gnarly with breakers on the north section. Headed back and pulled my hoops/pots after a 1 hour soak. Pulled 15 legal dungies, 1 jumbo, 8 commies and 1 sport (kept). Great shore lunch with da boyyz. Hai made a cameo appearance. A few technical problems which I won't get into and I apologize for saying that Sonny is in the AI Hall of Shame.  It was really fun except for the upwind slog. Life is good.

Scott

man i was hoping a better report on the weather conditions.dont really want to put on my wetsuit.glad you guys had a good time.

That's it...my reputation is ruined only after 2nd sailing trip  I guess a busted sail and leg cramp due to sleepless night are not good enough for excuses huh?    I will post pictures and report later as I need to clean the dirty gears and cook the crabs.

Unfortunately, I dont have any crab porn; only took one photo with my camera, here it is...

Uh oh...Martin the man on the pulling end of a ow rope. What was the technical issue Sonny?

Uh oh...Martin the man on the pulling end of a ow rope. What was the technical issue Sonny?

The mask/sail popped out from the top rendered the sail unusable.  My on/off leg cramps didn't help!  Martin was the hero saving my day! 

Uh oh...Martin the man on the pulling end of a ow rope.

he numbawon!!!! {say it with a REAL heavy oriental accent}


(ps: my leg if fricken killing me; feels like a big knot in my calf, that won't go away....)

(ps: my leg if fricken killing me; feels like a big knot in my calf, that won't go away....)

I know "exactly" how you feel!!! 

Sonny did the sail just slip off the top or was there some actual failure?

Sonny did the sail just slip off the top or was there some actual failure?

It slipped off the pole top.  Not sure what's missing afterward!  I did have fun sailing it before it happened.  Here is a little video clip:

I went out of Doran today and ended up helping a brother AI man. His rudder broke in real strong winds. He was drifting helpless across the bay. Wrote it up on the members forum. Doran was REAL windy this afternoon.

It was my first time crabbing, I had fight from losing my lunch all day but I did manage to pull up some crab. I had a great time hanging out with the AI crab crew, thanks for all the help and thanks Scott for putting it all together .

PatR

WTG on the dungies fellas.  Super cool of you Martin to give Sonny a tow.

Jedmo

I came back to Benicia in the evening and by the time I loaded all the gears it was almost midnight.  Can't find the crab gauge so I had to borrow one from ScubaLuis.  Tried to get some sleep but just tossed and turned so by 3am I decided to leave for HMB.  Got there about 4:30am and tried to sleep in the truck but it's a cold night so couldn't sleep either!  Started to unload gears around 6am and waited for the guys to show up.  We launched around 7am in light wind and calm water inside the harbor but a little choppy outside the protected harbor.  We sailed to the sandy beach and dropped our crab pots then I followed Scott to the reef to do some fishing.  By the time I got to the reef, the wind and swell picked up so I turned around and heading back to the crabbing ground.  The drift was fast so I had to constantly pedaling to stay in place and the strong NW wind made it worse.  By the time I pulled up the pot to check for crabs and sorted them out , I would drift about 1/4 mile and had to fight the current & wind to get back!  After pulled both pots I got close to a limit so decided to head in.  About a mile pedaling into the head wind, I felt my legs tightened up so I decided to zigzag to gave my legs a rest.  About my 2nd zigzag, I heard a loud popped and my sail dropped down and slapped me on my face.  I quickly rolled it up but since then it's not working any more.  I called Scott on the radio and let him know my condition and continued to head in using my mirage drive.  I slowly made progress but about a mile later my legs cramped up so I got to stop and called Scott for assist but he already inside the harbor and couldn't hear me.  I was thinking about landing at the beach and rest for awhile to recover from my cramp but luckily Martin and Glen came to my rescue and towed me in.  We chilled next to the HMB Kayak and left around 4pm.  Thank you Scott for the hookup, Ray for helping me with the gears, and Martin for saving my day.  I love our brotherhood in NCKA!