Short Takes: Bowsprits, Solar panels, LED's

I've been looking at installing a bowsprit on So It Goes and the process has been somewhat problematic but as they say there is light at the end of the tunnel having narrowed the choice down to two different kits and a home brew solution.. Forte have a neat kit for a carbon spar as do Selden for one in Aluminum...The problem is that both kits wind up costing quite a bit in that being in the land of dimensional shipping rates I am afraid to ask just what a nine foot tube costs to get down here. More on this subject in greater detail as soon as I make a decision...

While researching home brew bowsprit solutions I came across a great site for Beneteau 235 owners group which also had an interesting discussion on clever use of those cheap Volkswagen solar panels...I can recognize a good thing when I see it and already have several cunning plans for these cheap and small solar panels!

Couple of weeks ago I received the BEBI replacements for the Tricolor and anchor lights and will be reporting on their performance as time goes on. For the record anyone considering about the possible shipping hassles of buying gear from FIJI might be surprised to know that the shipping from FIJI to our mail service in the States is as quick ( and often quicker) than getting stuff sent from WEST or other Marine megastores...And you get neat stamps!

My place in the food chain part 1

I've been trying to make sense of my quiver of fishing and spear fishing gear on So It Goes and truth be told I have the too much stuff but sure could use some more blues...Has anyone ever actually had enough fishing gear?

Fishing from sailboats is partly art partly skill but mainly it is simply just having to remember to do it sort of thing. Face it the people who catch fish...fish.

Of course I hear a lot of complaints from cruisers who never seem to catch anything but I find if you ask them it mostly turns out that they very very seldom drag a line behind the boat...Well yeah that would be a good cause for not catching anything!

Of course another reason for not catching stuff is that most lures are designed for trolling at speeds a whole lot faster than the speeds done by most boats and those high price fish seduction machines with the rattles, sexy skirts and the come hither jet streams of bubbles at five knots just seem to look a lot like that geeky girl at the dance that no one wants to dance with and the Mahi Mahi and Wahoo have no intention of filling out her dance card either.

I have been meaning for a while to try out some of the offerings at Hawaii Fishing Lures who actually understand that fishing from sailboats is a bit different than ripping fishlips off from fifty foot custom sports fisherman with a gazillion teasers and suchlike trolling at eighteen knots. HFL has a dedicated section on Sailboat fishing which includes a very concise but excellent primer on fishing from sailboats. Certainly worth checking them out.

On the spearfishing front I just picked up a new three piece pole spear from Ray Odor who just may be selling one of the best bargains around these days. The spear is well built handsome and packs a wallop...Of course not to say I was not sorely tempted by the wonderful Gat Ku spears but will be buying one of the Gat Ku slip-tips and paralyzer tips which should round out my triggerless spearfishing quiver quite nicely!

Speaking of triggerless ( Pole spears and slings) there is something of a renewed interest these days as many places are putting restrictions and bans on speargun hunting ( a very misguided thing by the way) so if you care to be selective about what you catch triggerless is the way to go...Now days I reserve the use of my band gun for blue water and pelagic fish off soundings which is the best of both worlds.