FROM FISHING AND OTHER BLODDBATHS

From Fishing and other Bloodbaths !

POSITION : 22°30•3' N 029°14•1' W
DATE/TIME : 2/12 at 15:20 UTC
MOOD : CONSTANTLY IMPROVING

We  really have a lot of catching up to do. After the disappointing third day where we made little progress because of the problems with the pole, the genoa, the wind direction and its speed, we are improving however. 
Our strategy to follow the more northerly , more direct route seems to work finally. 
The wind has changed from a very strong E-NE to an equally, but for us much better wind from SE. 
For 7 days now, we did not have more than one hour with the wind strength significantly below BF 7. And you know what ? In case it does, we immediately say :
 Where is the wind gone?  
I would have never expected to be happy by sailing for a week now in gale force winds. 

Besides that, we at least are confident again with our genoa, so we let her fly. We have also detected some chafe at the outhaul of our main sail, so we change positions once in a while. Other than that difficult to say. 
Nobody so far has volunteered to go up the mast to control the halyards . 
So let's hope all is well. 
And again, we have now settled in and do our own things. : 
FISHING !
  


Subject: Champagne - what a "bloodbath
Date :    2 December 2012, TIme 18:32:09 UTC
to :          World Cruising Events


""We had a bloodbath today on our boat. It all started well though. We decided fishing, Pieter and Ian that was, and after 2 hours of untangling the fishing line, we finally got it into the water. 
First with a bait that had landed on the boat during the night : 
Quite a large species of a Flying Fish. 
What a mess . 
All skin particles flying around, and bleeding through " the nose " this poor devil of a creature. 
Anyway, dead is dead, so we had left it lying there in the cockpit until somebody had the good idea to put it into a bucket filled with seawater. To keep it fresh, so to speak. 
Not for us though, but as a bait for more things to come.

Now at this stage I have to explain that none of us is a great "FIsherman" or FIsherwoman" to that extent. 
The closest I personally get to dead fish is on 
the fish market in Venice or any fishmonger in a big city. 
All nicely sliced up and filleted, packed in the plastic wonders of this world and ready to be fried at home.

Here it is different. 
You have to touch these beasts. 
And they smell !
 Anyway, we had tried to fish before on our long journey from Croatia to Gran Canaria, and have a guess : Exactly, not one single fish did we catch.
 Fantastic ! 
No mess in the cockpit, no smelly fingers. 
But now, as everybody from the ARC participants showed with pride their fishing gear, we bought a book, in order to distinguish between a shark, a whale, and any other fish or mammal that might get caught in our long line.
 
Then we looked into the Collision Regulations to see what 
signal is required for FISHING VESSELS
and hissed the two cones with the top ends facing each other ( like an eggtimer ) , and off went the line with the 'poor fishy' attached to it. 
And it was gone in a second ! 
Not by virtue of having attracted a shark or else, but it was gone due to the fact that we did not attach it properly. Who wants to have all this blood or the guts in the cockpit.
So new efforts were made, a proper and newly purchased bait was attached, the line was launched, 3 minutes gone and have a guess : 
We caught our first Mahi Mahi ! 
Or better, Pieter and Ian caught their first Mahi Mahi. 

---

Can anybody see the 'sardine'. No it's a Mahi-Mahi ( or dolphin )

Whilst Pieter got the hook to get it on board, we all made a runner in fear of Pieter slipping the very sharp hook not only into the fish but also into us. Remember the wind here where we are is still constantly blowing with BF 7. 
But it was not us but him who got injured. 
Fell on his bum , the poor sod, and hurt the same in an instant to the effect that 
he 
decided to have a rest from fishing. 

---

That really got me in the right mood. The flipping fish in the cockpit, shredding his skin and spluttering blood all over the cockpit, I decided that Sashimi should become a part of our today's menu.
Got the knife out in BF 7 
and began to skin and fillet the fish. 
What a disaster. 
I had a bloodbath at my fingertips - 
literally speaking. 
First the animal, then my fingers. 
Uncountable plasters tell the story.

---

Anyway, I gave up, hacked the fish into pieces, and instead of Sashimi  we had fried fish pieces. 
Not bad actually.
The new rule on the boat is as follows : 
Those who still dare to fish clean up the mess as well. 
For some hours now nobody talked about volunteering for tomorrow. Good. 
Fati proposed to kill the remaining water melon. 
That's what I call clean cooking !

Master Mike.
ps : Don't worry, we didn't hiss the fishing cone ! ""

To finish this story: Today these two enthusiasts tried again. Everybody else went early enough into hiding. But no worries, Mr "Knotty", that is Pieter because every rope or line  he touches he gets by miracle a knot into it, lost the line. He claims to have put it onto a cleat, but nobody believes him. And my new and perfect lure went with it. 
Oh dear, Pieter, Pieter.