After
much persistence, research and equipment buying, not to mention long discussions
in the Las Palmas fishing shop, Nick was ready to catch a fish. After 3 days at
sea, we had seen dolphins, flying fish and whales including an Orca very close
to our boat. However, Nick’s fishing line 40 meters behind Abraxas remained
redundant. Then it happened, suddenly there was tension on the line. Nick reeled
in the line and we could all see a large silver flash under the water as it came
closer. Paul grabbed the newly purchased gaff hook and we all marvelled at the
magnificent fish as it was hauled on deck. At least 3/4 metre long and we
guessed about 7 or 8 kilos, (probably much bigger by the time we get to the bars
of St Lucia!). Karen grabbed our “Sea life” book, containing details of almost
every creature that can be found above and below the world’s oceans and we
deduced the fish was a Blue Fin Tuna. Within a short time it was gutted and
filleted. Igor pointed out that we should have cut the fish into nice tuna
steaks rather than the chunks of meat we ended up with. This was however, our
first fish and a steep learning curve and didn’t stop Igor breaking out the
frying pan for an early taster. The real fish (and chips!) dinner was left to
Karen’s culinary talents later in the day, which was superb. The first of many
we hope.
Whilst
all this excitement was underway, we had the number 2 headsail on deck part way
through a repair. The leach of the sail had caught something on the front of the
mast and pulled about 5 meters of leach tape off the sail. Fortunately, Paul had
brought some very good double sided sail repair tape in his kit bag and after 3
hours of sewing and sticking, Igor and Gary had the sail flying again. This is
our favourite all-rounder sail so it was good to manage a repair.
As
we write Paul has his head buried in his ‘Guide to using the Sextant’. Each day
Paul has taken a sighting of the sun and after copious mathematics, asks for the
boats GPS position, only to grunt and go back to his calculations. Yesterday was
a breakthrough as his latitude is within 3 degrees and longitude close enough to
hit the USA, definitely improving.
Drew
is currently on the helm and has Abraxas bowling along at 8 knots as we
currently head into a South Easterly of 10-12 knots, looking forward to the
Trades kicking in and a flatter ride.
That’s
all for now folks, will write again soon and try and upload a photo of the catch
of the day.
From
the Crew of Abraxas, at 21*15’ N 022*10 W