Brainstorm - Mahi mahi what a day, a fight and feast

Though our energy was high from the day before and our night on fire we must be fair: both took quite the toll. Chasing cloud to cloud under up- and half winds, continuously searching for- and adjusting to the apex winds that surround them. Also when not behind the rudder. Practically standing, walking, cooking and sitting on the walls, maintaining balance all day, is exhausting. Not to mention the rolling and beating while you’re in bed, prohibiting a proper recharge.

You can imagine we looked forward to more reaching winds (sideways from the back), as predicted in our models, to get our code-0 up as we get some rest in. Although the winds changed to our liking, even dropping for a while, only H&M reaped the benefits because… we fish when the winds drops!

To test our luck - and because we are tiered of Bonito tuna - we used a slightly bigger lure.. Just as I laid down for a nap it sounded like a speedboat was running away with our line, simultaneously followed by a big WTF from Hein. As I ran outside the rod, tied to the yacht, was bent in full to an unhealthy downward facing dog while an over the top exited Michiel was undoing the knots. Once loose there was no reeling in, michiel had the rod pointed straight to the water as the bite took over a honderd meters of line on top of the 90 already out yo start with. When reeling in we saw ominous splashes far behind the boat and someone jelled “F*ck! It’s a shark!!” Followed by a sad “We can’t eat those 😩.” Then a surprised “Where’s Menno!?” “How can he sleep already!”, “Still you mean!?!”, “Would he like to be woken for this..?”. If you want to wake someone fast-asleep try grabbing them by the legs and yell “THERE IS A SHARK! On the line, we think..” After some more splashes the tension rose when it started swimming towards us, now 4 strong, on the back of the Brainstorm. Zigzagging left to right followed as Michiel reeled it in and we started seeing shimmers of whatever was on the end of our line. The color seemed unnaturally bright. “It’s a mahi mahi!” I yelled followed by “What a beast” and Michiel’s “I’m going to kill you to death entirely!”. The last meters were easy until Hein tried to lodge our big hook into the gills. Splishady splash, splishady splash, I’m gonna make you work before you eat my ass. Once hooked Hein hoisted the enormous fish aboard in one swing, putting it in the middle of the deck and Menno more in the ceiling of the bimini than on the bench. The color was an unbelievably yellowish green, what a sight and what a fight! It took the full weight of Hein to hold this mahi mahi down as Michiel finished the job. The posing pictures that followed are priceless.

With well over a meter long -way to big for our cutting boards put together as well as our fish cleaning bucket- and at around 12kg we are in good stock of fresh protein for the coming days. A 2019 Verdejo was put on ice soon followed by 4 immense mahi mahi fillets. After cleaning the deck we enjoyed a cleaning ourselves with a warm swim as the winds were dim.

Mahi mahi what day, fight and a feast we had after that. None of us ever ate this fish before but we now recommend it as sashimi, ceviche as well as a butter baked steaks next to some tomatoes, aubergine, pepper, apricots and raisins couscous. Delicious!

The winds picked up once more as I went to bed and since I woke we’re sailing the code-0 and sometimes see the top of, what we believe to be, the What’s Next. From our and Las Palmas neighbor Chris with whom we’ve been in contact the past days, exchanging locations. Hope to see you soon good lad, good sir! Keep an eye out for a purple/red code-0 or better yet, if the winds allow, an orange womper!