9:45.7S 137:03.1W 3000 miles covered, 120 miles to go
Today I put out the fishing lines at dawn and Jezebel hooked us a 5 kilo Dorado (Mahi Mahi). I was involved in the morning radio call at the time so Andrea and Estella reeled it in (Bertie was still asleep after his night watch). It all went seamlessly and, after subduing with alcohol in the gills, Andrea dispatched it with a single stab through the eye, which was a lot more efficient and less gory than our past attempts have been.
There is a lot of wastage when you fillet a Dorado, but there is enough for four meals. We wanted to catch some white fish for some "proper" fish and chips, so tonight Bertie is making his beer batter once more.
We have about 18 hours to go, depending on the wind, so we should now arrive at around midday Marquesas time. As we get closer to the finish the cluster of yachts converges and we get to see the nearer ones on our instruments. This morning we were accompanied by Serendipity and Wind Dancer. Serendipity have since advanced to about 12 miles ahead of us and disappeared off our radar. We have spent the day between 2 and 3 miles ahead of Wind Dancer.
One of the fun competitions for each leg is to predict how long it will take your boat to sail the leg. Our guess was seventeen days and four hours, which would be 12:30 tomorrow, so we might come pretty close. One thing is certain, our guess of how many fish will be caught by the fleet (170) is not going to win any prizes, if our total of 3 is the average number per boat. (We have "caught" 21 flying fish but those do not count.