Going to the Dogs
Suzie Too - Western Caribbean
David & Suzanne Chappell
Mon 18 Oct 2010 17:12
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Well here we are on Monday morning sailing down to the
Canaris (Dog) Islas and at 0615z I hook into THE largest fish ever, played him
for about 10mins and couldn't hold the line against the pull. The peg we use as
a trip just exploded as it powered up out of the water several times. I
called to Suzanne up to come and help me haul it in, but it had gone, the lure
and hook are damaged but the 100kg line is intact - shit - was really excited
there, just hoping it wasn't Marlin, but not this side of the Atlantic or
this far north I think possibly a Blue Fin Tuna, but most probably a
Dorade, as it was a loner and when you hit a shoal of fish we usually get 2, one
on each line, hmm.. make a note slow the bloody boat down next time -
bummer.
We left Portimao on Friday (Ancasta had agreed a extra
10 days with the VAT office - so now 22 Oct) after hurricane Otto had died and
the swell was settled and had a great sail for about 12 hours - the first 2 or 3
not in the right direction - but hey, you can't get it all, it was vaguely
south. Not even John Wayne ever got the horse, the money and the girl. After
that the wind died, it was just like the doldrums as we sat in a low pressure
system with big towering weather systems around us, grey, overcast and slightly
ominous, so another 26 hours of motoring with winds at 3kts and
less.
But the the wind gradually filled in, we launched good
old Big Blue (now to be called Old Blue - cos it ain't that big on this boat),
our cruising chute from the Moody and all went well, we haven't launched our
roller furling Code 0 yet - but it's blue and looks like a Python on the deck -
maybe Python Lee Jackson - wasn't he an old rock star or am I hallucinating
again.
So we are now heading for Las Plamas on Gran Canaria,
never part of our plan but, hey this is a boat, and Ancasta have 2
engineers down here for the week so we are meeting up with them to get a
few minor things checked, but otherwise all seem to be going well - Oops - never
say that on a boat.
Bloody fish - bugger - you can say that on a boat -
bugger
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