Day 17

Sunrise – 0815

Wind – 15 – 20knts

Speed – 7-8knts

After the previous night’s rain, it was nice to wake up to sunshine and broken clouds. The wind was also gradually getting stronger and by 08.20 hrs we were able to turn off the engine and sail along peacefully. But this peace was soon shattered – Dez and Tony, who were on watch, hade been joined by Gareth for an early morning chat. Suddenly all hell broke loose when the fishing rod bucked and the line screamed off the reel at an alarming rate, we had hooked a runaway train!! Tony, who was closest leapt for the rod and as he was about to take it out of its holder, the rod snapped below the reel. Away flew the whole lot to land in the sea about 20 yards behind the boat. All Tony had left in his hand was the butt end, the rest was gone. Dez and Gareth were beside themselves with laughter, but the serious matter of telling Dennis, who was asleep, the bad news was still to come. The response was to chuck the remains in as well!! We’ve no idea what fish took a fancy to the lure, but somewhere mid-Atlantic, a fish is towing a rod and reel around and can swim at the speeds of a Birmingham to Euston express!! The wind gradually built during the day so by evening we were racing along at 7.5 – 8 kts and our ETA in St Lucia fell dramatically, after all, there are parties to get to. Before nightfall we all enjoyed another fresh fish supper with Dennis having cooked the previous day’s catch superbly, Bistro Gwawr is maintaining its reputation.