AO17 Marlin
Moxie - Beck Family Adventure
Mike, Denise, Asia and Aranya Beck
Wed 4 Dec 2013 12:14
10 knots NE, sog 5.5, dir 281, 28 Celsius, a very calm puddle we are in.
Reevaluating things what we have rather than a very slow Atlantic crossing is a very good Atlantic fishing expedition.
Yesterday we hooked what we think was a marlin, he got off but gave a very impressive and noisy run on the reel, then did a few tail walks and jumps for us trying to spit the hook. Unfortunately I got a bit carried away with the drag setting fearing he would spool us, and that would definitely have happened as this guy was huge. Anyway, reel screaming its head off I figured the drag was too loose or hardly on so cranked it up and up but it was having no effect on slowing the fish down until finally I overcooked it and the line broke. So now we don't have any big (foot long with 30mm diameter head) lures left. If. I had the proper gear then I guess things would be different and we'd be wondering what the heck to do with a hundred kilos of fresh fish. I'm using a penn 6.0 star drag reel spooled with 25 kg line, need a 9.0 2 speed lever drag reel, actually need 2 of those. The other rod has a small (cheap brand) lever drag reel but it's pretty dead after the 2 hour fight last week. (Dave, is it Ok to write about the fish we are not catching?)
Brian won skipBo last night and made a green curry. Jenny has been helping the girls with school and they are model students in her hands. Asia and I have been making soft shackles with old bits of rope, Denise ceaselessly finds all the jobs the that rest of us don't notice.
We are getting at least half a knot more speed from the asymmetric than the parasailor in some conditions so are still experimenting to squeeze everything we can. The parasailor at 140sqm is about 40sqm too small for this boat. Asymmetric is very light weight fabric and we have been advised not to push it past about 16kts, well we don't see that often. So bigger parasailor, and a code zero on the new sails wish list.
Bit more wind and boat speed so ETA becoming more respectable.