Turning the page

Scot Free III
Frank & Anne
Mon 20 Feb 2017 09:04
16:22N 042:40W @ 08:00 GMT
Winds light at F3 E/ENE, Swell about 1m, clear starlight night. No Squalls. Poled out Cruising Chute up since first light Sunday.

Despite the electronics I still prefer to use a paper chart for long passage making, you can see so much more than on a plotter screen and it's a good fallback if a fuse blows. Finally, I have been able to turn the folded paper chart over and plot a position on the side showing our planned destination. Seeing how far you have to go is much nicest than looking at how far you have come. I could always rip the boat apart and build a bigger chart table, but folding the chart is cheaper.

Well, the book was right about fish only feeding near the surface at dawn or dusk. At 06:00 (local boat time) with an hour left of my watch and of A's off-watch sleep (understandably about which, she was none too pleased), the new reel proved its worth. I simply couldn't have handled it with a rod, just too dangerous on a precarious sugar scoop. The Mahi is a powerful fish and one of the fastest in the ocean. This one was huge and we managed to cut eight large steaks and a tail fillet which was sliced and marinaded in lemon juice, to make Ceviche, enough for two meals. Lunch of Ceviche, cucumber salad and freshly baked French loaf. Dinner of pan fried Mahi Mahi steak potatoes and veg. Doesn't get much better than that. A. even got a couple of good photographs, though she is still, unfairly, amortising the cost of the equipment over the number of catches. A £50 Fish Curry tonight apparently.