The one that got away

Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Tue 16 Apr 2013 10:28
3:53.83S 135:49.12W 16 April 10am UTC (2am local time)

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
On Sunday afternoon we heard the sound of the reel going off. Quickly John
slowed down the boat and Mike rushed to the rod, they had a fish on the
line! What proceeded, was an epic battle of man against fish! For the first
40 mins or so, John and Mike took turns trying to reel in the fish, with
limited success. John then focussed on manoeuvring the boat with the engines
and thrusters, giving Mike a better angle on the line. But each time Mike
reeled in a whole lot of line, that fish would fight back and swim down,
taking with it so much line, that at one point the reel nearly ran out. But
Mike fought on, for another 2 hours, standing with his harness, sweating and
fighting that fish.
Eventually he got the fish about 20m off the boat and we could see it - a
giant yellow fin Tuna. On Indigo, close to the equator, we had landed
another giant yellow fin which was about 1.5m long - and this one was
BIGGER!! Then suddenly, the line snapped, and it was gone! I expected Mike
to be upset, but he wasn't, he accepted that he lost the battle and that
magnificent fish deserved to live on. The reality (nightmare) of bringing on
board that amount of fish also sunk in. It would have been a terrible waste.
While the fish was on, and John was moving the boat back and forth, left and
right, we obviously had no stabilisation and anything that was not fixed
down e.g. books, toiletries, pens, pots, dishes, had gone flying around the
boat. We then tidied up the boat and got back on our way, expecting a
peaceful night - It was not to be. Around midnight, we hit some really
unpleasant conditions, with fairly strong wind from one side and a short
swell from the other...!! It was dreadful, the boat was diving and
twisting like a giant dolphin with swells crashing into the side, making for
a very jerky motion. While on watch and going down the stairs, I was thrown
off balance and sustained a huge bruise on my hip. Sleep was out of
the question as you felt like you were being tossed up and down on your bed.
These conditions continued for the whole night and some of Monday, (we were
not a happy bunch) But it seems to have calmed down now and hope that our
last 400nm proceed more comfortably.