APRIL FOOLS DAY  1st April, 2010  MID PACIFIC

 

Still cloudy and grey today with the sun just coming out occasionally, but warm. A big swell coming from the south with breaking wave tops, the wind averaging 15 knots most of the day.

We had great fun courtesy of Charles, who quietly tied a pair of his trainers on to the fishing line when J went below decks after breakfast.  The line ran so we called 'Fish!' Jonathan came running up on deck to start hauling in the line.  Instructions to slow the boat down, wind in the genoa and we were running around setting him up with life jacket etc. then the joke started to backfire as the other line screamed out, on the end was another 200lb Marlin, so Charles took that line both of them reeling in the lines which crossed, took the ensign staff out to make way as they played their rods.  Charles started to feel guilty so came clean with J that there were a pair of old shoes on J's line, but J was convineced there was also a fish as the line was running and he was having to play it as it crossed, so insisted C stayed on his rod.  Anyway in came the 200lb Marlin without too much of a fight (about 15 mins) but snapped the line just as we went on to the transom to unhook it. Meanwhile J had finally reeled in  his line and in came the shoes, which had twisted and twisted like fish............. no other fish on it.  We were in heaps of laughter, despite the fact we still had no fish for dinner.  Green chicken curry tonight instead really spicy, hot and good especially as it had since got very rough with huge rain squalls. Reef in the main, 25 -30 knots of wind in the gusts and an uncomfortable sea.

I'm on 'Dog watch'  tonight from 3am to 6 am; don't usually mind but reading maybe out of the question tonight.

One of the other yachts, 500 miles ahead of us as we left 4 days later, had a problem yesterday as there are only two of them on board and one of them got kidney stones, so was in agony, poor chap, other yachts rendeszvoued near by and helped with the pain killers, he is much better today, but must have been scary for Carmen who is on her own and does not speak much English.