Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Chair
de captain, please don't let this thread die. maybe it's time for a new thread focusing on sub-stories from this experience. just a thought.
ok. there are still quite a few things i haven't gone over such as:
fishing
touring rodriguez by motorcycle
our extensive problems in australia
the time a guy came up to us in a chinese restaurant in panama w/ his intestines hanging out & wrapped in a shopping bag
how i now have no doubt the loch ness monster exists (after meeting a fellow sailor who lived on loch ness)
the party to be alive that happened @ 5:15 am in south africa & being falling down drunk by 5:30
going on safari in a microbus driven by a man 6'6" tall
nearly losing the boat in the marquesas & the significant damage & subsequent repairs at sea.
or how at 1 of our welcome home parties i got drunk & fell overboard.
there are more that i think might be of interest, but i came up w/ these off the top of my head.
the followng is tl;dr - caveat emptor
Old Man & The Sea ***t
when we were preparing fo the trip, fishing for food to save money was an important part of the plan. I had been fishing professionally, part time, on a local charter boat for over a year, becuase it was fun & also to prepare for the trip & really learn the ins & outs of deepwater fishing.
in the weeks of provisioning we went to the local tackle store & stocked up on lots of tackle, bait etc.. this cost several hundred $ & my brother was very skeptical. i assured him that we would be catching fish non stop & it was a very worth while investment.
we left st. thomas bound for panama & started fishing as we left the harbor. i was quite certain we would catch fish, at the very least, daily.
3 full days & nights went by w/o even a bite. i could tell my brother was really doubting my ability to fish at this point, as was i.
during the 3rd night our 1st storm at sea began to build & neither of us had any idea what we were doing. we were changing shifts just before dawn, when the clicker finally went off. for those that don't know, fishing reels have a clicker you can set so that when a fish starts to pull line off it makes a clicking noise to let you know.
we finally have our 1st fish on the line, the seas are now 12'-15' & the wind is blowing a steady 20 kts.
i began fighting the fish while my brother reefed in the sails to try & slow us down. between the boat being unable to stop & the size of the fish, about 400yds of line had spooled off before we were able to start bringing the fish back to the boat. I knew that the fish was a tuna because tuna always dive down & swim in circles causing the rod tip to bob up & down. I knew it was very large by the amount of line it had pulled off.
The only thing that likes sashimi more than i do is a shark. often times if you can't land a tuna within 20 -30 minutes you will lose it because a shark will eat it. we fought the tuna you see in the pictures for 2 1/2hrs.
I was very worried about catching this fish because we hadn't caught any fish yet & a large part of our plan was to eat fish to save on provisioning costs. also the fact that i felt i had something to prove to my brother.
we finally got the fish to within about 20 yds straight down under the boat & it was swimming slow circles of about 20' in diameter below us. this is always when you lose them to sharks because the fish is very tired & swimming slow.
the other major consideration at this point is the high possiblity that the line will break. after fighting a fish for so long the line becomes weak. when the line is under so much strain if it touches the boat the abrasion will instantly cause it to break.
when i first saw the fish i was like holy ***t that is a nice tuna & yelled at my brother to come back so he could at least see the fish, because i was pretty sure we would lose it before i could get it aboard.
after another 20 minutes or so we finally got the fish to the leader, i took a wrap & gaffed it. the problem was, te fish was so big & heavy i couldn't lift it. keep in mind, we are doing this in 12' seas everything is wet, my muscles are quivering from fighting the fish for over 2 hrs.
when i tried to lift the fish the leader instantly snapped & now we only have a hold of the fish by the gaff & if it twists or moves much we will lose it. i yelled at my brother to grab a rope & when he gave me the rope i had him hold the gaff. my only option at this point was to try to reach over & lasso the fish w/ the rope. nearly impossible.
the deck of the boat is 4' -5' off the water. i laid down & told my brother to sit on me. i then slid over the side until he was sitting on my ankles while he was trying to hold the fish. i was trying to lasso the fish w/ no luck & my brother was slowly losing his grip. finally i was able to reach into the fishes mouth & thread the line through his mouth & out a gill. then somehow, i don't really know exactly, we were able to cleat the line, let go of the gaff & my brother pulled me back up.
we were so exhausted we just laid there for a few minutes w/ the fish hanging off the side of the boat. finally, on the 2nd try, we were able to pull the fish aboard. my brother looked at me & said " that is some serious old man & the sea ***t".
we rested for about 1/2 hr, got the boat back on course, took pictures & then began butchering the tuna.
we have pictures of me trying to hold the fish up & i have the base of its tail even w/ my head & the fishes head is still laying flat on deck. i am sure the fish weighed over 150lb. we also have some pretty graphic pictures of the butchering process, w/ me carving off 10lb blocks of meat & filling a large cooler.
after that we developed a pretty standard routine for landing fish until the night we caught the shark you see in the pictures. it was the middle of the night, we were bored & had a giant shark on the line, so rather than just cutting the line we decided, what the hell, lets land it & try a shark steak.
we got the shark close to the boat, had it lassoed, but i was still very much alive & could easily take your arm off. finally my brothr looked at me in disgust & said " why don't you just get the ****ing gun & shoot the ****er so we can get this ***t over with?!" - why didn't i think of that.
sorry that was so long.
