Fun on the run

Yesterday,all my troubles seemed so far away...What a lovely day we
had,not sailing fast but staying above our required 5 kts,on a run with
genoa and main working in unison.Temperature is starting to touch on
30*C,air and water.Time to show the boys how we drag ourselves behind
the boat.Ideal speed for doing this is 4 kts,higher than that and you
start struggling to pull yourself back to the boat.Easy to drop our
speed,just furl in the genoa a little and then it was time to play.Brad
went in first,and after five minutes we were sure there are no sharks in
the water...(Melinda,Lisa and all Brad's other friends and family,just
joking.Very unlikely to have any open ocean sharks around.Great
whites,no.White tip sharks,yes,but they only gather after a while when a
plane or ship went down and lots of bodies floating in the water.Great
whites do cross oceans,but down south only,and this was only discovered
a few years ago.)To get back to dragging in the water,soon Pieter and
myself were also enjoying the refreshing,exhilirating feeling of being
dragged behind a yacht with 5 000 m of deep blue water below.Washed
ourselves,took some crazy photos and loved every moment of it.

Half an hour before we went for a swim,I was busy typing a mail when our
fish alarm sounded.I looked back and saw a familiar sight,a huge fin
behind our lure.I called Brad and showed him what was trying to stun our
little rubber lure.I pulled the lure in fast and the huge fish followed
closely behind,right up to our stern,which is the back of a boat.The
awesome beautiful shape of a huge marlin was clearly visible.I asked
Brad to be careful of the fishing line which was coiled up on our
aftdeck,and dropped the now slack lure back in the water and down the
lure went,just like a stunned fish.Instinctively I turned my back,closed
my eyes and tensed up,waiting for the line to tun out.As it did the line
pulled taught and for a few moments the marlin was on.As fate would have
it,the double hook I used wasn't in deep enough and the marlin was
off.They have a hard bony mouth and our lure was basically stripped from
the line as it must have pulled out of the marlin's mouth.A little
relieved and a little dissapointed.It is an enormous battle to take
on,even more so on a handline and with the boat moving forward.You would
really work hard to get the marlin in,then slack the line again,pull it
in,slack the line,and normally when you bring it in the third time the
battle is won,the marlin no longer fighting.One would then remove the
hook,take a few photos,drag it by it's bill through the water to
resuscitate,and once it kicks a few times,you can let it go.A battle you
will never forget.A true one on one battle.

Last night we were closing in on Ascension Island and were getting just
above 4 kts with the sails flogging,not good.Bring down the main,furl in
the genoa and bring up our iron maiden.No Madri,not you.Madri is
Pieter's sister and rides a mean big machine,a Yamaha TDM 850.

Ascension Island is a purely military set up,run by the US and
UK.Satelite dishes,antennas,balls,fuel tanks etc etc etc,including a
militay airport.This morning I saw a light flashing by and
disappear,moving extemely fast and quiet.I wonder what these people are
testing out here in the middle of nowhere.What I also wonder about is
all the dead fish floating in the water.I came past this way three years
ago and also dead fish everywhere,reef fish.Abhorring and truelly
saddening, this disrespect for life,life that we consider sacred.Perhaps
one should ask an explanation from the relative authorities to try and
find a solution.They have no right to destroy our planet,for whatever
reason.A little highlight was the first dolphins we saw on this
trip,three of them,Atlantic spotted dolphins.They played around our bows
for an hour or so,swimming between the dead fish,looking at us,and
asking us to do something about this state of affairs.Perhaps you can
google dead fish around Ascension Island and find out more.Sigh........

Brad has just mixed some breadflour,yeast,salt,sugar,olives,onion,
garlic,chillies and a few other ingredients,with cheese grilled on
top,oh,and a sprinkle of love.It is busy rising in the sun and will soon
be in the oven.Just looked at it and to big for the baking pan,and we
are now having a flat bread in a baking tray. Mmmmmmm.....Pieter has
just cooked some two minute noodles and are mixing some oysters in for
lunch.As you can see,we are very busy on this Sunday.I was going to
prepare a real country casserole for supper,but we decided we have
enough to feast on for the day.

And with that I am signing off...Have a fantastic week and we will post
again tomorrow morning.

Paul