Day 20

Day 20

Knock-knock on my little wooden head...
nothing broke!
And we almost sort of caught a fish.
We definitely HOOKED it – we just managed to lose it getting it up to the boat.
Tim and Jim had fishing down pat – like pros. Now that Tim is no longer a crew member, the three of us are lost. Jim, Carolyne and I raced around trying to figure out what exactly it was we were each supposed to do when the fishing line took off running. It was just like the Three Stooges. I was shouting "Fish On!! Fish On!!" Jim mumbled something about stopping the spooling line as he ran off to reduce the sails. I grabbed the pole and realized I couldn't lift it out of the holder. Carolyne was last to come up on deck and Jim put her at the helm – which she lost control of immediately. Jim grabbed the pole and I went for the gaff. Jim grabbed the gaff and told me to bring the pole on the other side of the shrouds – I couldn't because his head was in the way. Carolyne came to help and I grabbed the helm. Carolyne held onto the pole while Jim tried to gaff the fish... but the boat was rocking, the line was too short and the fish kept coming out of the water. I left the helm and grabbed onto Carolyne, as it was fairly obvious to me she might pitch overboard. Jim was shouting at us to keep the fish in the water - and then it was gone. And then Jim hit Carolyne in the head with the gaff as he stood up. There was lots of shouting and arm flailing and pointing and shrieking and then all was quiet.
The only consolation is that it was a Skipjack Tuna – not sure they are very good to eat. And if they are, please don't tell us otherwise.

The last 3 days or so have been magic. The trade winds have carried us long and far – Jim and I have done little to nothing with the sails. This is just the way we imagined the Pacific crossing. We made 164 miles yesterday – total bliss! We had a conversation about how we thought most of the days would be like the ones we've experienced lately. Not so – we figure we have had at least 10 days of 10 knots or less. But the last few have been marvelous – we really like to sail fast!

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