THE LURE WORKED.TUNA FOR DINNER

Last night was an easy sail, main and jib reduced and we went easy through the night.  From six this morning until midday the wind was boisterous and the seas very confused, made for an uncomfortable ride for a few hours.

The morning overcast cleared early afternoon and it became quite warm in the sun, although the cold air persists.  My thermometer is climbing steadily and indicated a high of eighteen degrees.

A huge kerfuffle just after lunch.  A tuna took my lure.  It took me completely by surprise, after dragging it around for thousands of miles I was totally unprepared for a fish on the end of the line.

I tried dragging it in, against six knots of boat speed impossible.  I dropped the staysail, furled the Jib, then started dragging the fish in again.  Bloody hard work and took me thirty minutes before I had it on deck.

I gave it a few taps on the head with a winch handle – that made it go berserk.  In the ensuing minute, I lost one of my crocks overboard.

I was pretty upset about that and gave the brute a few more taps before it quietened down.

What a mess, blood and scales all over the place.  Fishing is not the best pursuit for a single hander, it totally disrupted my day and by the time I had cleaned up and rigged the spinnaker pole for downwind sailing beer o’clock was pushed back to seven.

It’s also a waste of good fish for one person to catch a large tuna.  I have no way of preserving the meat and apart from two steaks the fish had gone back in the sea.  I will fish no more unless I can catch small fish for my use.

There were a couple of ships around today.  One a Matson container ship from Hawaii to Long Beach.  We had a chat on the radio and I think he was happy to break the boredom.  The other vessel was a car carrier bound for Korea.

I am now managing to lay a direct course to Hilo on the Hawaii Big Island.  But we are going too fast, I will reduce sail before it gets dark.  Voyage distance 597 miles.